M O K S H A
What would it look like if yoga and meditation took a turn into virtual reality?
Since the pandemic, many people had to be kept quarantined, limiting the expansion of the self within a confined space. In turn, this has caused a mayhem in self-care and meditation practices, eventually leading to a plummeting decline in mental health.
MOKSHA* provides an easy-to-use mobile app that threatens its competitors with its functionality, variety, and modernity.
*This app is in collaboration with professional Yoga practitioners and Energy Workers and is for entertainment purposes only.
New Age Meditation
Traditional meditation practice is known to be held in sacred spaces that are dedicated to a cleansing ritual. Considering that the global pandemic affected the access to such spaces, how might we create an accessible platform for the urban 20-30 year-old population to experience mental and physical liberation through yoga and meditation in their own homes?
MOKSHA focuses on the advancement in technologies such as the introduction of Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and 3D/360 Experiences.
Introducing these elements into the world of Yoga and Meditation, brings an ease of use and accessibility into people’s homes to assess and maintain their mental and physical, and energetic bodies.
To further the development of New Age Meditation, we focused on using meditation tracks that are inspired by Electronic Dance Music (EDM). The fusion of the genres of electronic music with the practice of yoga helps to synchronize the brain hemispheres and makes our adrenaline rise, EDM is used as a background of routines by instructors, students and yogis to achieve a better concentration and harmony, especially in young people who are lovers of this type of music (Raveradar, 2022).
Meditation in Virtual & Augmented Reality (VR & AR)
The main purpose of MOKSHA is to offer a well-rounded meditative experience that can be accessed from any place - with or without VR goggles.
In collaboration with Vartika Jangid, we managed to create three customizable meditative spaces to be experience either in VR or projected onto any screen. These spaces provide a sense of autonomy to the users to set their own pace, theme, and meditation style throughout their practice.
In addition to VR, we use AR/360 to help visualize yoga poses for those who are looking to further their yoga practice with advanced poses. The AR feature also includes a breathing exercise to help regulate the nervous system during the day.
Sound Arts
For some participants, the music itself and the subcontextual messages it projects are therapeutic... Artists such as Earthcry often incorporate specific frequencies in their music that have associations with either binaural beats or sound healing traditions. Music also has the capability of supporting meditation, which is a key component of spirituality in this context (Backfish-White, 2021).
To test this out, we asked our followers on Instagram whether they would prefer meditating on EDM based tracks. This helped us approach the age-range that we are focusing on, with the understanding that our acquaintances have a liking toward meditation. Our combined results of over 70 responses showed that 74% would prefer meditating to EDM tracks.
Demonstration of AR Yoga Poses.
EDM soundtrack customized by Hergun Virdi.
MERCHANDIZE
To facilitate the customized meditations, users can purchase packs such as the “anxiety relief” pack, featuring lavender, eucalyptus, and sage products that can help support the user in releasing feelings of anxiety (Fenton, 2022).
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White Sage: known to clear out negativity.
Palo Santo: known to energize one’s space with positivity.
Incense Sticks: known to aid meditative practice
Crystals: known to oscillate frequencies from a space.
Room Spray: For those sensitive to smoke.