by Don Basile | Dec 28, 2016 | Tech
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.
by Don Basile | Dec 9, 2016 | Sports, Tech
Virtual reality technology is slowly seeping into several industries, including marketing and casino gaming and even travel, as companies realize the power of virtual experiences. Now, we’re seeing virtual reality technology making waves in the fitness industry with the introduction of a full-body fitness program that aims to help players improve their fitness level without having to set foot in a gym.
Ryan DeLuca of Boise, Indiana, retired from Bodybuilding.com and then teamed up with tech designer Preston Lewis to launch a new company centered on fitness: Black Box.
Black Box creates a full-body workout program customized for the user and allows players to complete their challenges online with others from their home or office. Workouts are completed entirely in virtual reality so a gym membership becomes obsolete.
The creators of Black Box are currently testing the concept and experience in their office, working through all the drill sequences and developing a scoring system. It’s been coined, ‘the gym of the future’ and could very well lead a new generation of gym experiences that give users a chance to completely immerse themselves in a fitness experience while getting in shape.
The game is designed as an adventure or mission so it doesn’t feel like you are working out. According to Black Box VR, “You aren’t working out. You are saving a city. Or solving a mystery. Or finding the treasure….Functional fitness in a fictional world.”
The company has developed three 40-minute exercise routines with different scenarios and have integrated props, such as electronic cable systems, for resistance training into the game. The app that goes along with the game keeps track of performance and all the details of the workout so the user can make adjustments and set goals.
Black Box is getting ready to revolutionize the fitness industry with a no-gym-required workout program. It could very well be paving the way to the future of fitness where simulating movement in a fictional world is just as effective — and maybe even more so — than lifting a dumbbell or running on a treadmill at the local gym.
