The Benefits of Yoga & Wii Fit: Meditation for Gamers
Enlightenment
When many walk the path of enlightenment they often use meditation as their guide. Yoga is another common exercise used to find inner peace. However, both of these tools can be difficult for beginners, and often leave one filled with frustration. There are many books and videos on both meditation and yoga, but these often lack the knowledge of having a trainer that will correct the user if the exercise is being done incorrectly. Wii Fit fills the void that is left by such videos and books, and creates a program that even the most novice person can learn to use.
Yoga
The Yoga exercies included in Wii Fit are great for both beginners who cannot find the time to go to class on a regular basis. The personal trainer shows users how to correctly do the pose, and it can be viewed from multiple angles. It also includes a tutorial on deep breathing technique. The balance board puts Wii Fit a step ahead of other yoga games and videos. Correct balance and posture is essential in yoga. The balance board allows the personal trainer to correct the user if the pose is being done incorrectly, and it also allows the user to see if they are improving. Once the pose becomes easy, the trainer will begin to suggest pose combinations that increase the difficulty.
Meditation
Anyone who has begun the process of learning to meditate knows how difficult this actually is. Don’t think, but don’t try to think, hear sounds, but don’t try to hear sounds, and so on. The most difficult aspect of meditation is learning to notice one’s surroundings without actually bothering to pay attention to them. Once this is master, learning to sit properly is cake. Wii Fit works on both aspects of meditation. By using the balance board the game can tell if one is sitting properly, and if breathing or movement has changed. The meditation screen shows a flickering candle. The user is instructed to watch the candle while sitting with crossed legs on the balance board. The goal is to breath at an even pace and stay balanced so that the candle does not blow out. This may sound easy, but the game trys to throw the user off balance and break concentration. It does this by having flies buzz around, and sometimes having someone suddenly scream. At first it is difficult to keep the candle burning longer than a few seconds, but as time goes by meditating becomes easier.
Wii Fit and Spirituality
Wii Fit is a not only a great tool for weight loss and exercise, but has now crossed into the world of spirituality. The only downfall is that the yoga and meditation sections are so fantastic that they should be in a league of their own, meaning they should be a separate game. It would be great to be able to meditate for longer periods, and in different scenery. Perhaps in the future Nintendo will create, Wii Fit: Spirituality, a Wii game that contains only yoga and mediation.
