On an average, an office worker in Indian cities spends around 8-9 hours at work and another 2 hours commuting between home and the office, and increasingly polluted air puts a huge strain on their physical and mental fitness.
Yoga, an ancient Indian practice that combines meditation and exercise, can help reduce anxiety and recover from stress more quickly. It’s also known to improve memory and cognitive performance as you age, and significantly reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
In celebration of International Day of Yoga (June 21), we got tips from expert Samiksha Shetty on how you can use your Apple Watch to practice yoga and meditate for mental health.
Is the best time to practice yoga early in the morning or in the evening?
“The best time to practice yoga depends on your personal preferences, lifestyle and schedule. Morning yoga helps you start your day on a positive note and energizes the body. It’s a great way to wake up your mind and body and get ready for the day,” said Samiksha Shetty.
“Evening yoga, on the other hand, helps you unwind and de-stress after a busy day. It helps you get into a relaxed mode, which promotes better sleep,” Shetty added.
Photo credit: Samiksha Shetty
“Personally, I like to do yoga in the morning as it keeps me energised throughout the day. Some days I do yoga just before I go to sleep (yin yoga), which helps open up and relax the body so that I can sleep better when I get into bed. So it all depends on what you want to do – do you need yoga to energise you or do you need yoga to calm and relax?” Shetty points out.
Native Apple Watch app for yoga and mental wellness
The Apple Watch’s Workout app has dedicated yoga tracking, and users can track their state of mind with the Mindfulness app, both of which experts say are helpful.
“I use a mindfulness app, which helps me check in with myself regularly. The app not only uses breathing exercises to calm the mind, but also has a ‘reflect’ feature which helps me reflect on my thoughts and creative ideas by asking thoughtful questions,” Shetty said.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
Tips for new Apple Watch users
Set an activity goal: Customize your daily Move, Exercise and Stand goals in the Activity app to stay motivated and accountable.
For Apple Watch:
Step 1: Open the Activity app on your Apple Watch.
Step 2: Swipe up to see your Move progress, or keep swiping to see your Exercise and Stand progress.
Step 3: Tap the plus/minus buttons at the bottom right to change your selected activity goal.
Step 4: Tap to increase or decrease your daily goal.[設定]Tap.
Use notifications wisely: Enable notifications for activity reminders and mindfulness prompts to help you stay on track without feeling overwhelmed.
Monitor progress: Regularly check your stats in the Health app to understand patterns and adjust your routine if needed.
Open the Health app to check your health trends and get insightful charts on your heart health, stress, respiratory health, and more.
Be consistent: Consistency is the key to building new habits, so try incorporating Apple Watch into your daily routine, like tracking your workouts and setting aside time for mindfulness. Embrace the journey and use Apple Watch as a tool to enhance your overall wellness and mindfulness practice.
Top 5 Yoga and Mental Wellness Apps to Install on Your Apple Device:
1) Prayoga: It has been developed by Bengaluru-based company Parjanya, founded by husband-wife duo Raksha Rao and Krishna Prasad. It makes good use of the iPhone’s augmented reality (AR) technology to help you perform yoga poses correctly. With the Apple Watch, you can control your meditation music and playlists easily and hassle-free.
2) Glo | Yoga and Meditation App: This is a great app for beginners to start practicing yoga.
3) Daily Yoga: Fitness + Meditation: We offer several beginner-friendly yoga classes. Users can choose to improve their flexibility, build strength, and maintain good posture to avoid injury from extreme bending positions. We also offer meditation classes.
4) Asana Level: It offers yoga and fitness tips to help users lose weight and get fit. It offers a variety of yoga poses, high intensity workouts, and meditation sessions to improve your mental health.
5) Waisa: It provides emotionally intelligent chatbots that use AI to respond to the emotions expressed by users, and teach them techniques to help them deal with challenges.
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Published June 21, 2024 11:43 IST
