SUMMARY: Due to economic conditions beyond our control, we must reduce our print frequency. We are still publishing magazines, just less frequently. Instead of feeling defeated and going in a sad direction, we have redoubled our efforts toward making the world a happier place, through our powerful new online meditation platform, Meditation University! We have given complementary memberships to our Meditation Magazine subscribers, who will still receive magazines as well. We also have other options available for subscribers who are not interested in Meditation University. Read below for more details!
For the first few weeks of a caterpillar’s life, it wanders around on foot… exploring its forest habitat, munching on delicious plants, enjoying the sunshine as it filters through the trees, drinking from raindrops as they splash and plop upon the leaves.
But at some point, the caterpillar retreats into a cocoon. Immobilized in darkness, it can no longer walk, explore the trees, eat its favorite plants, or enjoy the sunshine and the rain.
The cocoon may appear to be a step backward; a sad moment in the journey of the caterpillar. But in the darkness of the cocoon, a miracle unfolds: the caterpillar is transformed and reborn as a beautiful butterfly 🦋
The metamorphosis requires patience, trust, and equanimity… but it results in a powerful new being, graceful and free, soaring through the skies and exploring the vastness of our spectacular world.
Today, we find ourselves undergoing a similar metamorphosis, here at Meditation Magazine.
The Journey So Far
Over the last nine years, our journey together has been life-changing, enlightening, and deeply humbling.
We founded meditationmag.com in 2014 as a digital publication, dedicated to making the world a happier place through meditation. Over the following years we received many requests for printed magazines, and so, in 2018 we sent our first issue to press! We carried it, by hand, in giant cardboard boxes, to bookstores and meditation studios around Greenwich Village and lower Manhattan.
By 2019, our beautiful, colorful, life-changing magazines had found their way onto the shelves of renowned retailers like Whole Foods, Barnes & Noble, in 20 countries around the world… and into the homes of tens of thousands of subscribers. We felt deeply gratified and fulfilled, sleeping peacefully at night, knowing that we were making a difference in a world yearning for peace, love, and awakened consciousness.
But the global economic landscape has been rapidly changing. The after-effects of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions and inflation have dealt a staggering blow to the print magazine industry. Faced with soaring costs of paper, printing, and shipping, many of the world’s largest magazines have gone out of print.
We are proud to say that we have outlasted some of the titans of the print industry (including Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, Allure, Health, Parents, O, and Yoga Journal). But our persistence has taken a toll on us, draining us both financially and emotionally. Unless there is some major change or windfall, it is financially impossible for us to continue printing four magazines per year.
After smashing through a thousand brick walls, we have finally hit one that we are unable to break. We have found ourselves at an impasse, needing to change direction or risk the very essence of our mission.
It has become more and more clear over the past few years that our journey as a caterpillar must, inevitably, come to an end.
The Metamorphosis
We have done our best to face these challenges with calm minds, steady hearts, and persistent equanimity. We have taken time to meditate and reflect, which has given us a clearer view of the bigger picture, and of our powerful new path forward.
In the stillness of the cocoon, we have gotten back in touch with ourselves, and with our core mission: making the world a happier place through meditation.
Meditation Magazine has been a vehicle — I like to imagine it as a vintage VW Bus with big colorful peace signs painted on its sides 🚌 😂 — to fulfill that mission. But our clunky old hippie bus is out of fuel, chugging, sputtering, and breaking down on the side of the road at this point. It cannot take us as far as we intend to go.
But something beautiful has happened over the past nine years of driving this beat-up old hippie van. We’ve developed relationships with tens of thousands of meditators whom we’ve met along the way. Subscribers, supporters, colleagues, partners, and more: we’ve found ourselves surrounded by a community of meditators who have joined us in our mission, who are as excited as we are about making the world a happier place through meditation.
Our broken-down bus can no longer carry these tens of thousands of beloved companions, so we’ve taken the past few months to build a new, improved, and fundamentally more powerful vehicle: a cutting-edge rocket ship that can soar to the outer reaches of the galaxy and beyond 🚀
We have custom-designed this fancy, shiny, newfangled rocket ship to carry millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of people. It can take us anywhere that we need to go in order to fulfill our mission of building a happier Universe through meditation 🤩
While Meditation Magazines will always be comfortable and cozy to curl up with on the couch, to flip through at the beach, or to sink into in a bubble bath… our powerful new vehicle can transform millions of lives — including yours — in ways that a print magazine never could.
We will miss our cozy caterpillar, and its jaunty journey amongst the leaves, but we are blown away by the breathtaking butterfly that is emerging from its cocoon.
And so, without further ado, we are excited to announce the metamorphosis of Meditation Magazine into its new and more powerful form: MEDITATION UNIVERSITY
Meditation University: Our New Wings
Our commitment to our mission to make the world a happier place through meditation, and to serving our current subscribers, led us to create Meditation University – a digital platform that offers extensive, immersive, and engaging meditation courses from world-class teachers.
We believe that providing online meditation courses and teacher-training programs is the most powerful, sustainable, and effective way for us to continue spreading the transformative power of meditation, and continue to make the world a happier place through meditation for decades to come.
Meditation University is already hosting 15+ life-changing courses on a wide array of meditation practices and techniques, and we will be adding dozens more over the coming months.
We are also excited to share that a private social network for meditators will be launched on the platform soon!
Honoring Our Early Supporters
As we embark on this new journey, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our earliest subscribers. Your support has been instrumental in our growth and success. In honor of your commitment and support, and in order to compensate you for any print issues that we may not be able to send you, we are providing you with a complimentary membership to Meditation University (valued at $108/year) at no additional cost to your current subscription 😃
Keep an eye out for an email from us, that is being sent to the email address that we have on file for your subscription. The email will contain an auto-login link for you to access your new Meditation University Membership! You should receive the email at some point in August, 2023.
If you’d like to access your new Meditation University Membership before you receive the email, you can log in now at meditationuniversity.us, using the same username & password that you use for your meditationmag.com account!
If you subscribed to Meditation Magazine as a way to learn meditation, discover new techniques, deepen your practice, and connect with your fellow humans on this beautiful spiritual path, then we believe Meditation University will be an even more powerful vehicle for you than Meditation Magazine could ever have been.
However, we do understand and respect the fact that some of our subscribers have connected with us for other reasons. Many of our subscribers are doctors, dentists, and other healthcare professionals who just wanted printed magazines for their waiting rooms. Others are libraries, hospitals, and individuals who don’t have access to smartphones, computers or the internet. If, for whatever reason, Meditation University will not be an acceptable replacement for your Meditation Magazine subscription, please know that we are here for you, and we are eager to work together to meet your needs. If you find yourself in this category, please click here to access our customer service form to explore alternative options 🙏
What about Meditation Magazine?
While our metamorphosis has given us wings to fly through the ether of the digital realm, that doesn’t mean we have abandoned our earthbound form entirely 🌲
We intend to continue publishing digital & print issues of Meditation Magazine, albeit at a less frequent schedule.
As Meditation University grows and flourishes, we may even gather enough resources to increase our print frequency again in the future!
By keeping your Meditation Magazine subscription active, you not only retain access to your new Meditation University membership, but we will also send you any and all new issues of Meditation Magazine that we publish during your subscription period as well 📚
Continuing Our Journey Together
Jovanna and I, and all the wonderful authors, teachers, and meditation activists at Meditation Magazine, are embracing this transformation as an opportunity to elevate our service to you and the broader meditation community. We believe Meditation University will become an even more powerful vehicle than Meditation Magazine ever could have been, to help you on your spiritual journey.
Change is an integral part of life. It’s how we grow.
At Meditation Magazine, we are stepping into our butterfly phase, excited to explore the vast sky of possibilities with you 🌤️
Our collective journey has always been about more than just a magazine. It’s about creating a world filled with peace, love, joy, and understanding through the transformative power of meditation.
Thank you for being a part of our transformation, for embracing this metamorphosis with us, and for continuing this journey of inner peace and awakening. Like the caterpillar, we have emerged from our cocoon stronger, ready to fly higher, and looking forward to making the world a happier place with you.
We look forward to our shared journey, our collective transformation, and the exciting new chapters that lie ahead at Meditation University ✨
With deep and sincere gratitude,
Kevin Ellerton, CEO
Meditation Magazine & Meditation University
We are excited to welcome these changes together. Let us gaze out from this new beginning, marvel at our new horizons, and embrace the journey within. 🦋🙏🌼
FAQ
Q: How can I manage my Meditation Magazine subscription & Meditation University membership?
A: All of your subscriptions and memberships are still managed through meditationmag.com/my-account. For example, if your Meditation Magazine subscription renews, your Meditation University membership will automagically renew as well (at no additional charge) 😃 If you cancel your Meditation Magazine membership, your Meditation University membership will automagically be canceled as well 🧙♂️
Q: Will I still receive magazines as well as online courses?
A: Yes! We are still producing magazines, but at a slower pace. Some will be print, and some will be digital. We will send you all the magazines that we publish while your subscription is active. Economic conditions have made it impossible for us to print four magazines per year, but we can still collaborate with our esteemed meditation authors, teachers, and interviewees to create hundreds of online courses for Meditation University 😃
If you have additional questions, please email them to [email protected] 🙏