Muse 2, Meditation Made Easy

The full picture

Samuel Maddock

Leading Healthcare Professional and Health Technology Researcher

Editor - Well Professor?

In this review...

• Introduction
• What Is Muse 2?
• Why Muse 2?
• How Does It Work?
• The Lab User Test
• The Verdict...Well Professor?

Unpredictable, unrelenting, and often unpleasant, modern life for many of us can result in one thing;  a very busy mind. Racing thoughts, brain fog, stress and anxiety are sadly all too common nowadays. And we don’t know how to slow down, or we simply don’t have the time to learn. Until now.

It can be said that technology is largely to blame for our current predicament, that it adds to our stress and has irreversibly disrupted our quality of life. But, as you will see with Muse 2, it can also be our saviour.

What is Muse 2?

Muse 2 is different to other meditation apps and meditation aids available today. It is a multi-sensor EEG meditation training device, with feedback to help you learn quickly. In fact, it is the first meditation device of its kind; that can provide accurate, real-time feedback on what is happening with your brain activity while you meditate. Muse 2 also measures your heart rate, breathing, and body movements in order to help you build a consistent and reproducible approach to meditation. 

Muse 2 incorporates the same EEG technology that is widely used by neuroscience researchers around the world. The device uses it to teach you how to take control and free your mind from racing thoughts. 

Muse 2 has sensors on the front and behind the ear pieces

Why Muse 2?

Muse 2 can improve your mental and physical well being through the many documented benefits of meditation. And it makes it easy and rewarding. 

Meditation benefits such as increased focus, decreased stress response and improved overall resilience are also possible with the Muse 2 meditation gadget. Meditation is powerful and when it is made as so accessible, you really can change your brain; both in structure and function. 

How Does it Work? 

Muse 2 senses what is going on in your mind, in the form of your brainwaves, and guides you to control them. To keep you calm. It does this by using advanced signal processing to convert your brainwaves into the sounds of weather. When your mind is calm and settled, you hear peaceful weather. As your focus drifts, you begin to hear stormy weather, serving as a cue to bring your attention back on track.

Muse 2 Features:

• Mind - Real-time brainwave feedback (EEG) trains you how to focus.
• Heart - Tune into to your heart rate to optimise the way you perform.
• Body - Discover how the correct meditation posture can make you feel relaxed. 
• Breath - Learn how to control your breath and find the inner calm to fight stress.

Muse 2 worn - It can be used sitting or lying down. It's pretty comfortable to wear

Muse 2 Specifications:

• Mind sensors via EEG
• Heart sensors via PPG + Pulse Oximetry
• Body sensors via Accelerometer
• Breath sensors via PPG + Gyroscope
• 5 Hours of Continuous Use via Rechargeable (Li-Ion) battery 
• 1 Headband, Multiple Users
• Wireless Connection: BT 5.0
• MicroUSB port (cable included) and LED Indicator
• Muse App Compatibility (iOS 11, Android 5 or higher)

Building The Muse 2 Habit

Muse 2 makes meditation easy to start, beginning with just 3 minute sessions. It then removes the guess work and teaches you how to become body aware in a completely unique way; using real-time feedback from your brain activity, heart rate, breathing pattern and posture. Finally, it rewards you for your achievements, enables you to set goals, and tracks your progress towards them. Muse 2 makes meditation enjoyable, and before you know it, you have developed the habit. And this is one you will want to keep. 

The Lab User Test

Set Up. The initial set up was easy. The one we tested came already half charged so we could set it up straight away, otherwise charging is with a standard USB cable that fits in to the end of the headband. The Muse app needs to be downloaded and a personal account needs to be set up (which doesn’t take long) and then the app and the headset are paired via Bluetooth. Set up and pairing instructions on the app are really clear and mostly done via short videos.

Ease Of Use. Muse have made sure that the product is easy to use, there are several tutorials on the app that show you exactly how to use the Muse 2 before every session. When you start a meditation, the app will calibrate the headband so it is accurate for you at the moment you want to use it. Because we could be calm, have a racing mind, be sleepy or stressed out before a meditation, the calibration of the headset allows it to be able to measure your meditation properly before each use. The headband is comfortable and easily adjusted for the size of most heads.

You don't have to use headphones during a meditation session but if you are in an environment where there could be external noise, the experience is better with headphones that plug in to your phone. There may be a little sweat or make-up residue on the front headband sensors after a session but they are easily cleaned by wiping them with a soft cloth.

The App. Is outstanding. You can tell from the first time you use it that the app has been refined and developed over time to be as smooth, user friendly, fun and engaging as possible. You can select a mind, heart, body or breath meditation. Each one of these mediations is there to help guide and teach you over time to refine and master your meditation techniques; from concentrating on your breath, to being aware of your heart rate, to making sure you always sit comfortably as not to disrupt your meditation. You can set each mediation from 5 minutes to 45 minutes per session. The great thing is that the app quickly assesses your level of meditation experience and will guide you every step of the way. If you get to the point where you feel you know what you are doing, you can easily turn off the tutorials.

For each session you get points for the length of time you meditated and then also rewarded for staying in the calm or neutral zones. Though it takes a session or two to get used to the games and incentives the app gives you for doing your best, it does become quite fun over time. We found ourselves constantly seeing who got the most points in a week and who had the most ‘birds’ for staying calm. If you are not great at staying calm but really try, you are also rewarded ‘recovery’ points for realising you were becoming more active in a meditation and doing your best to recover yourself to a calm state.

The app also gives you a detailed recording of each session, showing you exactly, second by second, if you were calm, neutral or active. It records all you sessions over time and allows you to view them by day / week / month to monitor your meditation progress. 

The Muse 2 app is one of the best we have seen

Build Quality. Pretty good. The headband is light and comfortable and though it can feel a little flimsy, it is made from a strong yet flexible plastic and was designed that way for comfort. Though we didn’t try it, it does feel like it could break if you dropped it from a great height. We would recommend a carry case if you are going to be travelling a lot with it.

User Experince. The overall user experience was excellent, whether you are new to meditating or pretty seasoned, everyone from our team that tested it enjoyed using it and got hooked after a couple of sessions. The app makes sure you do with regular reminders (you can switch them off if you want to). The first time you use it the process can feel a little strange; when you are coming out of a ‘calm’ zone to a ‘neutral’ or ‘active’ one the sounds get louder and it becomes off putting. If, however, you stick with it you realise that is there intentionally to make sure that over time you don’t get distracted by anything when you mediate. By the 3rd time you use it, it all makes sense.

The Verdict...Well Professor?

Pros:

• Very Easy To Use
• Outstanding App
• Makes Effective Brain Training Fun And Rewarding

Cons:

• Headset Is Quite Delicate 
• Takes A Few Sessions To Get Used To How It Works

Muse 2 has really impressed us. For those new to the many benefits of mindfulness meditation, it is the perfect introduction. Muse 2 strikes an ideal balance between effective brain training and gamification, and presents this in a very slick format. It really does make a difference to how you feel but is also fun and rewarding in the process. So much so that this meditation product has become a Well Professor favourite. 

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