It all started with mother and daughter sitting together in complete darkness, surrounded by weird and wonderful sounds in the heart of San Francisco. Strange, we know, but this is where the glorious spark of inspiration for The Zensory began…
As we both sat down, we had no clue what to expect, but we let our minds switch off and the magic immersed us. With the lights off and our bodies still, our senses had some respite. It became increasingly clear that for the first time, we were in an environment that facilitated ‘mind wandering’. Our minds were able to roam free, to meander, to explore. Whilst walking the streets of the city earlier in the day, our bodies were able to ‘explore’, while our minds remained trapped in states of fatiguing busyness. The pulse of the city mirroring the stress of those running blindly through the streets. Both exhausting to watch and experience. Yet, when we took this moment to cleanse the mind and the senses, we felt enchanted and liberated. Sat in darkness and adrift in the waves of the sounds, our senses were indulged and together we realised that we need more ‘mind wandering’ in our lives. We had been moving a thousand miles per hour through our busy modern lives, using busyness as a badge of honour. How could we move from this ‘doing’ mentality towards a ‘being’ mentality? How can we create more down time to recalibrate our busy minds to focus and think clearly? Could we facilitate environments where one’s senses can enable us to tap into chosen mood states? Upon returning to England and subsequently speaking to an abundance of neuroscientists, composers, artists and tech gurus, we realised, there was in fact science to back up this rather wacky explorative sensory art. So do we pack in the day jobs and delve deep into this world..?
Whilst both in our own full time work flow, we had to make the decision to really commit to this pursuit. Well, good news, as you can imagine by the fact you are here – we did. We decided that we would jump into the world of sensory exploration and find out if, how and why sensory experiences can help us tap into mood states. We scanned through as much existing academic literature on the subject as possible, uncovering the studies conducted on impacts of sound, smell, colour, taste, touch and vision on our moods. The things we uncovered kept confirming that our senses are our very own buttons that we can press at any time to enter any chosen mood. So the research pointed us in the right direction.
So we had our research, we had reassurance, and we had brilliant advisors. It was time to bring it to life. How could we implement our findings so that people could escape the busyness of modern day living? A building! Where is a high stress environment that people need to mentally escape from? A city! Aha! A sensory building in the heart of the city! This was it! Plans began, full throttle. Alas, the world had other ideas in mind. The big C happened. Good old Covid put a few nice little challenges in the way. Yet, with fire in our bellies and a vision in mind, we soldiered on. We shifted from a sensory workspace in London to a sensory pod. Why don’t we create a pod that people can sit in and immerse themselves in, either in the privacy of their own homes or in offices once they reopen. But as the building commenced, it quickly became clear that Covid wasn’t going anywhere. Back to square one. How can we get this to as many people as possible, while they’re stuck in the confines of their own home? With that, the surge of inspiration that hit every other hipster building and tech platform – let’s do an app! Well, here we are…
So where are we now? Good news, while Covid may have thrown curveballs left, right and center, we have powered through and developed a multi-sensory app for you. Yes, you heard it here first, a multi-sensory app. As it happens in life, challenges can be our biggest strengths sometimes. We realised that people need help focusing at home, and since tech is the problem, tech needs to be the solution. “You must be crazy, how on earth are you building a multi-sensory app?” Hmmm, yes we are crazy and we are building the app with some pretty exciting sounds, colours, breathwork and much more… We spent the past few months creating our very own binaural beats, music, soundscapes and scientifically backed content to fill an app that can be used at any point in your busy day to let your mind meander, explore and channel your brain into entering states of relaxation, focus, positivity and creativity. We are at the MVP stage presently and we would love to have you join this crazy journey too… so, if you’re willing to get involved, join the tribe. Become a member of our Beta community and tell us if you love the app and if it helps your mind meander, indulge and get into flow.