When Facebook bought Oculus, fitness was not a VR category people had high hopes for. But it now appears that all VR needed to make exercise apps an attractive business was wireless headsets. Could meditation be on a similar path?

There’s certainly reasons to think so. Indeed, VR is already key to mindfulness or spirituality for some. There’s the example of D.J. Soto, a preacher who delivers sermons to hundreds in VR. Burning Man’s commune ethos has gone virtual many times over. Or the Temple of Light—a community recently profiled for our Weekend section—and its second home “in the metaverse.” 

The best evidence may be the success of Tripp, which runs a subscription meditation app across multiple VR platforms and has raised $15 million to date. This month, Tripp acquired EvolVR, a live meditation non-profit that has led thousands through meditation sessions in Microsoft’s AltspaceVR.