Have you ever wanted to meditate with well-known health guru (and friend of Oprah) Deepak Chopra from the comfort of your own home? With Fitbit’s new Mindful Method initiative, currently available on the Fitbit app, you can — sort of.
Created exclusively for Fitbit Premium, its health and fitness subscription service, Mindful Method consists of audio and video sessions led by Deepak Chopra, M.D., a proponent of integrative medicine and founder of The Chopra Foundation. Each session is less than 20 minutes long and focuses on a variety of themes including mindfulness, sleep, stress management, mental wellness, and more.
Fitbit Premium subscribers who pay $9.99 per month will find the sessions listed under the Fitbit app’s Discover tab. As of now, the collection offers 10 sessions, covering topics such as stress relief, managing emotions, and meditation, among others. More will be added over the next few months.
If you do run out of sessions in the meantime, the subscription service offers a slew of other meditation sessions apart from Mindful Method (over 100 to be exact). You can find those listed under the Mindfulness tile from brands like Aura, Breethe, Ten Percent Happier, Aaptiv, and more.
Fitbit’s emphasis on mindfulness first began last year with the launch of the Sense, its first smartwatch to include an electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor. By placing your hand over the Sense’s display, this sensor can measure minor changes in your skin (like sweaty palms when you’re nervous) to monitor stress levels.
When used in conjunction with the EDA Body Scan feature, it’s supposed to get you into the habit of meditating for a few minutes throughout each day. But if you have the Fitbit Versa, Charge 4, or Inspire 2, you can use the Relax app (its built-in guided breathing feature) to help you through meditation sessions instead.
Fitbit isn’t the only smartwatch maker on the market to offer a mindfulness feature. Apple has its own Breathe app built into the Apple Watch as well. With Apple’s app, not only can you receive reminders to breathe whenever your heart-rate is elevated, but you can also start meditation sessions right from the Watch, and log them using the Health app.
It’s worth noting that Fitbit is currently the only fitness tracker brand to incorporate such an extensive catalogue of meditation options. And its new Mindful Method feature is proof the company clearly isn’t planning on slowing down when it comes to mindfulness.