VR Meditation in Photorealistic Nature
Life moves fast. Stress piles up. Sometimes, you just need to escape.
Photorealistic Nature VR Environments
Soul Retreat is your personal haven for relaxation—immerse yourself in photorealistic natural landscapes, enjoy calming music and breathing exercises, or explore guided meditations and stories. Each session takes place in a real location, captured on site and reconstructed using our GroundedPresence™ true-scale alignment so the ground meets your feet where you expect it—comfortable whether you sit or stand. While many VR wellness experiences take you into stylized digital worlds, Soul Retreat returns you to nature—quiet beaches, still lochs, and Highland glens—brought to life with natural hand movements and simple voice commands so you can settle in quickly and stay present.
Slip on the headset and you might be standing on a Hebridean shore, listening to the surf roll in as clouds drift across distant headlands. A small gesture shifts the daylight, warming toward evening or easing into night. As night gathers, the sky becomes a living canvas, where stars spark to life and constellations unfurl in time with your breath and movement.
Personalized VR Meditation That Adapts to You
No two days—or minds—are the same. Soul Retreat’s adaptive guidance draws on your check-ins and goals to personalize each session. Built with well-being experts and grounded in proven mindfulness and positive-psychology practices, every journey meets you exactly where you are. The more you practice, the better it understands what calms and inspires you, continually refining your experience.
Our adaptive guidance doesn’t simply react to how you feel—it seamlessly integrates your meditation with the surrounding environment. Visualizations and analogies reflect what you see around you. Explore location-based tales drawn from local legends, wildlife, and history. You can also enter mentor stories—choose your guide (e.g., Marcus Aurelius) and learn from their wisdom. You can even choose your own adventure by interrupting any narrative and saying what should happen next.
Resonance Breathing & Biofeedback in VR
Breathing is key to Soul Retreat’s design. When you place a hand on your stomach and start to breathe slowly, Soul Retreat uses biofeedback to encourage a resonance breathing pattern of around six breaths per minute, a technique supported by research into stress reduction and heart rate variability. Each steady breath creates glowing stars that form in time with the rise and fall of the chest, offering a gentle rhythm to follow. At the same time, every inhale and exhale can trigger musical notes, turning the session into a relaxing, evolving piece of music. Simple gestures layer soft tones and harmonies so you can create your own ambient soundscapes, and when there is energy for a little more movement, Soul Retreat can guide you through gentle stretches.
Start Free — Unlock More with Soul Retreat Plus
Soul Retreat is available in a generous free version, with an optional subscription for users who want more variety and guidance. The free version includes a limited set of environments with guided meditations and stories. For users who want a wider range of locations and deeper personalization, Soul Retreat Plus will unlock the full library, hands-free voice navigation, and enhanced guidance—with final pricing announced at launch.
Soul Retreat Plus helps fund ongoing development—covering the creation of new photorealistic environments, expert-guided content, and AI compute needed for adaptive guidance.
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Evidence-Informed
The Science of VR Meditation and Resonance Breathing
Soul Retreat blends two proven methods— VR nature immersion and resonance-frequency breathing—to deliver measurable stress relief in minutes.
VR nature immersion reduces stress. Controlled studies show that immersive, photorealistic nature in VR lowers stress markers and negative affect, and improves mood; higher immersion tends to yield stronger effects. Evidence includes a systematic review (Frontiers in Psychology, 2023), a VR vs. screen randomized study (Virtual Reality, 2022), and a review of VR for stress management (JMIR Mental Health, 2024). Additional research shows VR relaxation and VR-based HRV biofeedback produce beneficial psychophysiological changes (Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 2024).
Why immersion matters. Being “present” in natural scenes blocks everyday distractions and cues the body’s relaxation response, resulting in lower heart rate and calmer affect (Frontiers in Psychology, 2023; Frontiers in Psychology, 2020).
Resonance-frequency breathing (≈0.1 Hz, ~6 breaths/min) is science-backed. Meta-analyses and randomized trials show that breathing at or near your resonance frequency increases Heart Rate Variability (HRV)—a key marker of autonomic balance—and reduces stress and anxiety. Major reviews include a meta-analysis in Psychological Medicine (Goessl et al., 2017), a systematic review and meta-analysis in Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback (Lehrer et al., 2020), and a meta-analysis in Scientific Reports (2021).
Mechanistically, slow rhythmic breathing around 0.1 Hz synchronizes respiration and cardiac rhythms (RSA/baroreflex), producing larger, more coherent HRV oscillations associated with improved resilience and calm mood (Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2020; Physiological Reports, 2019).
Bottom line: Combining VR nature immersion with resonance-frequency breathing delivers a fast, evidence-based reset—lowering stress, lifting mood, and supporting a calmer, more resilient nervous system.
Disclaimer: Soul Retreat is a self-help wellness and relaxation app, designed for adults. It is not therapy, does not diagnose, treat, or prevent mental-health conditions, and is not a substitute for care from a licensed professional.
Evidence-Informed and Privacy-First
The product was developed with advisory input from well-being experts, including a PhD psychologist and therapist. Preferences are stored on device, only minimal, anonymous analytics are collected, and voice is not stored. Any short-lived retention at the AI vendor level is used solely for abuse prevention and users can delete their data. Find out more in the Plain English Summary of our Privacy Policy.
Content last reviewed by Clinical Psychology Advisor, Dr Sonia Madrid Cuevas: .
VR Meditation FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Which headsets does Soul Retreat support?
Soul Retreat is designed for Meta Quest 3/3S headsets. Core experiences work hands-free with voice navigation; controllers are optionally supported.
Does it help with sleep?
While Soul Retreat isn’t a medical device, many sessions are designed for winding down. At night, scenes automatically warm and darken to limit blue-light exposure; stars appear in time with each breath; and guidance and stories are shaped to help you settle. You can also choose a goal such as “Sleep better.”
Is the meditation personalized?
Yes. Check-ins and goals shape each session. Voice requests like “I’m nervous about tomorrow’s presentation” tailor guidance to your needs.
Meet the Team — Key People
Ben Gillett, BSc, MSc — LinkedIn
Founder, Soul Retreat
Product designer, meditator, and musician. Ben sold his previous company to Apple and spent ten years there in product design before founding Soul Retreat to make deep relaxation effortless through immersive nature and sound. "When stress became hard to ignore, I looked for reliable ways to relax. I created Soul Retreat so that pause is easy to reach when you need it."
Dr Sonia Madrid Cuevas, BSc, MSc, PhD
Clinical Psychology Advisor
Clinical psychologist with NHS experience in the UK and Mexico. PhD (University of Edinburgh), MSc (UCL). Sonia ensures Soul Retreat’s guidance reflects current psychological research and best practice.
