BeatSaber: Focus Jumpstarter

Over the holiday I decided to purchase an Oculus Quest 2 "for my family."  It turned out to be a surprisingly good purchase and I use it nearly every day.   The best game on it is BeatSaber, a dance-type game where the player uses virtual light sabers to slice colored blocks flying at them while a heavy-base soundtrack keeps the groove.  It took me about 10 seconds to fall in love with the game and I tell everyone that BeastSaber alone makes the Quest 2 worth the price of admission.   But little did I know how much more I could get from it.

After the holiday was over it was time to get back to my day job, which I do from home.  One morning,  as happens sometimes, I was having trouble getting started.   Even when taking Adderall, if things are off, if something, like, say- an insurrection at the nation's capitol- were to lure me into my news feeds, then it can be very hard to get into work.   So this particular morning about a week ago, I was struggling to get going.  My mind was churning and I was looking for a way out.  I had written a suggestion to myself for these times to use disengagement as a tool to reset my mind and come back fresh.  I read that and I had a lightbulb moment:  BeatSaber is a focus tyrant.  It is almost impossible to think about anything else while playing it!   Surely a little time in the game would distract me from the distractions. I headed downstairs to the living room where we keep the quest.   

There is a little ritual that happens when starting to play BeatSaber.  First, I don the headset and fasten it snugly to my skull.   This action by itself is a highly mindful activity, full of anticipation and sensations of touch.  When the headset comes on, it plays some pleasant little tones before dropping me into a black and white view of my living room.  It is time to set up my "guardian", a virtual space clear of obstacles that keeps me from running into stuff in the physical world.  To set the guardian, I touch my controller to the floor, then I draw a circle around me that defines the safe area for me to dance about and swing my arms.  Again, a highly mindful activity.  At this point I can feel my body anticipating what is ahead.  

With the guardian in place, I enter the VR world where there are controls for choosing games.   I pick BeatSaber, and soon I am standing before an 8ft wall of text telling me that seizures might be a side effect of the game.  I click "continue."  In a few more moments I am standing at the end of a long walkway, two glowing sabers in my hands, music building.   From the distance I see blocks drop onto the track and approach.   I usually play on the "hard" levels, so there are plenty of them.   Each block has a color to indicate which saber is to strike them, and an arrow indicating the direction of the strike.   My body reacts.   I've played enough that I don't have to really think about how to swing my sabers.   I just do it, and my mind is lost in the beats and flowing action.   Before I realize it, 30 minutes have passed.  I am sweating and calm.  I feel ready.  I put away the Quest and drop into my work clear minded and ready to focus.  

I've repeated this experiment three or four more times and it is consistent.  I am able to keep a solid focus for 2-4 hours after playing.   This helps keep me on track through the day, and I also get a bonus in that I am getting some exercise while learning a new skill.  Win-win-win.    

I should mention that all of these experiments have been conducted less than an hour after taking a 10mg dose of Adderall.   I plan to try some experiments without medication and see how that works and I'll report that in a few weeks.    

If you are looking for something that might give you a boost in your focus routines, I heartily, yet tentatively, suggest BeatSaber.