More than anything, Apple’s Vision Pro is a start. There are moments when using it that feel like a porthole to a different world and — perhaps — the future. It’s imperfect, sure, but it’s an undeniable achievement after so many decades of extended false starts to reality. Using the headset for even a few minutes is a fascinating experience, but perhaps more importantly, it offers tangible glimpses of where things are going.
I’ve long been a stickler for mindfulness apps. That doesn’t mean I use them much these days, but I feel like I’ve tried them all. One key thing missing from engaging with a Headspace or Calm on a phone or tablet is immersion. It’s hard to overstate how powerful an immersion tool is, especially for those just starting their practice. It’s something the Vision Pro has plenty of.
Like the world of AR and VR, my own practice has been littered with false starts. Meditation is hard. Perfect. Even seasoned veterans have trouble silencing noisy brains. It’s a lot harder when you’re first trying to get your feet wet. It can be frustrating and anxiety-inducing, having virtually the opposite of the intended effect. but you have to be patient, dedicated and willing to put in the time if you are going to get ahead.
Along with apps, I’m crazy about trying just about any piece of hardware that promises to help initiate an awareness practice. It’s, as you’ve no doubt surmised, largely crap — the kind of plastic junk that gets used twice and then stashes away in a drawer until your family picks up stuff for your estate sale. (I’ll make a caveat here about Muse’s smart meditation suite – it really helped me.)
I’ve always found attention to be one of the most compelling use cases for augmented reality. Again, it’s that sense of complete immersion that does so much of the heavy lifting, drowning out life’s distractions. Well, up to a point. My scary NYC apartment buzzer went off right in the middle of this morning’s session. There is so much you can do. As for the messy apartment, the whining of the radiator, the rustling of the rabbit and my neighbors yelling, pop on a pair of AirPods Pro and you’re off to the races.
Apple has offered Mindfulness on the iPhone and Apple Watch for a while now. It is a basic application, mainly aimed at breathing. It lacks the sophistication and content of apps like Calm, but anyone who has meditated successfully will happily tell you how important breathing is to the process. It’s like the drums in a rock track — it’s centered and steady.
Image Credits: apple
Here is Zen monk Shunryu Suzuki from his seminal 1970 book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind:
When we practice zazen, our mind always follows our breath. When we inhale, air enters our inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out into the outside world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless. We say “inner world” or “outer world,” but in reality there is only one whole world. In this limitless world, our neck is like a swinging door. Air flows in and out like someone walking through a swinging door.
If you think ‘I breathe’, ‘I’ is extra. There is no you to say “I”. What we call “I” is just a swinging door that moves when we breathe in and out. It just moves. that’s all. When your mind is clear and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no ‘I’, no world, no mind and no body. just a swinging door.
The Vision Pro version of Mindfulness works in much the same way. An image like a circle of flower petals expands and contracts to help you center your breath, while a narrator offers a guided meditation. It is simple, like the best parts of Zen.
Combine that with the headset’s Ambient offerings (essentially 3D desktop wallpaper for the world around you) and you’ve got a proper level of immersion that forces you to focus on the app, which forces you to focus on your breathing, making you pay attention to a powerful and important aspect of our lives that most people take for granted most of the time. Suddenly, you’re meditating on a sandy beach or the moon.
It’s the kind of tool I wish I had access to in those early days when I was struggling so hard to focus. It’s also a very welcome break in a device that’s half productivity, half entertainment.
Apple’s Mindfulness app is hardly the end all be all about space. It’s the tip of the iceberg, but a hopeful tip. When such a basic app can have such a powerful effect, it’s exciting to think about the direction developers can take, both in terms of mindfulness tools and altered states. Sorry, I can’t help but sound like late period Timothy Leary when I write about this stuff, but I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes.
