Deepak Chopra is one of the figures who helped revolutionise the Hindu practice of meditation, or dhyāna, in the west. Chopra is a spiritual adviser to celebrities, Oprah Winfrey endorses him, and most importantly, he believes in the mind’s power to heal. Chopra is now sharing his mindfulness practice with even more of the world through his recent wellness collaboration with Fitbit.
Like many wellness practitioners, Deepak Chopra believes that we can practice mindfulness every day. Although Chopra has already written 80 self-help books, 21 being New York Times bestsellers, he’s imparting his advice a little differently this time, through his ‘Mindful Method’ for Fitbit device and app users.
Mindfulness, a form of meditation, is a practice designed to focus on achieving clarity and calm and reducing negative emotions. Chopra’s ‘Mindful Method’ goal is to make mindfulness more accessible to people worldwide, given that conditions like stress are more prevalent than ever during the pandemic. And we know that if we don’t look after and manage stress, anxiety and sadness, this can lead to adverse health effects.
“Partnering with Deepak Chopra is a natural fit as we are both committed to giving people the guidance and support that they need to improve their emotional and physical wellbeing, especially as we continue to persevere through the stressful, uncertain times that we are living in,” says James Park, co-founder of Fitbit.
The Mindful Method collection offers a range of mindfulness sessions to help you with your day, whether you want to take time out during a stressful workday, reset a bad mood, or prepare for a restful sleep.
Future Mindful Method sessions will also act as a deeper guide, showing you how to use mindfulness as a tool to manage stress and emotions, and improve concentration.
“For more than 50 years, I have studied the mind and body functioning as a single unit. I share Fitbit’s belief that mindfulness and mental wellbeing are critical centerpieces of your health that are interconnected with physical wellbeing and other aspects like building immunity against illness, your activity and energy levels, how well you sleep, what you nourish your body with, and how you manage your personal relationships,” says Deepak Chopra.
The Mindful Method builds on existing Fitbit resources and capabilities, including guided-breathing throughout the day to help you find calm and sleep analysis to see how stress factors impact your sleep quality. There’s also the Fitbit Sense device which allows you to track your body’s response to stress and manage it.
At a time when we are more stressed than ever, and there are more ways to take control of our wellbeing through the use of technology, we’ll definitely be giving Chopra’s Mindful Method a go. Although we don’t think we’ll be levitating off the ground (as Chopra has purported to experience), we’re open to exploring efficient, practical and accessible ways to take control of our mental wellbeing throughout the day.
Users need to sign up to Fitbit Premium via the Fitbit app or Fitbit.com to access the Mindful Method. A free 90-day trial is available for new users.
