ØTHERS: An App For Life

Wellness: a term we hear thrown about a huge amount these days: Stunningly in 2020 it was estimated to be worth as a business a whopping 4.4 trillion dollars. As our world has become not just more digital, more hectic, and more dense, we seem to be suffering a lack of time and space to connect with our true selves. And here lies the issue, this massive wellness community, what on earth is it really and why in this day and age we are a little obsessed about it, after all, do we know if it actually helps? works? and is it more than just a meme scattered all across social media posts? Find out more in ØTHERS: An App For Life

Many of us, it’s fair to say, want more than to just survive we want to thrive, to live life to the fullest, and it seems this is core to the wellness movement. Described as, the act of practising healthy habits on a daily basis to attain better physical and mental health outcomes. But that makes it sound easy and one thing many of us are finding out is that wellness is an easy word to say but not a practice easy to adhere to.

So where did this phenomenon come from? The name actually first came to prominence in the 1950’s but the concept is as old as man. Both Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese, medicine alongside ancient Greek practices date back to 3000 to 500 BC and may not have included such a term but were certainly built on many of the shared principles used in today’s practices.

In the 1690s the use of the word “wellness” appeared in the English language (the first recorded use) here meaning the opposite of “illness” according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The earliest published reference is from the 1654 diary entry of Sir Archibald Johnston

“I … blessed God … for my daughter’s wealnesse.”

The arena grew rapidly across different arenas of the planet. In the 1790s the ideals of Homoeopathy in many forms came into general use, whilst in the 1860s water therapy became popular known as hydrotherapy. In the 1880s nutritional research, advocated a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables. At the end of the 19th century Chiropractic options became popular. The YMCA (The Young Men’s Christian Association was founded in London, England, on June 6, 1844) launched as one of the world’s first wellness organizations, with its principle of developing mind, body and spirit.

John Harvey Kellogg, yes he of breakfast cereal fame, was the director of the Battle Creek, Michigan Sanitorium that espoused a healthy diet, naturopathy, exercise, fresh air, hydrotherapy and “learning to stay well.”

Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner develops the spiritual movement of anthroposophy (a path of knowledge, to guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe) and the holistic system of anthroposophical medicine. Another Austrian, F.X. Mayr, develops “Mayr Therapy”, a detoxification and dietary modification program.

But it really was the mid-20th century that saw the rise and beginning of ‘wellness’ with organic farming, several reports on standards of medical and hospital practices looking for higher standards.

A seminal work by a physician called Halbert L. Dunn, was called High-Level Wellness and published in 1961 Although Dunn’s work received little attention initially, his ideas were later embraced in the 1970s by an informal network of individuals in the U.S., including Dr. John Travis, Don Ardell, Dr. Bill Hettler, and others. These “fathers of the wellness movement” created their own comprehensive models of wellness and wrote and spoke actively on the concept

From 1980-2000, the wellness movement began to gain momentum and get taken more seriously by the medical, academic and corporate worlds, with medical establishment validation coming fast and furious. Governments and workplaces have in recent years tapped into the concept of wellness with it now being seen as very high on the list of priorities all employers should be ensuring is in place for staff. Alongside this comes the SPA and fitness boom as well as many ‘self-help’ books and wellness retreats. Yet why are we all still so ‘unwell’ or at least not tuned into ‘wellness’

So can an App a day keep the doctor away? Probably not because most of the wellness options out there, seem to be ‘telling’ us what to do and what to think, as though wellness is just a state of mind attained by being ‘told’. No, it is not that simple. And this is the bottom line for this mega industry; there are no shortcuts. There is also no one-size-fits-all; and certainly, there is not a single path that will lead you to the wonderous state. Because a single approach just might lead you up the garden path so to speak.

Enter stage left ØTHERS, a wellness app with a completely different approach. Welcome to the ‘wellness’ new journey, because it is not a simple walk but a coming together of more than memes and roads less travelled.

The Gallup Global Emotions Report 2022 highlighted in 2021 a disturbing record-high of 41% of adults experiencing high amounts of stress. Alongside this stats show one in four people in the UK experience a mental health problem, and this was to become the catapult for ØTHERS

“We don’t just want to change your mood. We want to change your mindset”

ØTHERS

ØTHERS is a new multi-sensory digital wellness experience with a 360o fusion approach including scent, sound, technology, and science to biomechanically re-tune, bringing you back to your own true self.

Where before most wellness works on ‘telling’ repeated mantras and slightly glib one answer fits all approaches, ØTHERS looks deeper to retrain your behaviour, helping to learn rituals to manage reactivity and build emotional resilience through their app.

Built from expertise, and where this meets science with insights and expertise of a radical group of olfactory experts, neuroscientists, breath-work revolutionaries, music producers, and philosophers. An empathetic hub to partake in, for those who are more free-thinking, and demand more than a slogan for a better-lived life.

The app provides access to sound meditations for a variety of functions i.e. creative block, burnout avoidance and deep thought, along with narrative-led meditation episodes to help unravel the pain points of today’s chaotic world and proactive breathwork to help ease anxiety, leaving you primed for every day. With access to micro-moments of relatable storytelling insightful exercises, meditation rituals, breathwork and scientifically proven priming tools to help navigate yourself through the noise of every day.

The app has a three-pronged approach, firstly,

Immerse

The app utilises two neuroscents (perfume and sound, via psychological response report conducted to scent and sound ) that help prime a person’s mental and emotional readiness for meditation in alignment with ambient, functional soundtracks to counteract the block in mindset, helping improved focus, being able to enter a flow-state, and reduce stress levels. the music is designed specifically to regulate emotional states such as Imposter Syndrome and Creative Block. Here the coming together of specific scents and certain sounds and rhythms brings a mind-emotion state for optimum results. This has now been proved scientifically that the conjunction of different scenes simultaneously has a profound effect.

ØTHERS launch initially with two mood-altering functional fragrances, using science-backed revolutionary olfactory technology to start the collection derived from forest phytoncides which are the molecules released by trees found to reduce stress and anxiety during forest bathing sessions. This sensory experience positively influences the state of mind.

Mystic Zingaro Created to go with sound sessions in order to achieve a deeper sense of relaxation. Notes include warm resin, smoked amber and the mystic wood of Palo Santo. Combined with warming notes of leather, nutmeg, toasted woods frankincense and palmarosa, a grounding yet transformative scent.

Red Skies Again to be utilised with sound or meditations in order to bring focus and influence into a flow state. Sparky pink peppercorn, bright red mandarin zest and creamy-sharp neroli diffuse into a heart of fresh spice and green jasmine, grounded by woody notes of patchouli, cedar leaf and red resin; helping achieve mental clarity.

Spray either scent around you before starting a session on the app, but also use the perfumes for day-to-day as the scents are beautiful on their own. Because fragrance is so tied to memory, if using the regularly with the app, when using on their own this may well ‘jump-start’ the brain to work in the ways the scents are set up for.

This is a platform app first, with the sensory guidance of perfume to help self-optimisation. The dual combination of sound and scent allows an empowering sensory experience to help prime mood, body and re-aligned mindset in readiness.

This platform app first, with the sensory guidance of perfume helps self-optimisation. The dual combination of sound and scent allows an empowering sensory experience to help prime mood, body and re-aligned mindset in readiness for your day.

The second prong is

Ponder

With the lack of physical time and space, where is part of the day to actually ponder and find a sense of self-enlightenment needed to move forward in our lives?

To ponder in Greek means to put one thing with another. Defined as “To weigh in the mind, to put one thing against another, to review mentally, to think about, to examine carefully.” it has been shown for example, with students who regularly engage in pondering become better, more self-aware developing a better understanding of how they best think and learn.

This area on the app allows for Deep Diving, with the offerings of more thought-provoking insights into prevailing issues, and exploring the challenges of the modern world with enlightened perspectives and a new light of reflection.

In alliance with Max Coopr, an International DJ & Music Producer and Alex Ebert, a renowned musician and philosopher with a raw and honest perspective of the foundations of why we let feelings dictate our day; this section is heavily focused on the real-time events around us, in context to today’s constantly evolving world. It’s a voice, a tool, to help users to learn and understand they are not alone.

Last of the tripled pronged attack comes

Breathwork

Many medical studies have been done over the years to determine how breathwork can affect the body’s stress response, and how improper breathing will lead to a weakened immune system, scientific research shows a wide variety of health benefits associated with good breathing techniques. So as well as being a popular relaxation method it is one of the most natural methods of treating a variety of issues

With expert guidance, there is on the app a series of daily hacks grounded in a progressive understanding of the profound bio-chemical effects on the brain and body, focusing on CO2-controlled breathwork, helping manage anxiety, navigate stress, and fear responses and take back control.

The app was inspired by its founder Keelan Doyle, a music producer and sonic branding specialist, who looked for his own solutions in wellness and found it lacking so along with his team of underground thinkers, creatives, and artists, all of whom are experts in their field the programme was created

“As humans, we are hurting. Stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness are all rampant through our collective mindset. We are disconnected, disillusioned and unrepresented. Our mental health is derailed, the world is becoming more complex and chaotic to navigate”.

Keelan Doyle

The playlists are designed to help tap into emotions and cultivate a deeper sense of self-awareness, allowing better understanding and regulating those feelings.

All coming from a Neuroscience background, studying how brain cells signal each other, which chemicals they use, how brain cells connect to each other and the whole systems of brain cells at work.

Think of it as the connected activity in the visual areas of the brain, the auditory areas of the brain and the thinking areas of the brain and even our sense of smell and touch. Neuroscientists also study how the brain has, and can evolve.

The Internationally renowned World Health Organization (WHO), health has defined good health and wellness as being in “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

The ØTHERS app responds to the wilderness of well-being that exists amidst the barrage of invasions around us all. This designed space is an articulate, dynamic, progressive community. Where like-minded people gather and unite with radical thinkers, those who walk outside the lines, and transcend boundaries of definition, breaking the walls of their creative spheres.

Finally, more than a meme a meaningful solution to long-term well-being, to retune the mindset, recalibrate reactivity and strengthen emotional resilience via words music and scent; one where you are supported with emotion and science hand in hand.

To access the app, you purchase one of the two fragrances (£90 for 50ml) and will receive complimentary access for 6 months.

ØTHERS is available to buy online at www.others.co

If you enjoyed reading ØTHERS: An App For Life why not read Remixing Genre Here

.Cent Magazine, London. Be Inspired; Get Involved