Headspace XR made me forget how much I hate meditation technology | Top Vip News

I’m not a calm person, but I would like to be. That’s why I keep trying various meditation techniques, breathing in and out as abstract graphics or disembodied voices guide me to a higher state of being. Or that’s what would happen if most meditation technology worked for me. Believe me when I say I wasn’t expecting anything from Headspace XR.

When the pandemic hit, meditation and mindfulness apps like Head space They were everywhere. It makes a lot of sense. Are you still meditating in virtual reality? It sounds ridiculous. Why would she breathe with headphones when she could just…not? But you never know! Things might surprise you! That’s why I, the meditation skeptic, agreed to try a demo of Headspace XR. Walking into Meta’s New York office, I thought I’d put on my headphones and nod politely as strangers pondered, watching me use a Quest 3 and breathe deeply. Technically, that is what happened, but I was surprised that I actually enjoyed what I was seeing inside the headset.

Headspace XR is what you would get if you took the Headspace app and turned it into a virtual playground. You walk around as an abstract, gender-neutral avatar and there are different places you can go and… play. There are plenty of “fountains” where you collect colored orbs and throw them at walls, or breathe and inhale the colors into your avatar. There’s a place called Energy Dome where you can go and move your arms while tracing shapes. The best I can describe is yes Beat saber and tai chi had a baby. I’m sure he looked dumb from the outside, but inside the Energy Dome I was having a good time.

You can also open a small map to see all the areas within this mental health playground. A giant stream of humor, where six balloons with faces that represent various emotions await you. Tapping one will tailor the experience to whether you’re feeling happy, sad, bored, anxious, angry, or lonely. There’s a mural with slingshots lined up in front of it that you throw virtual paintballs at that eventually uncover a message. (In my demo, it was “Be Present.”)

Actually, there are many slingshots. At one point, we were encouraged to simply throw balls through giant shapes in the sky: inhaling when you step back and exhaling when you let them rip. You can also invite friends to hang out with you in various “public” spaces and clubhouses. The most traditional experience I tried was visiting the Boxy Treehouse. It’s a virtual treehouse at sunset where you can see a visualization of box breathinga deep breathing technique to calm the nervous system.

Everything looked like a pocket for meditation pills. But instead of hiding medications in a treat for your pets, you’re learning meditation skills through play. That’s by design.

“There are five pillars of mindfulness that we talk about specifically at Headspace. You have to meditate, move, eat, sleep and play. For me, gaming is something that we could really access in the VR world, but was difficult to access in the 2D world,” says Sara Cohen, vice president of content creation at Headspace.

Another feature launching in Headspace XR is more mixed reality experiences. I wasn’t able to try these out during the demo, but I was told that they are designed to allow you to interact with your real environment. For example, one allows you to draw a window in your room and a guided visualization allows you to watch bubbles of positive energy fly through that window into your space.

“The idea is to bring the practice to your daily life. Because it’s not so much about techniques and exercises. Mindfulness is truly a lifestyle,” says Kessonga Giscombe, one of Headspace’s mindfulness and meditation teachers. “It’s the same with the XR experience.”

It’s a good feeling, although I’m still skeptical about VR meditation in general. Last week, I tried the Mindfulness app on Apple Vision Pro and that typical “Look at these shapes and breathe with gratitude” experience never resonated with me. So, as a meditation skeptic, there’s something about the Headspace XR approach that strikes me as novel. I would try it again. That’s even though part of me knows they’re giving me something good in the form of a game. But if it’s good for me and I enjoy it, does it really matter how I get there?