Fitbit has launched a new mindfulness series with Deepak Chopra, as it looks to expand its stress fighting and mental health focus.
For the uninitiated, Deepak Chopra is a meditation guru and a powerhouse in the world of mindfulness.
Available to Fitbit Premium users, the Mindful Method series with Deepak Chopra consists of 30 meditations, with 10 initially launching now.
The initial sessions have names like “Fall Asleep with Deepak Chopra’s Guided Beach Visualization”, “Managing stress at all times” and “Cultivate and abundance mindset”. They range from three minutes to 20 minutes long.
The sessions are accessed via the Discover section of the Fitbit app, and are available regardless of the device you own, so you don’t need the stress-detecting Fitbit Sense to get involved. You just play them from the app and plug in your headphones.
The mindfulness and meditation session will have different topics, such as topics ranging from meditation, managing emotions, winding down for the day and stress relief.
They all fit into Chopra’s four pillars of mindfulness: mind, body, emotions and spirit.
And there are also sessions around helping fit mindfulness into your day and improve the quality of your meditation.
It’s no surprise that stress is on the rise, with a global pandemic causing carnage worldwide.
With millions living under restrictions and juggling work and home-schooling children, it’s no wonder stress is on the rise. Fitbit cites research by the American Heart Association that estimates 1 in 3 of us report mental and physical side effects of stress.
The Deepak Chopra content joins existing mindfulness content from Fitbit, although it clearly hopes this will attract new users into Fitbit Premium, which costs per month or per year.
It already has tie-ins with Aaptiv, Aura, Breethe and Ten Percent Happier. And the Fitbit Sense also has mindfulness moments via the EDA sensor.
This new content looks to be a step above the existing offerings – but the Fitbit Discover section still has some way to go until it can be considered the Apple Fitness+ of mindfulness, which is surely Fitbit’s long term aim. The design and ease of discovery has some way to go, and it just doesn't feel like a coherent part of the paid-for experience quite yet.
We're sure that this will be a key part of 2021 – and if Fitbit can get more content of this quality on board, it will be well worth paying for.
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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.