Why We Created Tend

We created Tend to serve a simple purpose: to make Mindfulness more relevant and effective in the lives of busy modern people. That's you, me, our families, friends, and colleagues.

As daily practitioners of meditation collectively for over 100 years, we know experientially how powerful Mindfulness practice can be. The teachings that have made their way into modern  society over the last decade, popularized by scores of websites and mobile apps, can truly change your life. They give you insight into how your mind is working and can actually change how your nervous system functions. The result is a whole different relationship to the challenging aspects of life such as instability, fear, and conflict.

However, we felt that Mindfulness has too often been presented in a way that simultaneously oversimplifies it, and divorces it from everyday experience.

Studies have shown that there are three essential ingredients in a person developing mindful qualities:

• The quality of instruction they receive.
• Their intention and consistency of practice.
• Social supports such as family, colleagues and others who share an understanding of what they are doing.

While much of the Mindfulness instruction available to mainstream culture is very good, we felt that too much of it is aimed primarily at “calming” the mind. The truth is that most attempts to calm the mind end up agitating the mind. Without a clear understanding of this truth right from the beginning, most people can end up treating Mindfulness like another “self-improvement project,” which they unsurprisingly stop after a few days or weeks.

Another related message that is frequently communicated is that you need to stop what you are doing to practice Mindfulness. The truth is just the opposite: you can practice mindfulness no matter what you are doing. We feel this truth has been lost in much of the modern instruction on Mindfulness, where the emphasis is often on stepping outside of what you are doing, de-stressing and calming down.

Practicing being mindful no matter what you are doing is the essence of what we call Applied Mindfulness.

There is another truth contained within three essential ingredients. Notice that the most important factors for a person’s practice to develop are intention and consistency (or discipline), not quantity. It is more important to have consistency of practice than to practice for long periods. In practical terms, it is better to practice for a few minutes a few times a day than to do 30 minutes every other day. Practicing for any amount of time once a week is unlikely to yield lasting results, beyond making you feel great that day!

The final, and deepest, inspiration for Tend comes from the epidemic of mental distress we are facing in modern life, especially work life. The conditions of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity is now the common condition for all of us. Clinically-assessed anxiety is at an all-time high across all ages and social groups.

Our vision is to extend these teachings to the hundreds of millions of us suffering from the natural human distress we face in challenging times. We know from experience, reports from millions of others, and through rigorous scientific studies, that they help immensely, and can even change your life.

Tend Founders