Tokyo Olympics: Dhyana partners Heartfulness Institute for Indian contingent

NEW DELHI: Homegrown meditation tracker Dhyana, official meditation partner of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the Tokyo Olympics, on Wednesday announced a partnership with Heartfulness Institute.

Launched in December 2020, Dhyana, backed by badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, is owned by tech startup Avantari Technologies that specialises in biomedical engineering, product design, AR, AI and VR.

Under the partnership, Heartfulness Institute, which follows the Raj Yoga method of meditation, will work with Dhyana to integrate all its meditation techniques into Dhyana’s meditation tracking platform. This will enable athletes' access to meditation practices that will help them sharpen focus or recharge themselves.

The Heartfulness Institute has also tailor-made custom meditations for the Indian contingent, which are available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu.

Rajeev Mehta, secretary-general, IOA said that in the light of the ongoing pandemic, the association has been exploring greater adoption of technology to make the team feel safe and sufficiently motivated to give their best at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“Our partnership with Dhyana is one such step in this direction. This entire experience of data-driven meditation for our players will contribute to their overall emotional wellbeing and will significantly help in enhancing their preparedness,” he added.

Pullela Gopichand, director, Dhyana and chief coach, Indian Badminton Team, said that it is not easy being where the players are right now.

“As if the pressures associated with the highest level of sports were not enough, fluctuating restrictions around the pandemic imposed in the Olympic Village are bound to further affect morale to a certain extent. We are confident that with the help of Dhyana’s tailored guided sessions and data-driven meditation, the contingent will be able to better focus on building their overall mental health in these trying times,” he added.

The Dhyana smart ring is capable of measuring your ‘mindful minutes’, or the amount of time a player is actually focusing while in a meditation session. It does this by continuously tracking one’s Heart Rate Variability (HRV), or the gap in between two consecutive heartbeats, which is further broken down into the three fundamentals of every meditation session - the quality of breathing, focus and relaxation.

“We are leveraging age-old practices like meditation, and further strengthen them through biomedical technology. Coupled with the expertise that Heartfulness Institute brings to the table in terms meditation practices and overall, well-being, along with Dhyana’s biofeedback capabilities that gives real-time response to users on their meditative state, we believe the Indian contingent will now be able to perform to the best of their capabilities,” said Bhairav Shankar, managing director, Dhyana.