Headspace, a website and app for teaching self-care and mindfulness, has teamed with Californian architect duo Oyler Wu to design an experience that embodies the spirit of meditation and enhances its practices. What they came up is a simple pod, hollowed out with a curvilinear interior made of layered, machine-cut wood that rests on a steel frame.

Launching later this year, with price upon request, the Meditation Pod aims to trigger a reevaluation of how the built environment supports mental well-being. Learn more at Headspace.

Inside the Headspace Meditation Pod, a discreet built-in screen leads practitioners through the company's library of guided meditations via headphones. Its organic forms provide a comfortable position for repose.

The project addresses an age-old conundrum of meditation, says Headspace co-founder Rich Pierson: "How do you make an intangible exercise, tangible?" Oyler Wu responded with a characteristically forward-thinking concept, one that envelops users in undulating folds that were inspired by natural geological formations.

The state of consciousness shop

A custom-designed chairlift system from Versicor allows Matthew access to the tower. “The new house has really liberated Matthew. My goal is that he will have access to everything by one means or another,” says Ed Slattery.

One of the home’s more fanciful features is a meditation tower that offers views to Baltimore’s Loch Raven Reservoir and beyond.

The master suite occupies the entire third floor and encapsulates a meditation area, a minibar with a recycled-glass countertop from BioGlass, and an en suite bathroom with access to a private terrace. Organic linen draperies from The Canopy accent the room’s distinctive aperture, which frames a view of a church across the street. The walls are covered in Venetian plaster that’s 100 percent recycled, with zero VOCs, by American Clay.

The meditation room has a low narrow window overlooking a birch grove. The tatami mats are from the website orientalfurniture.com.

The meditation-room-turned-ball-pit, illuminated by blue tinted windows.

The meditation gardens at the Contemporary Museum in Makaha are laced with winding paths and unexpected views.

In 2001, Price and his students built a meditation structure at the end of a cantilevered walkway that extends off the end of a cliff in Nepal.

Get way chilled out with UNESCO's Meditation Space in Paris by Tadao Ando on your wall.

Designed Californian architects Swatt Miers, these three tea houses on a private property were conceived as spaces outside the main home that would be free from the distractions of Internet, telecommunications and television. The largest of the three pavilions is used as a workspace, the second as a bedroom, and the third as a meditation pavilion.

The freestanding garage also houses an art studio and meditation space.

Far from the noise of Tokyo, it's easy to see how these houses serve as meditation and relaxation places.

The meditation studio features a view of the property through black-stained slats.

There is even a private meditation garden off the master with a zen pond, waterfall feature, and a hot tub.

The new interior includes a meditation room with an Isamu Noguchi lamp, flooring made of tatami mats, and a Murphy bed for visitors.

The meditation room overlooks a nearby hilltop in one of the clients' favorite views, framed by floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

A tranquil meditation garden leads to a light-filled entrance gallery punctuated by a glass-paneled ceiling.

More Japanese minka than Sears Roebuck, this kit home in the Bay Area—complete with a meditation room—provided the right bones for a renovation.

The room has an ensuite bathroom and an attic space that could serve as a reading nook, meditation space, or storage.

The yoga and meditation room is left open for places to move and stretch. In the corner is a Root’d Home hand chair.

The top floor can also be used as a meditation space or yoga room, and has a ceiling height of nearly 23 feet.

A "watshitsu" room, which is used for meditation and tea drinking, has a fully glazed wall that looks out to the verdant trees beyond the apartment.

The living room leads up to a pitched-roof alcove, the perfect meditation and lounge space. It features a bean bag chair from GAN, and a Trifecta Table by Future Perfect.

Also by Korean firm BCHO is Jedong Ranch, a house in Jeju Island in South Korean, with a long staircase that leads down to an underground meditation space.

A loft area overlooks the living room. This space could easily be converted into a home office, meditation nook, or play area, depending on the owner’s needs.

On the street-facing side of the apartments are Japanese-style sitting rooms that are ideal for light meals or meditation. In this sitting room, screens can be slid open to views of the street, or closed for privacy.

“[The owner] wanted a place that was a sort of retreat, a place for meditation and contemplation,” architect Tom Marble says. “He wanted views, but he also wanted a strong relationship to the outside.”

Lake Poisson Blanc, some three hours from Montréal and 90 minutes from the Mont Ste. Marie ski resort, is the remote backdrop for Naturehumaine Architects’ compact and monochrome cabin embedded on a slope, a meditation on white.

A peek at one another one of the light-filled bedrooms on the top floor, which can also be revamped into a home office, studio, or meditation area, depending on the buyer's needs.

The kitchen holds a ceramic collection including Tall Mountain Tumblers from Coco Chispa, mugs from danvalbar, In Meditation Face Cups from Rogue Habits, and a West Perro Baja Duna Air Plant Vessel.

A main hall for seminars, yoga practices, and meditations.

After the onset of the pandemic, the second floor loft space was redesignated as a reading, meditation, and fitness space, in addition to serving as a staging area and overflow space for video calls. "Separate rooms for Zooming and Clubhouse chats have been helpful for privacy and space," reflects Todd.