The Second Breath Center has grown and thrived over the years by focusing on a very personal experience, allowing spiritual leaders to connect on an individual level with guests. The mobile app would need to provide a similar sense of connection and experience as an in-person gathering. This required a collaborative and honest user experience and design process involving research, experimentation and user-testing. In addition to incorporating existing offerings such as high-quality guided audio meditations that feel similar to the in-person experience, new interactive features were expected to provide alternative paths for self-discovery.

The concept of Spiritual Practice cards grew out of our early conversations, and a non-functional (but beautifully designed) prototype was created for Second Breath to conduct a round of user-research. Our prototype gave them the opportunity to test out their newest features and gain valuable client feedback. With the influence of client feedback, valuable refinements were made to the cards themselves in addition to improvements around language and user-flows.

We knew that the iOS and Android apps being built would need to compete with some of the meditation mammoths like Calm and Headspace. Our team was inspired by the challenge and a deep commitment to believing in the vision was necessary from start to finish, and beyond.

The first month of the Second Breath project was focused on user experience and design. Together we created a beautiful logo and branding that represents Second Breath’s mission and company inspiration. During our first sprint we also created the development architecture and cloud infrastructure to support the build of the most important features known to make it to MVP. After getting some great feedback, our designers polished the look and feel of the app to pass on to our dev team.

From there the magic happened with features coming to life, packaged and presented on a weekly basis to the Second Breath team. With major iterations released on a monthly (sprint) basis, the iOS and Android apps could be continually tested and improved upon. We were able to test initial features like the Spiritual Practice Cards, login and account management, subscription features and more with focus groups. The final information we gathered from beta testing helped us cross the threshold needed for go-live. By remaining clearly focused on user goals, the team had a strong shared sense of confidence for official launch at Second Breath’s annual conference, roughly six month’s to the day work began.

“We believe the Second Breath app is one of the primary means of fulfilling our mission (in addition to our other events).” – Greg Farrand, Executive Director

Almost a year after launch, the Second Breath app has provided powerful and efficient ways to offer spiritual practices around the globe. The timing of the app launch could not have been more perfectly aligned with a major worldwide call during the pandemic to prioritize emotional and mental health. Since launch in Q3 of 2021, Second Breath has seen a steady growth in app downloads and use among current and new customers. The success thus far has also enabled Second Breath to expand their team and hire multiple sales staff to support their growth. Demand for the mobile apps from community groups has since inspired new platform updates including a group membership on-ramp that has unlocked even more user growth.

Now used in over 50 countries, the app has proven to be an effective strategy for accomplishing the company’s mission, and has become a pivotal vehicle that helps position Second Breath as an internationally recognized spiritual brand. Their app continue to provide users across the world with a sense of calm – something we could all use more of these days! Second Breath continues to empower individuals to experience fullness in their lives through a wellness focus on body, heart and mind. If you haven’t tried the app, we encourage you to download it today – you won’t regret investing a few minutes of your time back into yourself with this app!