Meditation During The Pandemic

44% of users started meditating in the pandemic, with 81% meditating daily, spending a whopping 2 Bn minutes in total, says ThinkRight.me survey

 A recent pan-India survey conducted by ThinkRight.me, India’s leading wellness app, reveals that the pandemic led a large amount of people to opt for meditation and yoga as a part of their routine. About 44% of the surveyed individuals said they started meditating in the pandemic and about 81% of them meditated every day spending a cumulative 2 Bn minutes. However, it was noticed that even though a greater number of people meditated in 2021, they spent a lesser amount of time doing the activity as compared to the app’s survey conducted last year. Another insight from the survey was how most users seem to have made their peace with COVID-19 as 66% of users said masks not being mandatory did not make them feel anxious or worried and 71% are excited to resume their pre-pandemic lifestyle of getting back to colleges and offices fully.

More people meditated daily in 2021 but for lesser time as compared to 2020

·        Top reasons for practising yoga and meditation was reducing stress and anxiety, becoming calmer, more productive, increase self-confidence, improve focus, for peace and happiness, better sleep, and finally for improved and healed relationships

·        Most users seem to have made their peace with COVID-19 as 66% users said masks not being mandatory did not make them feel anxious or worried and 71% are excited to resume their pre-pandemic lifestyle.

ThinkRight.me belongs to the house of JetSynthesys, Pune-based new-age digital entertainment and technology company with a global foray into three key ecosystems – gaming and esports, digital entertainment, wellness and livelihoods. The survey was conducted across multiple cities featuring age groups of 18 to 60 years and more, where 47% of the respondents belonged to non-metro cities.

Overall, it was seen that 66% of the users practised yoga and meditation for reducing stress and anxiety, 46% to become calmer and the same amount of people chose yoga and meditation to increase their self-confidence. 33% wanted improved focus towards their work and studies and 32% believed yoga and meditation made them feel at peace and happy. The reason for 32% of the people to choose this activity was better sleep and 27% wanted better productivity. 19% wanted to be improved and healed relationships.

Talking about the survey, Rajan Navani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of JetSynthesys, said, “The need for mindful living accompanied by wellness measures like yoga, meditation, and positive daily affirmations has been at an all-time high in the recent years. At ThinkRight.me, we’ve always been a firm believer of the power of the combined force of all three practices. Since last year, in a bid to understand the needs of our consumers better, we started doing a holistic survey to gauge what aspects of their lives they needed help navigating. This is the second year of us doing the same survey and we’re realising that peace, happiness, and personal growth are still top priorities for users when they embark on this journey. With World Yoga Day round the corner, we hope more individuals understand the benefits of yoga and meditation and as a collective population, we’re able to deal with the vagaries of modern-day existence better.”     

Additionally, the survey revealed the reasons for individuals opting for meditation were varied between men and women. While the order of preference among female users was personal growth, peace, happiness followed by stress release and better sleep, for men it is peace and happiness first, followed by personal growth, stress relief, and better sleep in that order. It was also observed that the pandemic gave rise to people practising daily affirmations and about 50% of the total people survey practised it actively during the pandemic. Lastly, people working in the private sector and those who are self-employed were seen to be more active in the practice of yoga and meditation.

Evolving continually to meet the needs of users in this dynamic ever-changing world, ThinkRight.me recently bolstered its service offerings with a dedicated section for kids, a digital journal, meditation timers, breath timers, chants timers, as well as categories that serve to focus on breathwork, sleep, and Yog Nidra.