One habit that’s stuck, amongst the dozens I tried to adopt in this year full of self-improvement efforts, is taking a walk during my lunch breaks at work, 10- to 20-minute strolls around the nearby business park’s lots with a guided meditation app* piped through my headphones.
I feel refreshed after these breaks, and contemplative -- in a rare non-self-judgmental way, even -- with these deep thought sessions. The app’s teachers talk me through mindfulness exercises, and I can feel the cumulative impact of these daily introspections inclining me toward gratitude and empathy. Being outside is nice, too, even when I have to wear a rain jacket, or avoid leavings from geese who've made the grassy sections of this lot their home.
During one of those walks, when a breeze brushed my face just right and I could hear its whisper even through the reassuring voice coming through my earbuds, it took my mind to a favorite hushed spot in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Rabia Plain, just northeast of Kakariko Village. I spent a lot of time there appreciating its peaceful ponds and running through the tall grass, trying to complete Kass’s Crowned Beast quest, distant notes from his accordion floating with the area’s environmental soundscape.
That same afternoon, I tweeted the need for:
While that app doesn’t exist, I’ve come across similar experiences that isolate the game’s placid scenes into potential meditation opportunities. The video at the top of this post, for example, is from Jack Smith; he has a series of Switch Slow TV videos, in which he shares “moments of calm and tranquility” from games like Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and even Splatoon 2.
Even those short clips are enough to sedate me, to transport me to a more quiet existence. Lewis Gordon wrote a great relevant piece on BOTW as an ambient video game that helps players chill: “In the evening I sit on the couch, letting the colours and sounds of the digital world wash over me, allowing my brain to slowly decompress. It’s a relaxation activity that slips nebulously into self-care, the video game equivalent of putting an ambient record on.”
You can find longer videos on Youtube from others who had the same vision of the game’s pastoral areas and soundtracks as meditation tools. Obi Joan produced a “Zen of the Wild” playlist with 7- to 15-minute videos panning through gentle locations from the Great Plateau to the Lost Woods:
Dire Boar’s “Sounds of the Wild” series offers even longer videos (22+ minutes):
My ideal app would combine these scenes with the Meditation 101 audio lessons I’ve been taking. You can see what I’m going for by opening two tabs in your browser, using one of them to play this guided meditation on the RAIN technique (Recognize / Allow / Investigate / Non-Identifying), which has softened difficult days for me. In the other tab, open Dire Boar’s “Temple of Time (Rain)” video with the volume at 30%. It’s a relaxing pairing.
Since I can’t offer you an app that doesn’t exist, here’s another pitch: If playing Breath of the Wild helped you experience an uncommon sense of serenity and presence that you wish you could have in other parts of your life, try meditating a few times this week. You can use these longer videos I’ve linked, or try out a guided meditation while you walk -- the app mentioned in the footnotes has 10 exercises dedicated to when you’re out and about.
Maybe you won’t find the peace you’re looking for the first time or two you try it, but that’s okay. Keep at it, and remember it’s just mind training, not magic.
*I use the Buddhify app because $2.99 was more palatable than Headspace’s monthly or annual subscription fees when I decided to see if I could make mindfulness a new routine, and not something I’d abandon as quick as I picked it up. I also appreciate that it's a small, family-run company, and that Buddhify values having a diverse team of teachers. You can try out a few free sample sessions on Soundcloud.
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