Patent Publication Number: US-2020276407-A1

Title: Virtual reality guided meditation in a wellness platform

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/134,333, filed Apr. 20, 2016, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     This disclosure relates generally to the field of guided meditation, and specifically to providing guided meditation to a user in a virtual reality environment. 
     Meditation can provide numerous physical and mental benefits. For example, on a physical level, meditation may increase a person&#39;s energy level, lower high blood pressure, improve the immune system, and reduce tension-based pain. On a mental level, meditation may, for example, decrease stress and anxiety, increase happiness, improve emotional stability, and achieve peace of mind. People who practice meditation regularly are more likely to experience these benefits. Guided meditation is a form of meditation in which a person follows voice instructions, either live or recorded, guiding the person step-by-step through a meditation exercise. 
     Meditating outdoors in nature may facilitate improved meditation experiences compared to meditating indoors. Natural environments such as beaches, oceans, forests, waterfalls, and other pleasant settings can help people relax and focus while meditating. However, it may be impractical for people who do not live or work near these natural environments to meditate in natural environments. Virtual reality technology can let users view these environments through a virtual reality system. For example, the virtual environment may be a natural environment located across the world from the location of a user in real life. 
     SUMMARY 
     A method for providing guided meditation to a user in a virtual reality environment is provided. A VR guided meditation system receives information from a client device of a user such as a smart phone running a VR guided meditation application. The information includes a request for a guided meditation exercise and selections for the exercise. For instance, the user may select a type of meditation such as a meditation that focuses on breathing patterns or a meditation that involves a “body scan” of the user. Further, the user selects a time duration of the meditation exercise and a location of the meditation exercise. The location options include natural environments that are suitable for meditation such as a beach, a waterfall, and a forest. Based on the user&#39;s selections, the VR guided meditation system provides a guided meditation exercise and a VR environment to the smart phone device. In particular, the guided meditation exercise includes audio instructions guiding the user through the exercise. The audio instructions are played to the user via speakers of the smart phone or headphones connected to the smart phone. The VR environment is presented to the user via the display of the smart phone. The VR environment includes 360 degree imagery corresponding to the selected location for the meditation exercise, for example, imagery of a beach, waterfall, or trees. To help provide an immersive VR environment for the user completing the guided meditation exercise, visual elements and/or events in the VR environment are synchronized with steps of the guided meditation exercise. For example, a step informs the user to look at the waterfall imagery in the VR environment while exhaling a breath slowly. 
     The VR guided meditation system also generates reports including statistics of data and usage trends from a population of users (e.g., a group of users with similar characteristics, such as a group of employees of a company) completing guided meditation exercises. For instance, the population of users may include employees of an employer or members of an insurance plan covered by an employer. The population of users may also include a group of users in general. The report is provided to the employer for the employer to track the wellness of the employees, covered member populations, and/or users in general. For example, the employer can track usage trends and the average number of minutes that each employee meditates per day. The system may also provide feedback to the user based on the user&#39;s personal usage and trends of the user&#39;s data relative to trends of a larger population. Further, the users may receive incentives for achieving certain goals through the guided meditation exercises. For instance, an employee who meditates at least 500 minutes in a month receives a coupon for meditation related products or a lower deductible for a health insurance plan. The VR guided meditation system and reports may assist employers in promoting workplace wellness and healthy practices among employees such as regular practice of meditation. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a computing environment for guided meditation with a VR guided meditation system according to one embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the VR guided meditation system within the computing environment of  FIG. 1  according to one embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is user interface illustrating meditation types of the VR guided meditation system according to one embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is user interface illustrating meditation time durations of the VR guided meditation system according to one embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is user interface illustrating meditation locations of the VR guided meditation system according to one embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is user interface illustrating meditation based feedback of the VR guided meditation system according to one embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a flow chart illustrating a process for providing guided meditation according to one embodiment. 
     
    
    
     The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     System Overview 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a computing environment for guided meditation with a VR guided meditation system  100  according to one embodiment. The VR guided meditation system  100  is connected to the network  130  and includes various modules described in  FIG. 2 . A user  115  interacts with the system  100  via a user interface of the client device  110  connected to the network  130 . Further, an employer  125  interacts with the system  100  via a user interface of the client device  120  connected to the network  130 . In some embodiments, the employer  125  is another type of individual or entity. For example, the employer  125  is instead an administrator  125  of a health wellness program or an insurance plan. In this case, the users  115  are, e.g., participants of the health wellness program or covered members of the insurance plan, respectively. That is, in some embodiments, the users  115  are users in general and not necessarily employees of the employer  125 . Some embodiments of the system  100  may have additional, fewer, and/or different modules than the ones described herein and have more than two client devices (i.e., client device  110  and client device  120 ), users  115 , and employers  125 . The functions can be distributed among the modules in a different manner than described in  FIG. 1 . 
     A client device, e.g., client device  110  and  120 , is an electronic device used by a user, e.g., user  115  and employer  125 , to perform functions such as executing software applications, consuming digital content, browsing websites hosted by web servers on the network  130 , downloading files, and the like. For example, the client device may be a mobile device, a tablet, a notebook, a desktop computer, or a portable computer. The client device includes interfaces with a display device on which the user may view webpages, videos and other content. In addition, the client device provides a user interface (UI), such as physical and/or on-screen buttons with which the user may interact with the client device to perform functions such as viewing, selecting, and consuming digital content such as digital medical records, webpages, photos, videos and other content. 
     The network  130  enables communications among network entities such as the client device  110 , the client device  120 , and the VR guided meditation system  100 . In one embodiment, the network  130  comprises the Internet and uses standard communications technologies and/or protocols, e.g., BLUETOOTH®, WiFi, ZIGBEE®, clouding computing, other air to air, wire to air networks, and mesh network protocols to client devices, gateways, and access points. In another embodiment, the network entities can use custom and/or dedicated data communications technologies. 
     In one embodiment, the VR guided meditation system  100  receives information from the user  115  via the client device  110 . For instance, the information includes a request for a guided meditation exercise. Further, the information indicates a type of meditation, time duration for meditation, and location for meditation along with the request. Based on the information, the VR guided meditation system  100  provides a VR guided meditation exercise to the user  115  via the client device  110 . Additionally, the VR guided meditation system  100  generates a report based on the VR guided meditation exercise, as well as previously provided VR guided meditation exercises. The VR guided meditation system  100  provides the report to an employer  125  of the user  115  via the client device  120 . 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the VR guided meditation system  100  within the computing environment of  FIG. 1  according to one embodiment. The VR guided meditation system  100  in  FIG. 2  includes a user interface module  200 , user account module  205 , VR engine  210 , guided meditation module  215 , report module  220 , incentives module  230 , user account store  240 , and VR guided meditation store  245 . In other embodiments, the VR guided meditation system  100  may include additional, fewer, and/or different modules for various applications. Conventional components such as network interfaces, security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers, management and network operations consoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details of the system  100 . Also, it is noted that the modules may be embodied as hardware, software (which may include firmware), or any combination thereof. For software, it may include program code or code segments. Software is comprised of one or more instructions storable in a computer readable storage medium, e.g., a memory or disk, and executable by a processor. 
     The user interface module  200  may be configured to link the VR guided meditation system  100  via the network  130  to the client devices  110  and  120 . In an embodiment, the user interface module  200  serves web pages, as well as other web-related content, such as Flash, XML, and so forth. The user interface module  200  provides the functionality of receiving and routing messages and/or information, e.g., between the VR guided meditation system  100  and the client devices  110  and  120 , as well as other external systems. These messages can be instant messages, queued messages (e.g., email), text and SMS (short message service) messages, or any other suitable messaging technique. The user interface module  200  allows the user  115  and employer  125  to view and/or interact with user interfaces generated by the system  100  by communicating information between the system  100  and the client devices  110  and  120 . 
     The user account module  205  may be configured to store user account data associated with users  115  of the VR guided meditation system  100 . In an embodiment, the user account data of a user  115  includes information including a name of the user, contact information (e.g., email and phone number) of the user, an employer of the user (e.g., employer  125 ), information about VR guided meditation exercises that the user has previously started and/or completed, incentives that the user has earned, information about a third-party smart device and/software of the user (e.g., FITBIT® and APPLE® HEALTHKIT), and the like. The VR guided meditation system  100  receives the information from the user  115  via the client device  110 . 
     The VR engine  210  may be configured to generate a VR environment associated with a VR guided meditation exercise generated by the guided meditation module  215 . In an embodiment, the VR engine  210  extracts VR environment data from the VR guided meditation store  245 . The VR environment data may be previously input, e.g., via a client device, to the VR guided meditation store  245  by an expert, e.g., a designer of VR environments. Based on the data, the VR engine  210  generates the VR environment. In an embodiment, the VR environment includes one or more visual and/or audio signals corresponding to a location of the VR environment. For instance, a location of the VR environment is “garden falls” (e.g., the garden falls location shown in  FIG. 5 ). Accordingly, the one or more visual and/or audio signals corresponding to the “garden falls” location includes visual and/or audio signals of waterfalls and garden plants. In particular, a visual signal is a video imagery of a waterfall surrounding by trees and plants with flowers. Further, an audio signal is a sound of water flowing or splashing in the waterfall. The VR engine  210  provides the VR environment to the client device  110 , via the user interface module  200 , for presentation to the user  115 . In particular, the visual signals (e.g., videos and photos) are presented in a graphical display of the client device  110 , e.g., a screen display of a smartphone. Additionally, the audio signals are presented via audio speakers of the client device  110  and/or another audio playing device (e.g., headphones or external speakers) communicatively coupled to the client device  110 . 
     The guided meditation module  215  may be configured to generate a VR guided meditation exercise associated with a VR environment generated by the VR engine. In an embodiment, the VR engine  210  extracts meditation exercise data from the VR guided meditation store  245 . The meditation exercise data may be previously input, e.g., via a client device, to the VR guided meditation store  245  by an expert, e.g., a meditation instructor or researcher. Based on the data, the VR engine  210  generates the VR guided meditation exercise. In an embodiment, the VR guided meditation exercise includes meditation instructions corresponding to a type of meditation. For instance, a type of meditation is “breathing” (e.g., the breathing type shown in  FIG. 3 ). Accordingly, the meditation instructions related to breathing of a user  115 . For example, the instructions include “keep your breath natural” and “notice where you feel your breath in your body.” 
     In an embodiment, the VR guided meditation exercise has a time duration, e.g., a time duration shown in  FIG. 4 . For a VR guided meditation exercise with a shorter time duration, e.g., 2 minutes, the guided meditation module  215  may reduce the number of meditation instructions such that the VR guided meditation exercise can be completed within the shorter time duration. For a VR guided meditation exercise with a longer time duration, e.g., 10 minutes, the guided meditation module  215  may increase the number or duration of pauses in between meditation instructions such that the VR guided meditation exercise can be completed within the longer time duration. The VR engine  210  provides the meditation instructions to the client device  110 , via the user interface module  200 , for presentation to the user  115 . In particular, the meditation instructions represented by visual signals (e.g., graphical text of the meditation instructions) are presented in a graphical display of the client device  110 , e.g., a screen display of a smartphone. Additionally, the meditation instructions represented by audio signals (e.g., an audio narration of the meditation instructions) are presented via audio speakers of the client device  110  and/or another audio playing device (e.g., headphones or external speakers) communicatively coupled to the client device  110 . 
     The report module  220  may be configured to generate a report including statistics of users  115  and VR guided meditation exercises completed by users  115 . The report may be presented on a user interface (e.g., user interface  600  further described in  FIG. 6 ) of a client device  120  for an employer  125  to view. The report may also be presented on a user interface of a client device  110  for a user  115  to view. In one example, the statistics indicate the average time users  115 , e.g., employees of the employer  125 , meditate (i.e., using the VR guided meditation system  100 ) per office location of the employer  125  per day. In another example, the statistics indicate the average time all employees of the employer  125  meditate per day. In yet another example, the statistics indicate the percentage of all employees of the employer  125  that use the VR guided meditation system  100 . Based on the reviewing the statistics, the employer  125  may assess workplace wellness of the employees, make recommendations to employees to improve workplace wellness based on the assessment (e.g., meditating more to help reduce stress among employees, and thus increase employee productivity), compare meditation statistics and/or feedback between different populations of employees (e.g., whether employees at one office location are meditating fewer minutes on average relative to employees at other office locations), set goals for incentives, and the like. In some embodiments, the VR guided meditation system  100  is integrated with a workplace wellness platform associated with an employer  125  and users  115  who are employees of the employer  125 . The workplace wellness platform may be a third-party application, e.g., an online website or application running on client devices of users  115  and employers  125 . Further, the workplace wellness platform may be integrated with other services such as FITBIT®, APPLE® HEALTHKIT, health insurance plan services, and the like. 
     The report module  220  may further be configured to collect data over a period of time about guided meditation exercises performed by users  115 . The data may be organized individually by each user or aggregated for a population of users. Based on the collected data and corresponding statistics of the data, the report module  220  can generate reports about individual users and/or the population of users. 
     The report module  220  may additionally be configured to provide questions to the client device  110  of a user  115 . In an embodiment, the questions are presented to the user  115  before the user starts a guided meditation exercise as well as after the user starts a guided meditation exercise. The questions may inform the user  115  to provide, e.g., information describing a current level of stress of the user  115 , a location of the user  115  in real life (e.g., office cubicle or balcony), a heart rate of the user  115  (e.g., measured by a third-party device such as a FITBIT®), a current mood of the user  115  (e.g., happy or sad), a recent meal consumed by the user  115  (e.g., whether the user ate fruit for breakfast), and the like. The report module  220  can receive the users&#39; responses to the questions, e.g., via the user interface module  200 . In some embodiments, the responses include pre-determined selections for responses. For example, the responses may include Likert-type scale responses such as “strongly disagree,” “agree,” “neutral,” “disagree,” and “strongly disagree.” In an embodiment, the report module  220  stores the responses in the user account store  240  along with a user account associated with the user  115 . Further, in some embodiments, the report module  220  generates reports based on the responses of the user  115 . For instance, the report module  220  compares a level of stress of the user  115  before and after completing the guided meditation exercise. The report module  220  generates a report indicating that the user&#39;s level of stress was lower after completing the guided meditation exercise, relative to before starting the guided meditation exercise. Thus, the report indicates that the guided meditation exercise may have helped improve the user&#39;s level of stress. 
     The incentives module  230  may be configured to provide incentives to users  115  who perform VR guided meditation exercises. The incentives may be associated with a particular goal, e.g., the incentives module  230  provides an incentive to a user  115  if the user  115  achieves the particular goal. A goal can be achieved by completing a VR guided meditation exercise and/or performing a portion of a VR guided meditation exercise. For instance, a goal is achieved when a user performs at least 100 total minutes of VR guided meditation exercises. A user can achieve this goal during the middle of a VR guided meditation exercise before completing the VR guided meditation exercise. In an embodiment, the incentives to users  115  who are employees of an employer  125  are based on incentive information provided by the employer  125 . For instance, the employer  125  provides incentive information to the incentives module  230  indicating that users  115  who complete at least a threshold number of minutes of VR guided meditation exercises earn a certain incentive, e.g., a coupon for a discount on health and wellness related products such as exercise apparel and water bottles. The incentives module  230  provides the coupon incentive, e.g., as a digital coupon via a client device  110 , to a user  115  who earns the coupon incentive. The threshold number of minutes may be a cumulative number of minutes or an average number of minutes over a time period, e.g., a latest month. Further, the threshold number of minutes can be manually selected by the employer  125  or automatically set by the incentives module  230 . For instance, the incentives module  230  automatically sets the threshold number of minutes based on data of a population of users  115 , e.g., the threshold number of minutes is equivalent to the number of minutes that the top 10% of users  115  meditate on average each month. In an embodiment, populations of users  115  is determined based on users  115  who are employees at a particular office location of an employer  125 . Incentives based on these populations may promote competition between employees of different office locations (or within one office location), and thus result in increased use of the VR guided meditation system  100  among employees. 
     In some embodiments, incentives module  230  categorizes incentives into different tiers of incentives. For example, users  115  earn tier  1  awards by satisfying a first set of one or more criteria, e.g., complete ten VR guided meditation exercises in the latest month; users  115  earn tier  2  awards by satisfying a second set of one or more criteria, e.g., complete twenty VR guided meditation exercises in the latest month; users  115  earn tier  3  awards by satisfying a third set of one or more criteria, e.g., complete a VR guided meditation exercises every day in the latest month. 
     In some embodiments, incentives module  230  provides virtual incentives, for completing VR guided meditation exercises, associated with a user account of a user  115 . For example, a virtual incentive is a badge indicating an achievement of a user  115  (e.g., completed 100 total VR guided meditation exercises). The virtual incentive is viewable user interfaces of client devices  110  of the user  115  and other users. Thus, as a result of earning the virtual incentive, the user  115  may receive recognition from other users such as other employees, i.e., co-workers of the user  115 , as well as an employer  125  of the user  115 . 
     User Interfaces 
       FIG. 3  is user interface  300  illustrating meditation types of the VR guided meditation system  100  according to one embodiment. The user interface  300  shown in  FIG. 3 , e.g., generated by the guided meditation module  215 , includes a selection  310  to display types of meditation for a VR guided meditation exercise and selection  320  of a type of meditation. Types of meditations illustrated in the user interface  300  include “body scan,” “breathing,” “anxiety,” “focus,” and “calm.” In other embodiments, the user interface  300  includes fewer, additional, and/or different types of meditations. In the example shown in  FIG. 3 , the selection  320  indicates that the user  115  wants a breathing type of meditation. The guided meditation module  215  receives the indication and provides a VR guided meditation exercise based on the indication. In an embodiment, the guided meditation module  215  stores the indication in the user account store  240  along with a user account associated with the user  115 . 
     In one example, a VR guided meditation exercise corresponding to a breathing type of meditation focuses on breathing patterns of a user  115 . For instance, the guided meditation module  215  generates visual and/or audio instructions of the VR guided meditation exercise notifying the user  115  to “inhale slowly over 4 seconds,” “hold your breath for 7 seconds,” and “exhale slowly over 8 seconds.” In an embodiment, the guided meditation module  215  synchronizes the instructions with a visual element and/or an event in a VR environment generated by the VR engine  210 . For example, the VR environment corresponds to a “garden falls” location (e.g., the garden falls location in  FIG. 3 ), so the VR environment includes visual and/or audio signals of a waterfall. The guided meditation module  215  synchronizes the instructions with the visual and/or audio signals of the waterfall. In particular, the instruction “exhale slowly over 8 seconds” is synchronized with a visual signal of a large wave of water splashing in the waterfall and an audio signal corresponding to the splashing of the wave of water. As another example, the instruction may generally include asking the user to look at scenery (regardless of what it is) while the user is imagining walking through the scenery. The user  115  can more easily follow the instruction when assisted with cues from the visual and/or audio signals, e.g., because the imagery and/or sound of a waterfall often help users relax their minds and concentrate on their breathing patterns. Accordingly, synchronizing the instructions with the visual and/or audio signals provides an improved user experience to the user  115 . In some embodiments, the visual and/or audio instructions correspond to an event and/or a visual element of the VR environment. For example, an audio instruction, “look at the bottom of the waterfall as you exhale,” instructs the user to  115  to look at a particular object and/or location while completing the VR guided meditation exercise. 
     In another example, a VR guided meditation exercise corresponding to a body scan type of meditation focuses on parts of a body of a user  115 . For instance, the guided meditation module  215  generates visual and/or audio instructions of the VR guided meditation exercise notifying the user  115  to “let your shoulders be soft,” “if you stomach is tight, let it soften,” and “notice the weight of your feet on the ground.” In an embodiment, the guided meditation module  215  synchronizes the instructions with a visual element and/or an event in a VR environment generated by the VR engine  210 . For example, the VR environment corresponds to a “paradise beach” location (e.g., the paradise beach location in  FIG. 3 ), so the VR environment includes visual and/or audio signals of a beach and ocean waters. The guided meditation module  215  synchronizes the instructions with the visual and/or audio signals of the beach and ocean waters. In particular, the instruction “notice the weight of your feet on the ground” is synchronized with a visual signal of sand blowing beneath the user  115  and an audio signal corresponding to the sound of the sand blowing. The user  115  can more easily follow the instruction when assisted with cues from the visual and/or audio signals, e.g., because the imagery and/or sound of beach and ocean often help users relax their minds and concentrate on their breathing patterns. Accordingly, synchronizing the instructions with the visual and/or audio signals provides an improved user experience to the user  115 . 
       FIG. 4  is user interface  400  illustrating meditation time durations of the VR guided meditation system  100  according to one embodiment. The user interface  400  shown in  FIG. 4 , e.g., generated by the guided meditation module  215 , includes a selection  410  to display time durations of meditation for a VR guided meditation exercise and selection  420  of a time duration of meditation. Time durations of meditations illustrated in the user interface  400  include “2 minutes,” “5 minutes,” and “10 minutes.” In other embodiments, the user interface  400  includes fewer, additional, and/or different time durations of meditations. In the example shown in  FIG. 4 , the selection  420  indicates that the user  115  wants a 2 minute time duration of meditation. The guided meditation module  215  receives the indication and provides a VR guided meditation exercise based on the indication. In an embodiment, the guided meditation module  215  stores the indication in the user account store  240  along with a user account associated with the user  115 . 
       FIG. 5  is user interface  500  illustrating meditation locations of the VR guided meditation system  100  according to one embodiment. The user interface  500  shown in  FIG. 5 , e.g., generated by the guided meditation module  215 , includes a selection  510  to display locations of meditation for a VR guided meditation exercise and selection  520  of a location of meditation. Locations of meditations illustrated in the user interface  500  include “breaking waves,” “garden falls,” “paradise beach,” “tropical island,” and “secret cove.” In other embodiments, the user interface  500  includes fewer, additional, and/or different locations of meditations. In the example shown in  FIG. 5 , the selection  520  indicates that the user  115  wants a “garden falls” location of meditation. The guided meditation module  215  receives the indication and provides a VR guided meditation exercise based on the indication. In an embodiment, the guided meditation module  215  stores the indication in the user account store  240  along with a user account associated with the user  115 . 
     Meditation Based Feedback 
       FIG. 6  is user interface  600  illustrating meditation based feedback (e.g., “meditation metrics”) of the VR guided meditation system  100  according to one embodiment. The user interface  600  is associated with an employer  125  and employees, i.e., user  115 , of the employer  125  who complete VR guided meditation exercises. The user interface  600  shown in  FIG. 6 , e.g., generated by the report module  225 , includes a chart  610  indicating the average time employees meditate per location (e.g., office location of the employer) per day, a display  620  of the average meditation time per employee per day, a display  630  of the number of employees earning tier  1  award this month, and a chart  640  indicating the usage percentage of the VR guided meditation system  100  among all employees. Other embodiments of the user interface  600  include additional, fewer, and/or different types of meditation based feedback from those shown in  FIG. 6 . 
     The chart  610  includes different office locations on the x-axis, i.e., New York Office, San Francisco Office, San Jose Office, and Chicago Office. The y-axis of the chart  610  represents the average time (e.g., in minutes) that employees at each office location meditates per day. For instance, employees at the Chicago office meditate on average for 30 minutes each day. The average time shown in  FIG. 6  is based on VR guided meditation exercises completed in a current month, i.e., the month of “Mar. 1-31, 2016.” The average time may also be based on information over a day, week, year, and/or any other time duration. The chart  610  also includes a dashed line indicating a goal for the average time that employees at each office location meditate per day, e.g., a goal of averaging 25 minutes per day. In an embodiment, the employer  125  manually selects the average time for the goal. In other embodiments, the VR guided meditation system  100  automatically sets the average time for the goal is based on meditation information about a population of users  115  of the VR guided meditation system  100 . For example, the average time for the goal is based on the average time that the top 25% of users  115  in the population spend meditating. The population may include only employees of the employer  125  and/or other users  115  of the VR guided meditation system  100 , e.g., employees from multiple employers  125  aggregated together. 
     The display  620  indicates that employees of the employer  125  meditate for an average of 40 minutes per day over a certain time period (e.g., over the current month, week, day, etc.). The display  630  indicates that 12 employees of the employer  125  have earned a tier  1  award in the current month (i.e., Mar. 1-31, 2016). The chart  640  indicates that 72% of all employees of the employer  125  use VR guided meditation system  100 , e.g., 72% of all employees have completed at least one VR guided meditation exercise. 
     Process Flow 
       FIG. 7  is a flow chart illustrating a process  700  for providing guided meditation according to one embodiment. In some embodiments, the process  700  is used within the computing environment of  FIG. 1 . The process  700  may include different or additional steps than those described in conjunction with  FIG. 7  in some embodiments, or perform steps in different orders than the order described in conjunction with  FIG. 7 . 
     In an example embodiment of the VR guided meditation system  100  using the process  700 , the user interface module receives  710  user information from a client device  110  of a user  115 . The user information may include a request from the user  115  for a guided meditation exercise, information indicating a type of VR environment for the guided meditation exercise, a duration of the guided meditation exercise, a type of guided meditation exercise, among other types of information. In response to the request from the user  115 , the guided meditation module  215  provides  720  VR environment information for the guided meditation exercise to the client device  110 . Based on the VR environment information, the client device  110  displays a VR environment (e.g., a VR environment corresponding to the “garden falls” location shown in  FIG. 5 ) to the user  115  during the guided meditation exercise. The VR Engine  210  provides  730 , with the VR environment, one or more steps of the guided meditation exercise to the client device  110 . At least one of the one or more steps of the guided meditation exercise may be synchronized with a visual element of the VR environment. The user  115  can perceive the visual element while performing the guided meditation exercise, i.e., the user&#39;s eyes are open while performing the guided meditation exercise. For example, the visual element is a waterfall, a pebble on a beach, or a bird in the VR environment. In some embodiments, the visual element is an event occurring within the VR environment. For example, the event can be a splash of water in a waterfall, a bird flying over a beach, or a leaf falling from a tree. 
     Following in the same example embodiment, the report module  220  collects  740  data over a period of time about guided meditation exercises performed by a population of users on a multiple client devices. The population may include the user  115 . Further, the population of users may be based on categories such as demographic information (e.g., age or gender of users), location information (e.g., geographical location of an office of users), and/or other types of information. The report module  220  generates  750  a report based at on statistics of the data collected about the guided meditation exercises performed by the population of users. For example, the report includes visual representations such as bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, etc., of the statistics. The statistics may include, e.g., a mean or standard deviation of an amount of time that users  115  meditate using the VR guided meditation system  100  over a given time period (e.g., daily or weekly), a number of users  115  who achieved a particular goal and/or received a particular incentive, and the like. The VR guided meditation system  100  (e.g., the user interface module  200 ) provides  760  the report for display to a client device  120 . The client device  120  may be used by an employer  125  of the user  115  to view and/or interact with the report and/or other reports, among other functions. For example, the employer  125  using the client device  120  may input information to set a goal for users performing the guided meditation exercises, send messages such as words of encouragement and status updates to the users, input information for incentives (e.g., which may correspond to a goal), retrieve information about users  115  of the VR guided meditation system  100 , invite new users to use the VR guided meditation system  100  (e.g., by sending an email or text message invitation), and the like. 
     In an example use case with a smart phone client device  110 , the user  115  positions the smart phone in his or her vicinity while completing a VR guided meditation exercise. The smart phone is positioned such that the user  115  can view a VR environment presented on the smart phone and listen to audio instructions of the VR guided meditation exercise played by the smart phone. In another example use case, a smart phone client device  110  is movably coupled to a VR head-mounted display (HMD) that needs to be used in conjunction with a smart phone, for example, Google® Cardboard and Samsung® Gear VR. In this use case, the user  115  wears the HMD and views the VR environment on a display of the smartphone positioned in front of the user&#39;s eyes. In yet another example use case, the client device  110  is a VR head-mounted display (HMD) that does not need to be used in conjunction with a smart phone, for example, Oculus® Rift. In this use case, the user  115  wears the HMD, views the VR environment on a display of the HMD, and listens to audio instructions of the VR guided meditation exercise played by audio speakers of the HMD. 
     Alternative Embodiments 
     The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure. 
     Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of the invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described functionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, without loss of generality. The described operations and their associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof. 
     Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may be performed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code, which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described. 
     Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a nontransitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification may include a single processor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing capability. 
     Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product that is produced by a computing process described herein. Such a product may comprise information resulting from a computing process, where the information is stored on a nontransitory, tangible computer readable storage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer program product or other data combination described herein. 
     Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.