Travel stress-free with mid-flight mindful meditation

By MiNDFOOD

Travel stress-free with mid-flight mindful meditation

Virgin Australia has hosted the world’s first dedicated meditation flight with Sir Richard Branson, in partnership with Australian wellbeing and mindfulness meditation not-for-profit organisation Smiling Mind.

The flight involved passengers being treated to a hot towel service and hand massages, before Smiling Mind led a guided meditation at 30,000 feet.

Virgin Founder Sir Richard Branson says: “Integrating mindfulness into our everyday lives is just as important as eating well and exercising regularly, and I am so excited to see Virgin Australia deeply embedding mindfulness into the workplace and onboard flights.

“Virgin Australia is very focussed on supporting the mental health of its passengers and team members, and there are very few of us who haven’t been directly or indirectly impacted by anxiety.

“We want to encourage more passengers to use their time flying with Virgin Australia to exercise their mind through meditations in the Inflight Entertainment System, and what better way to make this known than by holding the world’s first dedicated meditation flight,” Sir Richard says.

Virgin Australia today also announced a new way for anxious travellers to self-identify with the airline prior to travelling. From early next year, passengers will be able to identify as having feelings of travel-related anxiety before they fly, leading to personalised communications in the lead up to their journey, and face-to-face interactions while onboard the aircraft. Virgin Australia will release more information on this in the coming months.

Smiling Mind CEO, Dr Addie Wootten says: “Mindfulness is a fantastic tool to combat travel-related stress, so Smiling Mind is delighted to be able to provide travellers with access to our guided meditations while in-flight.

“As little as a couple of minutes of meditation can improve our overall sense of calm and wellbeing during a flight. And what better time than in air to meditate; we would love to see every passenger use air travel to give their mind time to thrive,” Dr Wootten says.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Print Recipe

BECOME A MiNDFOOD SUBSCRIBER TODAY

Let us keep you up to date with our weekly MiNDFOOD e-newsletters which include the weekly menu plan, health and news updates or tempt your taste buds with the MiNDFOOD Daily Recipe. 

Member Login