The full story

born from personal experience
I had a burnout 12 years ago. A full mental and body breakdown, followed by some years of depression. I had professional therapy. By chance, I met Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and learn about his buddhist practice. He was very clear, that it was not about learning Buddhism or becoming a Buddhist, but just practice what is good for us. Learning to heal. These practices are actually very simple, but not always easy to do. It was about sitting meditation, mindful walking, silent meals and sharing.
In the sharing groups we practice deep listening: listen to each other without the constant commenting and judging, not even within our heads. For many this is the first time in their life's, that they are truly listend to. And this can be very healing. Especially if you have peers in your group that have gone thru similar life challenges and therefore truly understand your suffering.

at work
As I found all these practices very healing over the years i gathered my courage and tried to bring the group sharings to my work place (a 100% remote, distributed company). No need to point out the buddhist aspects, just a practice that could help. I was absolutely surprised how great the acceptance was to try it out.
Once a month on fridays we practiced deep sharing sessions for one hour in my workplace. People would completely open up and share from their heart. We got to know each other so much better. We learned from peoples challenges and suffering in life and why they may not have been as productive the other week as usual. We also learned how we could support each other better and take care of each other. It was a wonderfull experience and i brought it to the next job as well.

the idea
Some years ago i registered the domain eqoah. Every Quarter Of An Hour. the core idea back then was to have a meditation and a sharing group starting every quarter of an hour 24/7 around the world. So in case you needed or wanted support you could get it with only a few minutes of waiting time. While that idea is still valid, but we extended it to having dedicated groups who would come together on a regular basis. Instead of social media consumption any time and place, making a commitment to join your group in video gatherings on a regular basis. For your own healing and growth and to support the other group members in their healing and growth when they need it. In many ways eqoah is the antidote to social media.
In Addition, being a late diagnosed ADHD person i wanted to find a group of other late diagnosed people to hear from their struggles and experiences. I searched the web and found one online group in my country. It was full and the website said: don’t contact us, we have a waiting list for years to come. I was frustrated. how should I find / create such a group. Randomly I met a person who knew of such a group and gave me an email address. i could join a neurodivergent worldwide online group. it is a bliss. yes, there are other people like me. Yes, there are people struggling with same challenges as me. I am ok, I am not wrong or broken, though I can't be fixed. Its ok. I am enough.
Why is there no worldwide registry for any kind of such peer groups, topics or needs? Where I can find, join or create such groups for exactly my needs. Now there is: eqoah.
A safe, trustworthy place to share with your tribe, to heal and grow together.

We offer safe online sharing groups. One person speaks at a time. Uninterrupted. All other listen deeply, not commenting or judging, not even in their heads (needs practice). For many people it’s their first time they are really listened to. Once you experienced it, you see the difference from everyday chattering.

general sharings
In general sharing groups there is no common topic. everyone can share from their heart. Sometimes it’s easier to do this with total strangers, after all agreed on the same rules. After time these strangers may become the closest and most important people in your life. Even if they life on another continent.

special interest sharings - find your tribe
These groups are for people with same topics. Neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, Parents who lost their child early in life, … anything that is relevant for you and an area for healing and growing. Find, join or create a group, it's easy.

meditations
Guided and silent meditations, mindful eating.

we work hard to make it happen
We are looking for all kinds of fundings. Until we find enough we all are working on side jobs to make a living and pay for build and run costs of the platform.
Our dream is, to bring eqoah to the world, help millions of people heal and grow, and make a living from it.
We don't want to make a ton of money from eqoah, we are not pumping it up as fast as possible to sell / exit. We want to earn a decent living and make eqoah outlive us.

subscriptions
We start with a monthly subscription of 10€/$ per person per month. It's less than many streaming platforms or close to your favourite coffee brew and yet much more helpful. You can subscribe multiple seats to offer free subscriptions in the eqoah wide pool to support those who can't afford the fee.

lower subscription
As soon as we are break even, we will lower the subscription pricing to a level that the company can serve sustainable. We don’t want to get rich helping people, just make our living.
We also want to give back to the thich nhat hanh practice centers around the world for lightning the spark.

investors, gifts, payback
We are also looking for investors of any kind. As we are a for-good company we don’t sell shares to protect our mission. You can invest in eqoah and get up to 4 times your investment back in the course of 10 years after break even. if you are interested, please write to info@andthelight.com.

Patagonia
if we are about to retire, we want to transfer eqoah into a legal form, that ensures the for-good aspect no matter who runs the company. similar to what patagonia did.

the founding team is:
Me, Jürgen, computer scientist, CTO and CEO in previous (commercial) startups, Software Architect.
Paul, long time Colleague of Jürgen, computer scientist, Consultant, startup hardened.

road ahead
We have a ton of ideas what we want to add to eqoah. For more sensible sharing topics, we want to introduce a higher security level only accessible for those who have registered with an (electronic / real) ID.
We want professional moderators to be able to offer groups with additional payments / gifting.
In the future we also will offer beginning-a-new session.

final words
Please help us grow the community by spreading the word.
If you have questions or ideas, let us know info@andthelight.com.
We can always spin up an online session to discuss things or listen to your needs and ideas.

Jürgen