Headspace founder Andy Puddicombe on his self-care rules

If you’re one of the 54 million people who uses the Headspace meditation app, you’ll probably recognise Andy Puddicombe’s calming tones. The Bristol native is the voice of the app, which he co-founded in 2005. 

An incredible success story, the company is now worth $100m, but Puddicombe wasn’t always a tech mogul. A former Buddhist monk, Puddicombe spent 10 years training to meditate for up to 16 hours a day. 

Now based in LA – Headspace devotees include Ryan Reynolds, Bill Gates and the queen of wellness herself, Gwyneth Paltrow – here, we ask the meditation master how he manages to stay calm while running a multi million dollar business. 

It turns out his number one rule is reassuringly easy to follow: Laughter. 

I wake up at 4.30am. I don’t use an alarm, I just seem to naturally wake up at that time. The first thing I do when I wake up is take a moment to appreciate that I’ve woken up. 

Assuming the kids are still asleep, next I go for my first workout. I tend to do my cardio session in the mornings, so either running by the ocean, cycling on the Peloton, or rowing outside at the gym. That session takes about an hour. 

My morning skincare routine is very simple. I use Lab Series and have done for 10 years. 

I get to work very, very early. I like to be there before anyone else and will typically stretch and meditate before having something to eat. I’ll also check in to make sure there is nothing urgent on email too.

For breakfast, I have the same thing every day. It’s my one non-vegan meal of the day. I have local sheep’s yoghurt, with a crumbled up vegan Core bar, with tiger nut granola, dried fruit and nuts. It’s embarrassingly LA, but it tastes more like dessert than breakfast and is a great way to start the day. 

My mornings are spent either in the recording studio or in meetings. I spend lots of time sitting down, so I try to balance that with regular short walks and stretching. 

I check in with email and social media at dedicated times where possible. Sometimes I’ll have to do things on the fly, but as much as possible I try and check in at the start, middle, and end of the day. I find this helps limit distractions. I do not have email or social media apps on my homepage and I have all notifications turned off. Most of the day I’ll have my phone on silent too.  

My second workout of the day is just before lunch. The gym is across the street, so I go and do more functional and dynamic training. It helps me with my surfing, and also when the kids jump on me when I walk in the door after work. 

For lunch, I have the same thing every day. There’s a local smoothie place called Kreation, and I have something called the Chocolate Lovers smoothie. It’s coconut milk with cacao, goji berries, almond butter, banana and plant protein. I normally have it LA style, with a turmeric and ginger chaser. 

My afternoons are spent creating content. It could be something for US TV, as a guest on a podcast, filming for the Headspace app, or writing as a contributor for something. 

Every afternoon at 3pm we stop work at Headspace HQ for 10 minutes and it’s a chance for the team to meditate. We have a 10am session too. We have meditation pods and a meditation room in the space for use at other times. 

My favourite time of day is getting home to see the boys before they go to bed. I try to be home for some family play before bath time and then story time. 

For dinner, I eat whatever my wife has cooked for us. I used to cook a lot, but rarely have time these days. She’s also a much better cook than me. She has studied nutrition and is so passionate about healthy food, so I know that I’ll always be getting lots of healthy ingredients. It tends to be vegan and a mix of vegetables and grains. 

To wind down, I relax with my wife, get everything ready for the morning, and then get an early night. I try to be in bed by 10pm. I typically fall asleep within a few minutes.

My favourite way to relax, aside from meditation, is to go surfing.  I used to do it every day, but these days it’s something for the weekend. There is something about being immersed in nature, far away from technology and everything else, that is deeply nourishing. I’m lucky to have a few surfing buddies and on a really good day there is just nothing better than sharing that experience.  

When I get ill, I try first to treat it with natural remedies and rest, but I’m not averse to using medication. When I had cancer I needed an operation straightaway, but then chose to go the natural route rather than chemo. It’s something you have to do alongside a doctor, of course, but I ate a raw, vegan diet for one year, exercised every day, meditated more, slept more, and I like to think those things made a big difference. 

I was introduced to wellbeing at a very young age. I was 10 when I started learning meditation, going to a class with my mum. I was even younger when I started having acupuncture. By the time I was in my teens, I had been exposed to massage, shiatsu, healing, iridology, floatation tanks, hypnotherapy, osteopathy and just about anything else you think of. All of this was down to my mum, and whilst not everything stuck, so much of it did, and some of it has gone on to define my life in many ways.  

An essential part of wellbeing is play. I feel as we get older we often lose touch with a sense of playfulness. Kids can help us stay in touch with that sometimes, but I find doing things that make me laugh is as important as anything else. It can be hanging out with friends, watching comedy, juggling, anything that brings me a sense of joy. 

Over the years my approach to wellness has changed, a lot. I used to be quite extreme. I was a Buddhist monk for many years, did a degree in circus arts, it was a little ‘all or nothing’. These days I feel I have found a healthy rhythm with work and family, and elements of meditation, exercise, nutrition, sleep and play in my life.

To stay healthy and well when travelling is difficult, but easier than it used to be. I spend a lot of time on aeroplanes and am always crossing time zones. Over the years I’ve found ways of making it easier. I always run on the morning of a flight; I sleep and eat on the new time zone as soon as I get on the plane; I meditate as soon as I arrive in a new place; I immediately pick up my usual routine in terms of food, exercise, bed time etc on the new time zone; and all of these things, together with some smaller hacks, have totally transformed my health and wellbeing on the road.