Reviewing the newest guided meditation app by Mumbai's oldest yoga institute

Ruchita Shah meditates using the Nispand app. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

Ruchita Shah, 33, Gujarati Mid-day reporter, yoga practitioner-instructor

WHEN you log in to Nispand, the new meditation app launched by The Yoga Institute, Santacruz, it opens up a plethora of options. The app, which offers more than 1,000 meditation techniques and personalised solutions, allows the user to select their destination - unlimited happiness, increased productivity, deep relaxation, power of positivity, loving relationships, sound sleep and one-pointed concentration. This enables the app to offer filtered solutions to help you reach your goal, be it through guided meditation clips, pranayama techniques, healing or solfeggio frequencies, 90-second meditation guides, binaural meditation, mantras, and nature and sound-based clips.

The different features of the Nispand app

For instance, I tried a session on one-pointed concentration and came out feeling beautiful from within. The instructions are helpful, the voice of the instructor is calm and soothing, and the background scores of the guided meditation clips help you to get into the zone. However, in some cases, the initial introduction is too long; it might bore the user. But if you can stick through them, it can be a calming experience.

There are a number of binaural sounds, natural sounds and healing frequencies, such as waves, chirping of birds, heart chakra frequency, stone dropping in water and more. Many of us, myself included, prefer to listen to mantras. The app is packed with Gayatri Mantra, Waheguru mantra, Siddhi Vinayak mantra and more. Simply relaxing to these mantras or even working while listening to them will help you unwind.

Although the app claims to offer over 1,000 meditations, most of them are subscription-based. The free options are limited. While the subscription is for Rs 99 per month and Rs 899 for a year - which is quite reasonable as compared to other apps - I would have liked to sign up on a trial basis before committing. A lot of similar apps offer the option to try out all the features for a week or two, before you sign up for the subscription plan. The stress monitor is an interesting feature, but that too is available only post subscription. Unlike other apps, they don't send reminders for practising daily. The app's interface will appeal to people across age groups, irrespective of their experiences.

It's a handy tool if you want to sneak in some relaxation while on the train, or a quick stress-busting session between work hours.

Log on to https://nispand.com/