If high stress levels tend to rule your days and you’re committed to living a healthier lifestyle, technology may be able to help you out. Cigna has unveiled the Cigna Virtual Relaxation Pod that gives you a chance to escape reality for a while — a two-minute break that works to push the reset button on your day.
The pod makes use of virtual reality technology using the Oculus Rift headset and headphones. You’ll enter a sound-insulated environment for a multi-sensory experience. The entire experience induces a state of mindfulness and relaxation, an opportunity to explore a virtual environment with expert-guided meditation. You’ll be locked in a sound-insulated pod and all you need to do is sit back, relax, and breathe deeply. You get to choose your environment: a Zen garden, a tropical beach, or a woodland campsite. You’ll go on a two-minute sensory journey that allows you to just let go, escaping from reality to experience a state of mindfulness.
In an interview with Medical Daily, Cigna Solution Architect Rachel Stein shares that Oculus technology helps transport the user to a relaxing environment where they can take advantage of the benefits of mindfulness therapy. The pod engages all the senses, making you aware of your current state of mind. The guided meditation helps you maintain a state of mindfulness, peace, and calm, in a relaxing setting.
The team behind the Cigna Virtual Relaxation Pod are hoping to see the pod installed inside hospital lobbies and other places where people tend to feel tense, nervous, or anxious. Just a couple of minutes in this pod can promote a meditative state which helps induce a state of calm and natural relaxation.
Would you be first in line to settle in to a virtual relaxation pod? Innovative experiences like these could be the next generation of health and wellness. Virtual reality can control the mind and in ways that make significant changes to our health and well-being.
