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There are a surprising number of meditation apps available in virtual reality, and I am their target demographic. I want to make progress down the Noble Eightfold Path, and/or experience the reduction in stress and other benefits that come from meditation. On the other hand, I find meditation tedious, and I think I can get the same relaxation benefits from sitting in a dark room and listening to Hawkwind anyway. But maybe VR is the answer? I checked out a bunch of VR meditation apps to see whether they might be helpful, and rated each on a scale from 1 (wandering ego trapped in the prison of the self) to 5 (liberation from the cycle of suffering and rebirth).
First, an expert weighs in
I know a lot about VR, but less about meditation, so I talked it out with Shawna Thibodeau, a meditation teacher and spiritual mentor. She explained that there are different schools of meditation, and her description of "concentrative meditation" sounds a lot like what the VR experiences I've tried are going for. "With concentrative meditation, we're focusing our attention on what's called an anchor, like the breath," Thibodeau said. "When you focus your attention on something other than your thoughts, you start to gain awareness into your thoughts. And then, with every time that you come back to your anchor, you're training your mind to come into the present moment."
But there's a strong obstacle between the VR meditation applications I've seen and most traditional forms of meditation: visuals. If you're starting transcendental meditation, say, step 2 (right after "sit in a comfortable position") is "close your eyes." But Reality doesn't Virtual with your eyes closed. According to Thibodeau, visualization/manifestation meditations might be better suited to the virtual world:
"What we're doing there is shifting the state of energy that we're sitting in...the state of energy we're sitting in actually influences reality," Thibodeau explained. "If you're sitting in a state of abundance or expansion, that energy will start to influence your outer reality, and you can actually see changes in your outer world. Synchronicities can come to you, new opportunities, and your life can actually start to shift in a really interesting and kind of magical way."
I asked Thibodeau to visualize a VR meditation app that used that kind of practice, and she said: "There'd have to be a visual that basically helps you get into that elevated state, right? So I don't know, maybe they could show you like winning the lottery, and then it prompts you to be like, 'how does this make you feel? Get into that state.'"
Leaving aside the efficacy of meditating for manifestation, it does seem better suited to the virtual world than traditional meditation, but it also seems like virtual reality (and video games) already put people in a state where they are fully engrossed in an experience they presumably want to manifest: most video games are power fantasies. Whether that power manifests in the real world is a bigger question.
Tripp
Tripp might be the most well-known of the relaxation/meditation platforms in VR. It encompasses a ton of experiences designed to get users to practice mindfulness, improve focus, or enter a state of “calm,” There are guided meditations, visual breathing trainers, psychedelic “focus journeys,” and trippy abstract visuals that pulse and swirl, all wrapped in a new-age-meets-techbro aesthetic that's heavy on implied drugs. Some of the experiences are directly inspired by psychedelic experiences—there's a series called "Machine Elves" that is clearly based on DMT visuals, and the app itself nods toward that vibe in its marketing, with references to “inner space,” “expanded states,” and “digital psychedelics.” A lot of people love Tripp, but it felt overwhelming to me. The sessions were slick, but it left me “zen-adjacent” at best. It's meant to be calming, but it amplified my inner critic. It's like taking drugs without feeling like you're taking drugs, if that makes sense. It's pricey too: Monthly subscriptions are $9.99.
Best for: psychedelic seekers who are afraid to drop acid
Enlighten-o-meter score: 2.5 out of 5
Meditate
In contrast to Tripp and in keeping with its no-nonsense title, Meditate doesn't offer a ton of gimmicks. It features five 10-minute "experiences" designed to deliver mental clarity, calm the mind, and "renew your body through healing sound frequencies." In practice, this involves a soothing voice telling you to chill and just sit there, droning "music" (I really can't stand the music that is synonymous with spiritually colored relaxation) and graphics of caves, volcanoes, and other natural things that look like they're out of Minecraft. It's relaxing, I guess, but mostly because "relaxing" and "boring" are practically roommates. But, hey, it's only $1.99, so you can try it out fairly cheaply.
Best for: budget-conscious newbs
Enlighten-o-meter score: 2 out of 5
Liminal
Liminal is way more ambitious than Meditate and features graphics that are fully Xbox360-level. It offers a ton of different interactive and non-interactive VR "experiences" grouped into rough categories. It seems like "awe" and "energy" are the most popular and feature some cool tech demos/mini-games, but I was interested in "calm," where the meditative mini-games are. The ones I tried weren't particularly groundbreaking. One was supposed to hypnotize me, but didn't. The other featured that droney "spiritual" music and a reverb-drenched woman's voice telling me to breathe more slowly while I looked at digital birds.
Best for: gamers who want to kind of relax
Enlighten-o-meter score: 3 out of 5 (but mostly for the non-meditation experiences)
Flowborne VR - Biofeedback Breathing Meditation
If you've ever tried to meditate and didn't know if you were breathing from your belly or not, this app will give you the answer! You "play" Flowborne VR by resting a controller on your gut. It tracks how far your belly expands and contracts as you breathe. Deeper breaths from the diaphragm make you move faster through semi-abstract landscapes. In other words, this app gives you a way to track how well you're breathing, and a reason to concentrate on it. Finally I can be the best at breathing! Personally, I don't like thinking about my breathing because it feels like another damn thing i have to worry about, but if breathwork is your thing, and you want to get better at it, this app would do it.
Best for: breathwork nerds
Enlighten-o-meter score: 3 out of 5
Pillow
Pillow doesn't make lofty claims about consciousness-raising, mindfulness, or serenity, but I found it to be a more calming and meaningful experience than any other meditation app I tried. Pillow is played lying on your back in bed, already a more relaxing experience than other apps. Among its five mini-games (called "dreams") is "the Meditator," the best meditation app I tried overall. It uses the same controller-as-breath-monitor as Flowborne VR, but the soundtrack features chill little indie loops instead of weird drones. So much better. Another standout from Pillow: "The Fisherman," an experience that lets you reel in virtual fish from your ceiling. Each fish contains the recorded voice of another user of Pillow answering a question like "What would you most like to do in your life?" or "What moment would you like to relive?" I found that connecting with the thoughts of a fellow human while drifting off to sleep to be way more meaningful/spiritual than being told to stare at outdated graphics and imagine connectedness. It's show, instead of tell, and $9.99 is a small price to pay for such a strangely beautiful experience.
Best for: chill weirdos and insomniacs
Enlighten-o-meter score: 4 out of 5
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