What does wellness look like in the Metaverse?
Metamindfulness: The metaverse is getting ‘mindful’ to help humans and avatars alike unwind.
Across the United States, United Kingdom, and China, 56% of people report feeling mentally healthier thanks to technology and 81% say they switch on digitally to unwind.
The surprising new research comes from tech-consultancy analysts Wunderman Thompson Intelligence, who have found that the metaverse and mindfulness aren’t mutually exclusive. “People are bringing their health and wellbeing habits with them into the metaverse, and are looking for brands to help them cultivate their ‘metamindfulness’ practices,” they say.
Back February 2022 Alo yoga unveiled an immersive yoga and meditation experience on Roblox to promote wellbeing. The virtual ‘Alo Sanctuary’ is designed as “a place of retreat and healing” and includes guided meditations, daily on-demand yoga, and a sound-bath inspired soundtrack. “We’ve heard many powerful stories about how Roblox has served as a healing platform and a central lifeline for our community members’ wellbeing,” explained Christina Wootton, VP of global brand partnerships at Roblox, “Now our community has a space to practice mindfulness and learn about the importance of meditation directly from top wellness experts.”
The Alo Sanctuary
Likewise, wellness platform Tripp is also working to create a ‘mindful’ metaverse. It leverages virtual reality technology to “hack mindfulness” and “hack other moods to give you more agency over how you feel,” Tripp CEO and cofounder Nanea Reeves explains. Within the metaverse Tripp has compiled hours of meditations, sound frequencies, nature sounds, music and teachings with animations to support you wherever you are throughout the day. The idea is that you can use their virtual space to take mindfulness breaks in the car, in line at the grocery store, before or after workouts, or you can take a moment to reflect before you drift off to sleep.
Tripp
They even have created a live metaverse community with a moderated event space named ‘EvolVR’ that features experienced mindfulness teachers who help you to expand your knowledge of meditations.
In June 2022, Tripp raised over $11 million to boost its virtual meditation offerings, with investments from Amazon, Qualcomm, and Niantic.
