Opo: Stillness in the noise

That’s one of Chris Connors’ tips for an everyday mindful moment. Better still if you can focus on nature, he says. Look at the sky, a tree, the sea if you’re lucky. “Nature is always present. It doesn’t have any other place to be.” Oh, and turn off your notifications.

It’s late spring and Chris’s Northern Irish voice is soft and calm, each word considered and purposeful. In the glow of Ibiza’s morning sun – his home for the last eight years – he remembers growing up in war-torn Belfast. “That experience set me on a quest for peace,” he reflects.

Sometime around 1999, travelling among the monasteries and ashrams of China, India and Japan, Chris stumbled upon meditation, a “simple act that challenges our complex mind”. For him, it has become life practice. “It’s not just about feeling well; meditation guides you through emotional turbulence and physical challenges,” he says. “But there wasn’t anything like that when I came back to London.” So he did it himself – not just becoming a meditation teacher and embodiment coach, but carving out physical spaces for mindfulness too.

In London, Chris often meditates on the park benches of Berkley Square, surrounded by its “cathedral of trees”. “There’s lots of traffic and noise, but when you’re a meditator you’re able to just be with all that,” he adds. But OPO isn’t all about navigating a treasure map of portals; anywhere, any time you can tap into morning meditations that boost serotonin, 12-minute sessions designed to refresh the brain or decompress before bed. Domus Stay guests enjoy exclusive access to sleep programmes and sound frequencies that regulate the circadian rhythm and combat jetlag.

There’s a boundless appeal to OPO – more so as portals open across the world. And in the app’s birthplace of Ibiza, where the soul is pulled by the magnetism of Es Vedrà, they feel like a natural extension of the landscape. The island has long embraced conscious culture – from the feasts and rituals of the Phonecians to the hippy era and the Balearic beats of the 80s. Today, exploring OPO’s constellation of portals in Ibiza is to embrace an even deeper connection with those pine-carpeted hills and rugged red-clay cliffs – no matter whether you’re touching down on the White Isle for a week away or for life.

“There’s something about the frequency of Ibiza that brings together the beauty of nature and sound,” Chris thinks aloud. Amp up the energy with an sunrise meditation at secluded Cala Nova or let your gaze drift to Formentera from the shores of Las Salinas. It’s perhaps the soundscape at Cala Conta that has the most profound effect on OPO users, however. Chris walks us through the experience: ambient house beats inspired by Café del Mar as the sun makes its curtain call on the horizon. “Most people, when they sit there, tears roll down their cheeks,” he smiles. “It’s beautiful and heart-opening. A very soulful experience.”