Filed by KOSU News in Art & Life.
November 28, 2009

These days, there are smart phone applications that allow you to track airplane departures and landings and steer you to new restaurants. Apps can imitate bagpipes, flutes and bird calls and even translate a baby’s cries. Now, there’s an app to relax.

Deepak Chopra is taking his message of mind-body healing to the iPhone with an app of interactive stress-reducing exercises called Stress Free. It will cost just under $10 to download.

“Most people when they think of iPhones or BlackBerries or just everything that’s digital these days, they associate it with stress,” Chopra says. “So the thought came to me, why not use the very technology that is supposedly distracting you to bring you to the present, to help you focus on the moment, to help you get rid of stress. There is no stopping technology, and what we do with it depends on us.”

The Stress Free app reminds you throughout the day to “stop and pause and reflect,” he says. The reminders come in the form of music or meditation messages like “Take a deep breath.”

The app also offers feedback, Chopra says. “You can actually touch a portion of the app and it might tell if you’re at this moment stressed or relaxed … and tell you exactly what to do to counterbalance your stress.” He says there are many ways to gauge stress, such as temperature of the skin and galvanic skin response, a measure of its electrical resistance.

To combat stress, the options include following a guided meditation or even listening to a joke.

But why not just turn off your phone?

“Well, it would be wonderful to do that, except most people won’t do it,” Chopra says. “I have to be very practical. I see some remarkable benefits that will come of this technology.” Copyright 2009 National Public Radio