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A graphic shows a simulation of what a VR guided experience might look like, it features colored circles, a humanoid face, and other features
TRIPP is an Alexa Fund portfolio company that is exploring how virtual reality can be combined with meditation. The company's CEO and co-founder Nanea Reeves noted that the VR experiences "are deliberately psychedelic. You find yourself inside an atom or floating in space."
TRIPP

TRIPP explores the potential of virtual reality–powered meditation

Alexa Fund portfolio company’s science-led program could change how we approach mental wellness — and how we use VR.

By Staff writer
October 7, 2022
5 min read
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(Editor’s note: This article is the latest installment in a series by Amazon Science delving into the science behind products and services of companies in which Amazon has invested. The Alexa Fund participated in TRIPP’s $11.2M Series A extension funding round in June 2022.)

With meditation soaring in popularity and the virtual reality (VR) industry booming, Alexa Fund portfolio company TRIPP is at the confluence of two powerful trends: mental well-being and VR. TRIPP is a digital wellness program that uses VR headsets to immerse users in breathing meditation experiences.

The idea to meld meditation and VR first occurred to TRIPP CEO and co-founder Nanea Reeves in 2017 when she, a lifelong practitioner of meditation with a 15-year career in the gaming industry, was experimenting with the medium by building a solitaire game in VR.

This graphic shows a potential visualization from the VR app TRIPP, it includes a planet floating in space against a background featuring stars and bright colors
TRIPP CEO Nanea Reeves said she was inspired by the work of Giuseppe Riva, a neuropsychologist. “We wondered if we could create environments that make you go, ‘Oh, wow!’ and give you a lift,” Reeves explains.
TRIPP

“The way I felt exploring VR was even more interesting to me than the actual development,” Reeves says. Her interest developed into a deep curiosity about the psychological effects of VR, and she began searching the scientific literature.

In addition to studying VR in medical and mental health use cases, she discovered work by Giuseppe Riva, a neuropsychologist whose research has shown that VR can elicit emotions such as awe and, in turn, influence people’s well-being, agency, and perceptions of themselves.

“Inspired by Giuseppe’s research, we wondered if we could create environments that make you go, ‘Oh, wow!’ and give you a lift,” Reeves explains. That became her impetus to found TRIPP in 2017, pursuing the hypothesis that, by stimulating experiences through VR, people may gain some agency over their emotions.

Riva’s work identified several aspects of VR that made it particularly effective for evoking awe, including its immersive nature and the complexity and scale of virtual environments.

“We started leaning into that, and we started to play with scale in our designs,” says Reeves.

In 2019, TRIPP launched its award-winning wellness application, TRIPP, in VR. The application offers immersive mindfulness experiences and, to date, has delivered nearly 6 million wellness sessions. TRIPP continues to work closely with neuroscience and psychiatry advisors through PsyAssist to design and evaluate their experiences and with a host of researchers who are studying its potential uses.

A recent clinical trial suggested that TRIPP might positively influence well-being and mood in cancer patients, and ongoing projects are assessing whether TRIPP can help people in recovery from substance use disorders or anxiety and pain control, among other initiatives.

“With some of the early data coming in, it seems very promising that tools like TRIPP might have a positive impact,” Reeves says, “but we are still only at the beginning of what may be possible with VR.”

Amazon Science spoke with Reeves about the motivation for TRIPP, its roots in science, and the implications for what it can achieve with VR.

  1. Q. 

    Why take meditation virtual?
    A. 

    It’s actually a super native case for VR, because the immersive quality allows you to unplug. You can’t look at your phone by nature of the immersion. I was blown away by how I felt moving in and out of VR — the feeling of respite.

    A lot of the early VR experiences simulated environments that made you terrified, like walking a plank or standing at the edge of a cliff. And it occurred to me: if we could scare people so easily, could we trigger other emotional changes that are beneficial?

    Our approach is to use immersion to drive a deeper connection to self-contemplative thoughts. You’re immersed in this psychologically safe container that is designed to capture your awareness, to allow you to be present and connect to self. With VR, it’s not just an audio file guiding you toward connecting with your breath. We can show you your breath, like star crystals coming in and out of your mouth.

    Some of the early offerings thought VR was really only for gaming. When we first got TRIPP on Oculus, they didn’t know where to put us because they didn’t have a relaxation genre then. We were pretty buried in the store. But we started to get a little bit of traction, and we soon had surprisingly regular usage over time. VR has this problem where you go in, you go, “Wow, that was amazing!” and then it's in your closet. You never pick it up again. When we were designing the product, we knew we had to build for repeat usage. So, we built it procedurally, and now we can update it from the server and add new content regularly.

  2. Q. 

    How is science leading the design and development of TRIPP?
    A. 

    I started by looking at the research investigating VR’s effect on the brain, largely by neuroscientists and behavioral therapists exploring mental health and medical use cases for VR. Most of them focused on simulation, like simulated exposure therapy. But I wondered if, instead of simulating something, could we stimulate responses? I took that question to the researchers working on VR and its effects on mental well-being. We started digging into the research and then, based on the research data, designed VR experiences intended to trigger states of wonder and awe. We tried them out on people and captured some physiological data like heart rate and EEG to see if the experiences were directionally achieving the effect we wanted.

    We stay very grounded in research-driven design choices. We’re a bit edgy. Rather than mimicking natural environments, the experiences are deliberately psychedelic. You find yourself inside an atom or floating in space. First, we tried things like a waterfall or a beach, but when we tested them, they didn’t feel good. I found some research describing how sensory dissonance in synthetic natural environments can create a stress response. Your brain goes, “Well, it looks like a beach, but I don’t smell the ocean. So what’s wrong with this environment?” We realized we had to create environments for which you have no mental model. So we said, “OK, let’s put you in a cosmic flotation tank, whatever that means, because no one knows what space smells like.”

    We’re also starting an enterprise program to support employee wellness and team-building with a hybrid workforce, but also with a focus on using the metaverse for driving ideation and innovation. Can we use these otherworldly environments to spark creativity?
    Nanea Reeves

    After we launched, we started collecting data on mood and emotional state in the live user sessions via self-reported surveys that are based on what they use in mental health research. We bookended our sessions with users, basically asking “How do you feel?” before and after each session. We did things like randomizing the order of the response selections to control against position bias. Now, we have data collected from close to 6 million sessions that we can slice and dice by the time of day and, for a percentage of our audience who opted in, age, gender, and location. It’s become a meaningful body of data that we can share with researchers once it has been de-identified. We also work with researchers who want to study TRIPP and its potential applications. It’s been fascinating to work with that community.

    One example is this group in Germany working with cancer patients undergoing surgery, looking at the effects of TRIPP sessions on their quality of life, well-being, and mood. This study was published in Nature’s Scientific Reports. Participation was good, and patients who used TRIPP had lower heart rates and breathing rates after their sessions. They had improved scores on their mood and emotion surveys after the sessions too. What the study shows us is that VR-based relaxation is a viable option and may be beneficial for cancer patients undergoing surgery. Of course, we don’t make any therapeutic claims until we have a tremendous amount of evidence to support those claims.

    You can find other published data and scientific reports examining TRIPP’s effects on adolescents and its use in palliative care. And we’re working with researchers who are looking at whether TRIPP could help people experiencing addiction and rehab, chemotherapy, severe mental illness, anxiety, and pain. Researchers are also using TRIPP to ease anxiety and help people prepare for ketamine-assisted therapy, so they get the most out of their treatment. I feel very motivated to see how we can help and participate in these research initiatives.

  3. Q. 

    How might TRIPP change how we use VR, beyond its medical applications?
    A. 

    Earlier this year, we acquired EvolVR, which holds live group meditations. Several hundred avatars attend the most popular conversations. People really open up. Skip Rizzo, PhD, a renowned researcher in the field and an advisor to TRIPP, did a pilot study and found that people suffering from PTSD were more open and honest with an avatar. We want to further investigate this as there’s something about the “digital veil” of VR where you don’t feel the judgment of being seen by other people. I think this is a wonderful use case for the metaverse.

    We’re also starting an enterprise program to support employee wellness and team-building with a hybrid workforce, but also with a focus on using the metaverse for driving ideation and innovation. Can we use these otherworldly environments to spark creativity?

    It’s also fascinating to think about the gig economy that could emerge from the metaverse — similar to what first emerged from mobile computing. For example, I met a woman at one of our live group meditation events in the metaverse who’s earning a living as one of the top world-builders in Altspace VR. She’s a mother of five who has never worked in tech before. She’s now a programmer, building these virtual worlds.

    We’re only beginning to explore the potential of VR. It’s like the early days of mobile. Initially, no one thought we’d want to play games or even text message on our cell phones. Now, for the past decade, we have been walking around with our heads down staring at these phone screens nonstop. What kind of innovation will happen in a future when XR glasses are ubiquitous and allow us to experience the world around us in an entirely new and adaptive way?

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2027 Applied Scientist Internship – PhD, Amazon University Talent Acquisition
IT, Turin
We're building systems that turn research into real world impact. We're advancing the intelligence behind how customers converse, connect and interact with Alexa across the globe and we're tackling complex conversational AI challenges with state of the art GenAI systems. We're looking for PhD students across multiple research domains to invent, design, and implement state of the art solutions for never before solved problems. Your work here won't just stay in a notebook, it ships to production and reaches customers worldwide. Check out the details below including the job responsibilities, team details, and basic qualifications before submitting your application. You can find more information about the Amazon Science community as well as interview preparation tips via the links below; - https://www.amazon.science/ - https://amazon.jobs/content/en/career-programs/university/science - https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/university-roles/applied-science Key job responsibilities As an Applied Science Intern, you will own the design and development of end-to-end systems. You'll have the opportunity to write technical white papers, create roadmaps and drive production level projects that will support Amazon Science. You will work closely with Amazon scientists and other science interns to develop solutions and deploy them into production. You will have the opportunity to design new algorithms, models, or other technical solutions whilst experiencing Amazon's customer focused culture. The ideal intern should have the ability to work with diverse groups of people and cross-functional teams to solve complex business problems. A day in the life You'll spend your first weeks scoping your project with your mentor, then own the research and implementation end-to-end. Projects may include developing and implementing real-time AI services, conducting comprehensive analysis of GenAI algorithms and methodologies or contributing to the creation of reliable, efficient code for production systems that serve millions of users — depending on the team you're matched with. Many interns publish at top-tier conferences or see their work deployed to production before the internship ends. Interns may also be considered for a return offer at the end of their internship, subject to performance evaluation and headcount availability. Further benefits of an Amazon Science internship include; - All of our internships offer a competitive salary - Interns are paired with an experienced manager and mentor(s) - Interns get invited to different intern program or office events - Interns can build their professional and personal network with other Amazon Scientists - Interns can potentially publish work at top tier conferences About the team You'll submit a single application and we'll match you with science teams best aligned with your research interests. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and your application stays active until we find a team match or confirm there are no matches available. Start dates are available throughout the year for durations of between 3–6 months. Please note, each team has different start date and duration preferences — your recruiter will confirm the preferences of the team you're matched with prior to interviewing. We offer science internships in multiple locations across the EMEA region and you can indicate your interest in all these locations by applying here (Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, UAE, and UK). Please note we do not offer remote internships.
Quality Assurance Manager, Special Projects
US, WA, Seattle
Innovators wanted! Are you an entrepreneur? A builder? A dreamer? This role is part of an Amazon Special Projects team that takes the company’s Think Big leadership principle to the extreme. We focus on creating entirely new products and services with a goal of positively impacting the lives of our customers. No industries or subject areas are out of bounds. If you’re interested in innovating at scale to address big challenges in the world, this is the team for you. Here at Amazon, we embrace our differences. We are committed to furthering our culture of inclusion. We have thirteen employee-led affinity groups, reaching 40,000 employees in over 190 chapters globally. We are constantly learning through programs that are local, regional, and global. Amazon’s culture of inclusion is reinforced within our 16 Leadership Principles, which remind team members to seek diverse perspectives, learn and be curious, and earn trust. Our team highly values work-life balance, mentorship and career growth. We believe striking the right balance between your personal and professional life is critical to life-long happiness and fulfillment. We care about your career growth and strive to assign projects and offer training that will challenge you to become your best.
Senior Applied Scientist, PV Ads Science
US, WA, Seattle
Prime Video is a first-stop entertainment destination offering customers a vast collection of premium programming in one app available across thousands of devices. Prime members can customize their viewing experience and find their favorite movies, series, documentaries, and live sports – including Amazon MGM Studios-produced series and movies; licensed fan favorites; and programming from Prime Video subscriptions such as Apple TV+, HBO Max, Peacock, Crunchyroll and MGM+. All customers, regardless of whether they have a Prime membership or not, can rent or buy titles via the Prime Video Store, and can enjoy even more content for free with ads. Are you interested in shaping the future of entertainment? Prime Video's technology teams are creating best-in-class digital video experience. As a Prime Video team member, you’ll have end-to-end ownership of the product, user experience, design, and technology required to deliver state-of-the-art experiences for our customers. You’ll get to work on projects that are fast-paced, challenging, and varied. You’ll also be able to experiment with new possibilities, take risks, and collaborate with remarkable people. We’ll look for you to bring your diverse perspectives, ideas, and skill-sets to make Prime Video even better for our customers. With global opportunities for talented technologists, you can decide where a career Prime Video Tech takes you! Key job responsibilities The science challenges include: - Heterogeneous customer responses. The same customer responds differently to ads depending on what they’re watching, how engaged they are, and their broader streaming context. We need to understand and predict this variation to make better advertising decisions in real time. - Signal sparsity in streaming. Unlike search or retail advertising, streaming offers no clicks, no conversions, and limited direct feedback. We must develop creative approaches to infer customer preferences, intent, and tolerance from indirect behavioral signals. - Personalization at scale. A one-size-fits-all ad experience leaves value on the table for both customers and the business. We build systems that adapt ad load, placement, and content to individual viewers across 100M+ customers and 100k+ titles. - Small effects, large variance. Ad interventions typically produce 0.1-2% shifts in engagement, effects easily overwhelmed by natural behavioral variance. Measuring, attributing, and optimizing these small signals requires rigorous experimental design and causal methodologies. - Competing objectives. Revenue, customer engagement, long-term retention, and advertiser value are in tension. We develop principled frameworks to navigate these tradeoffs and optimize for sustainable outcomes rather than any single metric. A day in the life - Lead the research and development of ML models that personalize advertising decisions for 100M+ customers across 100k+ titles, with production deployment in mind - Develop deep learning architectures (multi-task learning, embedding-based representations) for customer behavior prediction at scale - Design and analyze large-scale A/B experiments, applying causal inference techniques to measure and optimize the impact of ad strategies on customer engagement and monetization - Partner with engineering to ensure models meet production latency and scalability requirements - Collaborate with product managers to frame business problems as tractable ML problems and translate findings into product decisions - Shape the team’s scientific roadmap, identifying high-impact research directions About the team Prime Video Ads is pioneering the use of Generative AI, Deep Learning and Causal ML to empower the next generation of Ads experience in Prime Video. Our vision is to build the world’s most valuable and differentiated ad-supported streaming platform: one where every ad is relevant to the viewer, and every dollar spent by an advertiser delivers measurable results. We are seeking lead applied scientists who have demonstrated experience in advancing state of the art ML algorithms, particularly in Personalization, Relevance, Casual Inference and Gen-AI areas. Your role will be to deliver these innovations as production-ready systems at Amazon scale.
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