Mindfulness Platform Open Taps James Blake as New Chief Sound Officer

Inhale, exhale, and turn up your volume — the mindfulness, meditation, and breathwork platform Open has teamed up with Grammy winner James Blake for its latest guided class, just in time to kickstart your New Year’s resolutions.

To kick off the Open collaboration, Blake contributed sounds and music to the platform’s Nervous System Reset program as part of his new role as the brand’s Chief Sound Officer, Rolling Stone can exclusively report.

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The Nervous System Reset is a 21-day guided meditation and breathwork class that, according to the brand, is “designed to regulate emotions, quiet the mind, and make space for what’s next.” Put simply, it’s an easy way to recharge and reset ahead of the new year — immersive sounds included.

“After attending an Open breathwork experience, I could feel how important the role of music is in what you take from the practice,” Blake says in a release of the Los Angeles-based studio, which also offers in-person classes. “The vibration of what we listen to is part of what we resonate at, and so for me, curating and creating for this medium is really exciting.”

If you haven’t taken an Open class yet, the platform offers guided breathwork, movement, and meditation classes on its app, practices which research has shown can help reduce stress and anxiety, among other health benefits. (Health and fitness brands like Therabody have even started to incorporate breathwork in their recovery tools.)

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Unlike other wellness experiences, however, Open is a mindfulness app custom-made for serious music lovers. Take one of its in-person classes and you’ll leave feeling refreshed — and wishing you could’ve Shazammed the entire thing.

Subscribers can also hear one of Blake’s original tracks at the end of the 21-day Nervous System Reset on the app, dubbed “See the Unseen.” The program launched Dec. 17, and is available to start with Open’s 30-day free trial. After the free trial, an Open subscription costs $20 a month, or $150 for an annual plan.

“James has a rare perspective that is invaluable to Open in a way that transcends the music we’ll create together,” Open’s co-founder and CEO Raed Khawaja says. “Our collaboration will raise the frequency of everything we do to create greater access to life-changing experiences.”

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This isn’t the first time that Blake has released sounds that have a wellness component. The singer-songwriter and producer dropped the ambient project Wind Down in 2022, complete with an hour of 15 “soundscapes.” In 2023, Blake released his sixth full-length studio album Playing Robots Into Heaven in 2023, and embarked on a North American tour last fall. Most recently, Blake released the single “Like the End” in November.

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James Blake ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’

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Track List

“Asking to Break”
“Loading”
“Tell Me”
“Fall Back”
“He’s Been Wonderful”
“Big Hammer”
“I Want You to Know”
“Night Sky”
“Fire the Editor”
“If You Can Hear Me”
“Playing Robots Into Heaven”

Open’s Nervous System Reset featuring Blake’s custom sounds is now available for free on the Open app or in-person at its studio in Los Angeles.

From Rolling Stone US.