Sudden Popularity of Yoga and Meditation: 2 Powerful Mindful Surge

By Agrima Chopra

A sudden surge in the popularity of Yoga and Meditation practices can be witnessed nowadays. A centuries-old practice is being recognized now. Through the form of influencers, YouTube videos, and trained professionals in yoga moving to different parts of the world and disseminating their knowledge, Yoga has taken hold in the present generation. 

Meditation too, through the blow-up of apps like Headspace, Calm, Stop Breathe and Think, the practice of meditation has become accessible and in some ways trendy. These apps have also partnered with OTTs and airlines which have further added to their marketing and increased their popularity manifold. With the formation of dedicated meditation studios opening up in metropolitan cities like New York and Los Angeles, the feasibility and importance of meditation are being highlighted in the west too. 

However, what is it that makes people want to imbibe and make yoga and meditation a part of their routine?

The hype around practices, ways of life, food, or even around self-care doesn’t last too long unless they are actually beneficial.

That is exactly why there has been found a gradual, continuous increase in the popularity of yoga and of meditation. Backed by science and being relatively easy to learn and perform, these mindfulness activities are low-maintenance with high results and that is what makes them attractive, not just to try out but also to retain and practice on an everyday basis. 

As Rinzler of MNDFL correctly said, “It’s no longer just your spiritual friend saying you should try meditation, it’s your doctor.”

What’s the Hype, why the popularity?

From being preached by yogis, to being preached by youtubers, yoga and meditation has changed shape and modified through the times and the dynamic needs of newer generations. 

The sudden surge of popularity in Yoga and Meditation can be credited to various reasons.

The benefits of yoga and meditation, backed by science, are becoming increasingly recognizable. Both are low-impact exercises that can contribute greatly to the wellness and health of a person. It has been proven to provide balance, strength and flexibility and also reduces stress and anxiety giving way to better sleep and a better daily routine. 

With the explosion of academic platforms and free courses and classes online, the almost enigmatic practice of yoga and meditation was made accessible and learnable by anyone, anywhere. Anyone could, with the help of a stable network and a device, learn yoga or meditation and follow through. It is also up to the person to choose what level they want to try, for how long and how frequently. Making it a very user-friendly practice.

The role of social media – Social media has played an endlessly important role in the publicity and boost of yoga and meditation. People look up to celebrities and want to look like them, thus when yoga and meditation gets promoted by the same, everyone else also wants to find out and reap the benefits for themselves. Celebrities like Kate Hudson, Gisele Bundchen, and Beyonce swear by yoga. 

This also makes it trendy and attractive to the younger generations.

Yoga and meditation also caters to the audience that resonates with mindfulness and spirituality. It helps people focus on the present, be self-aware and mindful. It claims to help boost growth and steadily amount to lasting changes like a calmer more focused brain, increased creativity and decreased stress.

Yoga has helped countless people transform their lives. From urging them to live healthier, to leading them to quit substance use and value their bodies. 

“Yoga brings you into a deep sense of relaxation physically and that creates more space for you mentally and spiritually. I started to understand that there was no satisfaction in trying to find happiness outside myself, for example through material possessions; all this stuff brought only temporary happiness, nothing permanent. 

I now practice every day.” – Vernon Kenny, 50- The Guardian.

Similarly for meditation, the impactful practice has garnered popularity worldwide. Its effects can be felt easily and can also be build upon if practiced regularly. 

Studies show that meditation has been proven to reduce stress and anxiety. It also contributes greatly to increasing gratefulness and kindness in the person who practices it. Through the form of guided meditations and metta, a type of mediation based on love, the user is told to practice thankfulness, be present in the moment and spread love. Studies show that this inevitably leads to kindness. 

“I’ve also discovered a new way to show compassion to myself and others. Somehow my heart has opened to more experiences, more concepts, and things aren’t as rigid or confining in my mind anymore…I feel more in a way, more of life I guess.” – Dena Argyropoulou, OutWitTrade.

All of these testimonials and reasons are what can be attributed to the surge in popularity of yoga and meditation. 

People start because of curiosity but stick to it because of results. 

Real-Time Benefits of these practices – 

Yoga –

• Yoga may help improve sleep – Studies have shown that the aftermath of exercise and mental clarity is what helps people fall asleep faster. Yoga does just that. Through physical and mental stimulation it calms the brain and makes for a stress-free atmosphere. Thus making it easier for us to sleep and stay asleep deeply as well. 

• Yoga boosts self-confidence – Yoga has been proven to heal body-image issues and improve self-esteem. It helps heal depression and anxiety as well and contributes greatly to better functioning of the mind and body. 

• Yoga can improve body awareness and posture – Yoga was proved to have developed brain functioning in the centers responsible for enteroception (recognizing the sensations within your body) and posture. 

• Yoga can boost immunity as well – “These results imply that yoga may be implemented as a complementary intervention for populations at risk or already suffering from diseases with an inflammatory component. Beyond this, yoga practice may exert further beneficial effects by enhancing cell-mediated and mucosal immunity.” – Yoga and immune system functioning: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. 

• Increased strength – Yoga can be a very effective way of increasing strength. Besides being useful for learning flexibility, lengthening and stretching, it can also be used a very beneficial strength building tool. It has been proven to increase strength in breast cancer patients, adults, air force personnel etc. 

Meditation – 

• Keep Anxiety In-Check – It has been seen that through meditation and mindfulness, anxiety and feeling of anxiousness can be kept at bay. Through the guided meditations and their sayings filled with self-statements, gratefulness and mindfulness, it reduces the chances of someone getting bothered by the future or feeling anxious about the same. 

• Meditation can help you know yourself – Meditation can teach you things about yourself. Through the promotion of self-awareness and being present with yourself, you learn things about yourself. It enlarges your perspective and gives you a sense of stability. 

• Helps fight addiction – Meditation can help you prioritize and learn to divert your attention. It help you know how to put your energy into things that are beneficial for you and not the other way around. 

• Increased attention-span – Meditation can help increase the endurance of your attention. People with experience in meditation tend to stay more focused towards a task than people with none. It changed patterns like mind-wandering and zoning out. 

• Improves emotional health – Meditation can lead to heightened empathy, emotional health and most importantly prioritizing. It helps you stay grounded and in the moment thus resulting in better emotional health. It trains the brain to find silver linings and helps reduce depression. 

Thus the popularity of these age-old techniques in the sudden generation is for the good. It enables us to learn, to live and to breathe as fuller, more holistic people.