Know thyself

Two words were carved in the forecourt of the temple of Apollo at Delphi: gnōthi seauton, know thyself. For the Greeks it was a reminder of limits: know what you are, and what you are not.

Twenty-five centuries later, we know more about the human body than ever, and still very little about our own. A watch counts steps and beats. A clinic sees us once a year, if that. Between the two sits almost everything that matters: how sleep, stress, food and movement add up, week after week, into the body we live in.

The same way, every week

To know something, you have to see it change. To see it change, you have to look at it the same way each time. That is the idea behind Soma Axon, the pod we are building: one short visit a week, the same instrument, the same conditions, so that when a number moves, it is you who changed, not the measurement.

Honest numbers

Knowing yourself also means knowing what a number does not say. Every figure Soma shows will carry how sure we are of it. A blank stays a blank, never a zero. Nothing is dressed up as more certain than it is.

Not a diagnosis

Soma is a wellness tool. It will not tell you what you have; that is your doctor's job. What it can do is give you, and the people you choose to share it with, a clear and steady picture of how your body is doing over time.

Know yourself, love yourself

We think the Delphic advice has a second half. Knowing your body well is how you start taking care of it, without fear and without guesswork. That is the whole of what we are building, and this blog is where we will write it down as we go: the science, the instrument, and the choices we make along the way.