Today Virgin Australia today hosted the world’s first dedicated meditation flight with Sir Richard Branson, with Aussie wellbeing and mindfulness leader Smiling Mind.
Departing Sydney at 9am VA9002 took to the sky with 65 special guest on board including Sir Richard Branson, media, VIP’s and team members from Virgin Australia and Smiling Mind. All guests were treated to a hot towel service and hand massages from smoothfm angels, before Smiling Mind led a guided meditation at 40,000 feet.
Virgin Founder and all around legend Sir Richard Branson said: ” Integrating mindfulness into our everyday lives is just as important as eating well and exercising regularly, and in I am so excited to see Virgin Australia deeply embedding mindfulness into the workplace and onboard flights.”
“Virgin Australia is very focussed on supporting the mental health of its passengers and team members, and there are very few of us who haven’t been directly or indirectly impacted by anxiety.
We want to encourage more passengers to use their time flying with Virgin Australia to exercise their mind through meditations in the Inflight Entertainment System, and what better way to make this known than by holding the world’s first dedicated meditation flight.
Virgin Australia today also announced a new way for anxious travellers to self-identify with the airline prior to travelling. From early next year, 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 dace interactions while onboard the aircraft. Virgin Australia will release more information on this in the coming months.
Todays flight marks a new partnership between Virgin Australia and Smiling Mind, and will give all guests access to Smiling Mind guided meditations in the air.
Smiling Mind CEO Dr Addie Wooten said: “As little as a couple of minutes of meditation can improve our overall sense of calm and wellbeing during a flight. And what better time than in air to meditate; we would love to see every passenger use air travel to give their mind time to thrive.
