Meditation helped him process his PTSD and trauma – now he shares its benefits at US$15,000 retreats in Ibiza, Spain, and via free OPO app
- When Chris Connors began to study meditation, it was his ‘secret world’. He learned it from Buddhist monks and spent time in Indian meditation and yoga retreats
- Today, the Irishman shares its benefits at exclusive retreats and via a free app that anyone can use to immerse themselves in meditation and reap its benefits
Irish fashion entrepreneur Chris Connors was on fire in the late ’90s – in 1997, he founded award-winning London fashion label Uniform, which was stocked in the trendiest boutiques worldwide.
Overnight, however, his world changed. His partner died suddenly from meningitis and, without him, Connors could not go on. “We were on a trajectory and his death tore it apart.”
He realised he had been storing up trauma without properly addressing it.
“Growing up 18 years in Belfast, during the Troubles [the violent civil conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted three decades until 1998], having experienced what I experienced, I realised I actually had very active PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder],” he says.
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“When I started going into that inner world, I discovered there was a lot more to do, and that practices and therapeutic processes were the way forward.
“It’s what I call entering your inner wilderness. You’ve got to go in there, and it is full of all sorts of terrain. When you sit with yourself awhile, things start to reveal themselves.”
When you meditate, you realise, ‘my thoughts are not me, I can control them’
Sometimes, he would be gone for as long as three months with no contact from the outside world.
“I would come back feeling very relaxed and open from the experience; it was so powerful that people would often wonder if I was feeling OK … they had never seen me so relaxed before,” Connors says.
In 2004, he considered quitting the rat race altogether and joining the monastery in Japan permanently, when the monks instead asked him to go out and spread the word about meditation to others.
“That is when it became apparent that I had a mission in life,” he says.
He returned to London with the idea of setting up meditation classes, but could not find a space to do it. But he knew from experience in the fashion world that there was a dire need for it.
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“My clients were deeply unhappy and stressed,” he says. “I thought, I have to help these guys in some way.”
In 2005, he retrained as a coach and began a practice providing leadership meditation coaching to some of the world’s most burned-out executives and individuals, from the chief executives of FTSE 100 companies to Oscar-winning Hollywood actors. Meditation formed the basis of all his work.
He also discovered the magic of Ibiza, where he is now based, which seemed the ideal setting for his vision. On the Spanish island he launched his Instill Programme in “high-quality yet rustic” accommodation.
The four- or five-day immersive experience focuses on physical, mental and emotional growth, and isn’t cheap: prices range from £12,000-£15,000 (US$15,000-US$19,000), which includes lodging, therapy, activities and one-on-one coaching.
He runs about 10 sessions of his Instill Programme each year. Eight are already fully booked for 2023.
Connors became known in particular for his vision quests. Originally a Native American rite of passage, these quests have individuals spend days in the wilderness alone without food, seeking a vision of purpose.
“You normally go with specific questions … and nature has a way of showing us everything,” he says.
“Only by sitting for that length of time were they able to discover the roots of their depression,” he says.
“With meditation, you can shift your [mental] state. Before, I had the worst monkey mind. I mean, I was jumping around. When you meditate, you realise, ‘my thoughts are not me, I can control them’.”
While his work was having an impact on the minority of financially successful people who could afford the sessions, Connors felt compelled to create a meditation platform that would be accessible to all, as well as continuing with his one-on-one coaching.
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In 2014, as the wellness movement began to take off, he started to think about creating local spaces in neighbourhoods where regular people could immerse themselves in meditation.
Connors’ desire to democratise meditation has gone beyond physical spaces to a free app called OPO, which launched last year.
The app centres around “meditation portals” in places including London, Paris, New York, Ibiza, and soon, Asia. When you “arrive” at the location, guided by a map, OPO talks you through a guided meditation or breathwork specific to the view before you.
Top hotels, including some within the Marriott Luxury Collection and the Mandarin Oriental in Europe, are incorporating the OPO app into their wellness programmes.
Co-working and office space centres such as those managed by The Office Group in the UK are also offering special focus booths with guided meditation through the OPO app.
Connors is now working with the founder of a meditation centre that has opened in Shanghai, China’s biggest city, called Creative Shelter.
“Through meditation I want to create something like a local town hall … a new type of accessible community centre for people’s mental and emotional health,” he says.
“If you have a bad day, you jump in there for 10 minutes, and you come out and you know you’ve connected into the power of the present moment and resolved something for yourself. That’s my dream.”
