The election has increased demand for yoga, meditation and mental health

At 7:15 a.m. on November 6, just hours after Donald Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election, the atmosphere at the Washington Square West yoga studio was bulky.

“People were sobbing throughout the entire lesson,” said Callie Kim, founder Tuck Barre and yoga. Students expressed a variety of emotions: “Sad, frustrated, overwhelmed, feeling very tired, physically and emotionally exhausted.”

But all 18 of them – 17 regulars and one newcomer – showed up for the sold-out class.

Kim said it was the start of a busy week at Tuck’s three locations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s most Democratic city and one of several swing state areas where a majority of voters rejected the president-elect in his third bid for the White House.

At the Washington Square West, Northern Liberties and Point Breeze studios, Kim said attendance was up about 15%, along with a noticeable influx of novel faces. Was it a random influx of people who decided to improve their wellness habits at the same time? Studio feedback suggests not, Kim said.

“It’s about finding a way to regulate your emotions,” Kim said, “and for a lot of people that’s movement.”

Other exercise and mindfulness companies said community participation was just as forceful last week. Concerned residents are not only signing up for yoga, barre and pilates classes, but also booking private meditation sessions, joining group nature hikes, downloading mindfulness apps and seeking therapy.

If the trend continues in the coming weeks, then during another four years of Trump’s second presidencycould provide business owners with a tiny but significant boost. At Tuck, for example, newbies get one free lesson, followed by a month of unlimited classes for $99. Sessions then cost $18 to $28 each, or regulars can opt for additional unlimited packages, which include a greater discount on classes but a greater upfront cost.

Others have turned to meditation apps such as Headroom AND Composurewhich cost $13 and $15 per month respectively. On election night, Calm paid for the airtime necessary to run for office hushed 30-second ads during live coverage on CNN and ABC, and occasionally sponsored CNN’s “Key Race Alerts.” Headspace noticed spikes in interaction with it “Politics without panic” collection.

Overall engagement increased on both apps. Downloads of Calm, which includes narrow free content, were up 30% from the previous week, according to a company spokesman. In the week after the election, Headspace saw a 13% escalate in subscriptions and free trials, including an 11% escalate in Pennsylvania and a 24% escalate in New Jersey.

John Cole, Senior Director of Psychiatry and Medical Director of Headspace in Pittsburgh saw particularly forceful engagement the day after the election, including a 1,700% escalate in operate of the app’s “Pause for 5 Calming Breaths” exercise.

“People just wanted to be here now,” Kole said, “not in the next four years.”

People seeking peace meet in meditation centers

Dominique London spent more and more time there Holistic health collective Black Lotus over the last two years. First it was once a month, then several times a month, and recently at least once a week.

The week of the election, London, a 39-year-old master’s student, spent several days at Germantown, a cooperative of therapists, meditation teachers, yoga instructors and other mindfulness specialists. London was one of dozens of people who took part in the collective’s free two-day “Grounding in Calm” event, which included meditation and yoga, which took place on Election Day and the next morning.

“Before the elections, I distanced myself very much. I didn’t want to get involved in social media. I didn’t want to feel other people’s anxiety,” she said. When she learned about Black Lotus’ election events, “I thought this was exactly what I wanted to spend my time doing.”

The meditation time made the emotional burden of the days feel a little lighter, London said, and allowed her to continue Wednesday with less crippling anxiety than in 2016. She wished she had had that outlet back then.

Since the election, Cassandra Renee Bolding, founder of Black Lotus, said she has received a flood of emails asking what the collective can do next to help the stressed community.

“There have been — oh my God — requests for me to come out so that we can come forward, for us to provide services similar to Grounding in Calm, requests from various agencies and companies,” Bolding said.

She usually takes Saturday off, but she went to two different events on the Saturday after the election to provide sound therapy and other wellness resources. In her work as a licensed professional counselor, she said she attended five crisis sessions last week, and other patients have asked for an increase in the frequency of visits to deal with their choices.

As for the collective, she said she hopes to continue providing regular programming at a “nominal” cost, such as $16 for a yoga session or $1 for a minute of massage. She said she often asks herself, “How do I share this burden?”

On Veda cave Cherry Hill founder Nicola Rena Sinclair said she started receiving emails within hours of the election results being announced. Most of them were from women who wanted to book private meditation sessions with friends or partners for $300 to $500. She had one of those three-hour sessions last Sunday and another on Monday.

“One of them in particular was really struggling and was screaming it loudly,” Sinclair said. “It’s a fact that she couldn’t control that Trump was now in office. So what now?”

Sinclair said she emphasizes that acceptance is different than complacency: people can still protest, participate in activism and take other actions as engaged citizens, while accepting that they cannot change.

She added: “It creates friction in your body when you can’t accept certain things.”