New App – Evolve: Body, Breath, Mind

The idea of the Evolve app first arose in 2016 in Tenerife when senior Yantra Yoga instructor Fabio Andrico asked Palzom Films to create a Yantra Yoga promotional video and some additional videos on breathing techniques. In that period, Fabio started to talk about the idea of making an application with exercises for fluid breathing, relaxation, presence and awareness.

Fabio had already tried to develop a simpler app called Breathym based on the Rhythmic breathing of Yantra Yoga as a start for a wider ecosystem of well-being for body, energy and mind. 

Then the first meetings were held during which the possibility of creating a new app was discussed. However, at the time the project didn’t materialize because it needed fundraising and preparation.

In 2020 Fabio had the renewed idea to develop a more organic app, originally for the Atiyoga Foundation. For different reasons the project was presented to the Gakyil of Merigar West, it was accepted and Merigar applied for a grant from the Italian Buddhist Union to fund the app. Fabio mentioned to the Gakyil that he had done some videos with Palzom Films and so the Gakyil asked Palzom Films to be a kind of umbrella for the project, not only doing the videos and taking care of the artistic side, but also finding developers and taking on the role of project managers. Palzom Films was able to find some developers from Italy, Vergani e Gasco, with whom they already worked in the past.

Palzom Films discussed the project with the developers and decided to apply for the grant. They wrote the project together with Merigar and then sent it to the Italian Buddhist Union which finally accepted it. Between 70% to 80% of the funds for the project were from the Italian Buddhist Union and the rest was provided by Merigar. 

The app is free and its main purpose is to help people to relax the tensions they accumulate in daily life and help them breathe in a more natural and efficient way. Breathing well is the very foundation of a healthy life, physically and mentally. 

In the app there are exercises to train the complete, fluid breathing as it is explained in Yantra Yoga. While many apps can guide you to breathe in and out and hold your breath with different rhythms, they don’t really explain how to do it in a smooth, harmonious and efficient way. For Fabio it was important to help explain and train people to breathe correctly and eventually hold their breath in a proper way.

The idea of the app was not based on religion but as something useful for everyone and that also has backing from several scientific studies. In the app there are references to some of these articles and you can find those sources in a special section of the app.

The Evolve team consisted of Fabio Andrico, Palzom Films and the developers. There were also six instructors – Fabio, Natasha and Dina Priymak, Fulvio Grosso, Maria Jovanovic and Alessandro Di Maio – who came to Rome to shoot the videos with exercises. Actually, Mаria and Alessandro were not instructors at that time but now they have been authorized. Natalie Nitsche was also part of the team. For example, she had to check all the videos to establish the right timing to breathe in and to breathe out, etc. Someone else, not from the Dzogchen Community, did the voice recordings.

The structure of the app is based on the interdependence of body, energy or breath, and mind. There are very few other apps that have this concept. Evolve is not only about yoga; it is not just a yoga app. It is divided into three main parts. 

The body section has simple warm-ups exercises to strengthen, stretch and help make the body more flexible. Then there is the breath part that is Yantra Yoga up to the eight movements to purify the prana, the rhythmic breathing, as well as the Respira method created by Fabio to open up and make breathing more relaxed and efficient. The mind part consists of guided meditations and guided relaxations.

The team also collaborated with Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo and other Tibetan doctors who suggested some mind exercises to balance the elements. For example, in the beginning, when you start using the app, if you wish to balance your element, you have to answer some questions. In this way you can understand what is, at that time, your dominant element, so that you can do some exercises to balance it.

The whole project was a big group effort because in the app there are about 200 exercises. For each exercise Palzom Films filmed from three points of view so they had to shoot about 600 videos. Then for each of these videos Fabio and the team had to create a description and all the relative instructions. They had to write all the texts for the recordings of guided meditations and all the other different elements of the app.

There is a section specifically dedicated to the practice of rhythmic breathing. There you can set all the different rhythms you want to practice, for example from 4-4-4 to 8-8-8 and so on.

The app works in this way: there are separate, single exercises you can choose and you can structure your own routine. Or there are also already coordinated routines and quick hacks you can choose to practice. They can be only for the body, the breath or the mind. The team has also created many routines combining together exercises from all different sessions.

For example, a routine could be to learn fluid breathing – to train specific movements – with all the elements together. 

There are seven or eight kinds of sessions and routines. In some of them there is a beginner’s level, in others a medium or a more advanced level.

This is the first basic version of the app. If people like it and would like the project to be continued, improved and expanded, with collaboration it could be done. Elements of Vajra Dance, Khaita, more elements of Tibetan medicine, Respira, and some new contributions could be added.

Let us know if and in what way you might be willing to collaborate – [email protected].

You can download the free app – Evolve: Body, Breath, Mind – at Google Play and the App Store.

The Evolve app team