Mumbai: Petit BamBou, the freemium, non-religious, mindfulness app in Europe that helps people cultivate a healthy habit for their mental well-being, is now available in India. With 6.4 million users worldwide, Petit BamBou is one of the most downloaded apps in the Health and Fitness category, and over 145,600 ratings in IOS with a rating of 4.5 out of 5 and 78,700 ratings in Android with an average rating of 4.5/5. The app was founded in 2014 by Benjamin Blasco and Ludovic Dujardin, friends, and web entrepreneur, with the common goal of making the practice of mindfulness meditation more accessible.
India is the land of yoga and meditation, concepts that are not alien to the subcontinent. Petit BamBou’s expansion into the country is aimed at accessing this market as also offers the varied expertise of professionals on its platform to users. The launch of the internationally acclaimed app in India also comes at a time when levels of stress and anxiety are at an all-time high triggered by confinement, job losses, uncertain political scenario, among other things.
Petit BamBou, created and developed in collaboration with certified experts and professionals specializing in mindfulness, meditation, and psychology, has a catalog of over 330 meditative and mindfulness exercises, organized in paths. The app is launched by leveraging the community of the Petit BamBou Facebook page, a virtual character, cheerful and positive, who embodies a wise old man, followed by 930K fans.
Speaking about this, Benjamin Blasco, said, “Stress, lack of sleep, and other lifestyle issues are commonplace today. This has been exacerbated by the pandemic which has brought about a new normal. In the lockdown days, there was uncertainty around how things will proceed across all sectors, and this continues to be the case even now that activities have resumed. In such a humdrum, there is a need for people to cultivate serenity, deal with anxiety, and ensure that their minds and body are still for holistic well-being. This is exactly what Petit BamBou aims to offer. After a successful run in Europe, we are now in India and hope to make a significant impact on people’s lives, especially Gen Now, which is seeking these solutions.”
Betsy Parayil-Pezard, who lends her voice in English for the app, says, “Sound has an integral role to play in the domain of mindfulness and meditation. It creates a resonance within us that can generate deep well-being. Well-chosen sounds can impact the mind and its capacities and amplify our connection and enjoyment of the present moment. As a certified professional coach and student of mindfulness, I am honored to be a part of Petit BamBou’s app and the venture’s journey toward bettering people’s lives.”
The meditation exercises in the app cover important topics such as sleep, stress and pain management, anxiety, relationships, and work, accompanied by videos and explanatory stories to understand the cardinal principles of mindfulness meditation. The application offers free customizable sessions for duration and background music as well as tools for short meditations. All programs are usable even when the phone is in airplane mode. To clarify doubts or deepen some topics, there is an FAQs, forums, and other useful contacts section.
The application is simple and high on usability with an immediate and easy to understand interface that embodies a zen spirit. The main menu includes a tab dedicated to the reproduction of the meditation session; one that allows access to the catalog of available programs; the third, called “sound”, offers different musical atmospheres; and the last, linked to the personal profile, summarizes the hours of practice. The Petit BamBou App is accessible from all devices and sessions are guided from start to finish.
The different voices lend themselves completely to relaxation, the atmospheres accompany the user into the heart of nature, near the water or in the countryside. By downloading Petit BamBou, users have the possibility to subscribe to have full access to the programs. The free part gives access to a meditative path of 8 sessions called ‘Discovery’; and to the sections ‘Free Meditation’; ’Sounds’, ‘minutes.’ By subscribing, one can discover the real added value of the app. The charges are INR 249 (monthly), INR 1249 (semester), INR 1999 (yearly), and INR 7996 (lifetime).
