For over two decades, my secular Buddhist practice has been a steady, if not imperfect foundation in my life. Rooted in the Eightfold Path, my practice is less about religious identity and more about taking personal responsibility and engaging in compassionate action, all seminal concepts in the Buddha’s ‘Middle-Way’. It is this commitment to personal responsibility and radical self-honesty that drives me to explore new ways of sharing the treasures of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path; among them ‘right mindfulness’ in what is a largely digitally reliant community of humans.
I’ve taught community college for almost 20 years; and I consider the work profoundly fulfilling in aligning with another stone in the Buddha’s Eightfold Path, ‘right livelihood’. I left academia a couple of years ago for several reasons: among them to finish my doctorate in media psychology. I began my career in adult education at a highly disruptive time. Of course, few saw it that way, at the time, but as I write this now, I marvel at what the public launching of what was called ‘new media’, back then like Facebook, Twitter (now X), and YouTube has inspired and conditioned in the social experience of being human.
I’d always been open with my students about my meditation practice. They didn’t need to know about my commitment to the Eightfold Path. Buddhists aren’t big on labels like ‘Buddhist’. During COVID and two years of mostly online classes, a few students came forward expressing an interest in my practice – especially my ‘why’. I directed them to a colleague, who I knew ran weekly yoga sessions online for student stress-relief; and I began to run meditations for my students on the weekly. The interest that was clearly there didn’t make it to the practice; a couple of students attended for the first couple of weeks, and then it tapered off. I got it – it just wasn’t the same, online.
When my friends Deirdre and Stephen (co-founders of the Ferryman Collective) introduced me to virtual reality (VR) in the early days of my doctoral work, I was astounded. Here was a technology that I recognized at the periphery of my life, but as many will tell you who are passionate VR supporters, I simply couldn’t comprehend until I put a headset on. Shortly after that, I brought a very specific kind of meditation to the VR space – recognizing the potential bridge the technology might serve to helping people get access to the physical sensation of their bodies.
A New Kind of Meditation Space
I’m most certainly not the first, nor only person doing this work in virtual 3D environments. Many apps exist in the digital wellness space to support VR users with many different secular approaches to meditation and mindfulness practices; and preliminary research suggests these apps and games are very helpful for many. Ironically, I’m one of the 6 to 11 percent of users that experience serious VR induced symptoms and effects – so I run my sessions from my desktop computer, and the community joins in their headset, benefitting from the remarkable presence VR often induces in users.
The beauty of mindfulness is that it requires little beyond a willingness to observe the present moment. However, as our lives have grown more entwined with digital technology, creating spaces for mindful practice has become more complicated. Not everyone can step into a physical meditation hall or attend weekly sangha meetings. Technology has given us an alternative. The other day, I commented on a YouTube video, noting that I sit in near daily meditation in a meditation-focused Discord server – always with my camera on, and a poster was appalled. Yes, Discord has a checkered past, but do you know who’s on Discord? Young people, particularly young men – who also happen to be in big trouble right now from a wellness perspective, and there’s research on this as well.
Platforms like EngageXR, which hosts my regular body scan meditations, allow participants to experience guided practices from anywhere in the world. With VR and online spaces, we’re not limited by physical constraints; we can gather, meditate, and connect as a community in real time. These virtual spaces can feel surprisingly intimate and supportive. Whether someone joins from their living room or a small studio, they’re in a setting they’re comfortable in, which sometimes makes it easier to be vulnerable and open in practice.
The Value of Community in a Digital Space
In Buddhism, sangha—the community of practitioners—is an essential part of the path. In digital spaces, we’re seeing this traditional concept of sangha evolve. Platforms like Discord, for instance, enable group discussions and offer text channels where people can share insights or ask questions outside of regular meditation sessions. This fosters a sense of ongoing connection and growth beyond structured practice.
My own virtual sangha has seen moments of profound shared vulnerability, where participants feel safe enough to discuss personal challenges or breakthroughs. This is the heart of digital sangha: it is less about location and more about a shared intention to grow and support one another. And while digital sanghas may lack the embodied physical presence of a traditional community, they foster connection in unexpected ways. People who are normally shy or hesitant to speak in a room full of strangers often feel more at ease in these virtual spaces.
Moving Forward: A Vision for Mindfulness in a Digital World
As digital and physical boundaries continue to blur, I believe these virtual spaces will play an increasingly important role in the future of mindfulness practice. The emphasis on inner stability, compassion, and self-responsibility remains unchanged. My hope is that these new platforms for practice do indeed serve as a bridge, and not a replacement for real-time awareness without the contrivances of immersive sensory stimuli. In Buddhism, working with the five aggregates is critical – and the aggregate of ‘form’ has a powerful siren song.
For me, bringing the basis of Vipassana meditation – the body scan - to a wider audience through new ‘spaces’ and forms is an honor and a challenge. It requires flexibility and a willingness to adapt, but it also reaffirms the timeless nature of the teachings, which speak to our deepest human needs for connection, clarity, and compassion—regardless of the form or space through which we engage.
In a world that feels increasingly fragmented, these digital sanghas and meditation spaces offer us a shared space to pause, reflect, and grow together. They remind us that mindfulness is both personal and communal, and that through intentional, mindful connection, we can each find our place within the ever-expanding boundaries of modern practice.
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