We first noticed in 2018 that spirituality is entering digital space in a new way. Meditation apps were hot investments, and platforms like Co-Star, which pinged users’ phones with daily astrom readings and zodiac-inspired tips, hinted at exciting things. Drawing inspiration from turning astrology into an app, co-star founder Banu Guler told mindbodygreen, “When people fix their iPhones, they almost look like broken people. Technology touches every aspect of our life; it’s only a matter of time “before it all becomes some kind of technological version of itself.”
The pandemic proved her right. When all of our lives were relegated to the screens in 2020, digital spiritual practices gave space for people to find meaning in an otherwise hollow time. And nowhere were they more in demand than on TikTok.
Sarah Regan, mbg spirituality and relationships writer, recalls how TikTok went from being a fringe app to being a social media platform of choice when the pandemic broke out. “Maybe it was because we moved away from society as we are used to, which made people more willing to present themselves online,” she recalls.
Melanie of @MysticTarot, one of over 1 billion active users on TikTok, remembers opening her account around this time in May 2020: “The first two videos I posted both went really viral and passed over 50,000 likes. I gained followers very quickly, ”she tells mbg. Although she was new to the practice and had only bought her first deck a few months ago, this early success encouraged her to continue releasing daily tarot moves that caught the collective’s energy in a minute or less. Her account now has over 229,000 followers, 10.7 million likes and is her main source of income. (Followers can also purchase personal metrics from her for around $ 5.)
Max Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Breathwrk, a platform for guided breathing, is also successful with the app and has collected over 1 billion views. He has some guesswork as to why practices like breath work translate so seamlessly into social media: “One of them is that breathing exercises are extremely quick on the mind and body, so that their effects can be felt within the timeframe of a TikTok,” he tells mindbodygreen. “Another reason is that people often experience stress from consuming too much social media.
The quick, informal nature of the app means YouTubers like Melanie and Max can post videos multiple times a day if they’re inspired. Videos tagged #Spiritualtok now have 956 million views and #spiritual means 7.9 billion.
But among these millions and millions of videos, the deeper meaning of some of these practices can easily be lost.
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