Virgin Australia has hosted the world’s first dedicated meditation flight with Sir Richard Branson, in partnership with Australian wellbeing and mindfulness meditation leader Smiling Mind.
Flight VA9002 departed Sydney at 09h00 on Thursday, October 11 with 65 guests on board including Branson, media, VIPs and team members from Virgin Australia and Smiling Mind.
The flight marks a new partnership between Virgin Australia and Smiling Mind, and will give all Virgin Australia guests access to guided meditations via the inflight entertainment system, enabling the reduction of stress and anxiety during air travel.
From early next year, the airline’s 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 on board the aircraft.
Smiling Mind CEO, Dr Addie Wootten said: “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.”
Virgin Australia is also supporting the wellbeing and mental health of its staff by making the Smiling Mind workplace programme available via its internal health and wellbeing platform, Better Me. Developed by organisational psychologists and mindfulness experts, the programme provides content to address today’s workplace needs.
