For people in pain, mindfulness can lead to not just a measurable reduction in pain intensity (Popert 2017), but more importantly the pain is less distressing (Aboalsamh 2011). It's when people reduce avoidance of painful activities that they are able to do more rewarding and satisfying activities (Zetterquist 2017). And yet, for novice meditators with chronic pain there can be an initial increase in pain intensity (Perlman 2010).
Can virtual reality help someone persist in learning meditation even through that initial stage when it's painful and distressing?
Floating on Air is a VR experience for learners of mindfulness who want to build a better quality of life with chronic pain. For people with a diagnosed chonic pain condition, learning to pay attention to sensations of pain, can be a tough fight against that powerful survival instinct to flee, to remove our selves from causes of pain. Through this experience, they are guided to gently focus on sensations of pain with open, non-judgemental acceptance; to learn different ways to give up fighting and instead find a new relationship to their pain.