If conscious awareness were a ride.

INSIGHT (what we need)

De-exposure therapy could supercharge our ability to be more aware of our sense of self in the world.

Traditional exposure therapy helps treat anxiety disorders through gradual exposure to common threats or scenarios of triggering stimuli. The therapy works to weaken the neural connections between the traumatic memories and the somatic imprint of those memories on one’s system. As the the ‘effect of the affect’ reduces and our window of tolerance increases for more exposure to that which caused anxiety, fear or trauma, can we then begin to return to a more functional baseline where life doesn’t feel so overwhelming.

In our overly stimulated environments, we’re experiencing a constant state of overwhelm that requires a continuous filtering of ‘noise’: be it visual, audio, or informational. For some, this is producing an analogous yet opposite effect: not sudden acute trauma with lingering repercussions, but chronic flooding of our nervous systems in a state of low-grade stress. Without a pretty masterful ability to self-regulate, the result of this is an inability to calm ourselves to fully activate our parasympathetic response. A response that is critical to our ability to self-regulate, heal, and operate as resilient human beings.

So instead of treating PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety or phobias…this type of (yep I’m coining it) ‘de-exposure therapy’ would be treating our “numbing” (or immobilized responses) as a result of constant low-grade overstimulation or dopamine addiction. There are, of course, the age-old remedies like meditation, mindfulness, sensory deprivation. But what if we could also harness the benefit of that widened gap between stimulus and response to further illicit that transcendent quality beyond conceptual or perceptual boundaries by design?

INSPIRATION (what we want)

“Augmented Shadow” by JoonMoon: artistic storytelling that guides the awareness of the viewer as participant.

“Chasing Stars in Shadow” is immersive storytelling experience with shadows and light where the viewer is completely engaged with the narrative through mindful movement. The viewer walks into an optical illusion installed into a room without any openings. Surround projection and sound tells a story about shadow kids who are stuck and need the viewers help – whereby immediately immersing them into an untold story.

Flat shadows become three-dimensional as the story progresses, starting with subtle objects and interactions before adding complexity with optical illusions. The viewer is taken to another world where they become the hero of a new unexpected story – one they have control over but don’t know what to expect.

Much like life but more playful and safe; yet unseen. Drawing from a much simpler time, this immersive storytelling takes us back to our most primal ways of interpreting the world: creative story and how ours needs to be shared.

INNOVATION (what we wish for)

Merge: bliss in a box.

A 4x4m 4D “sense installation” immersive experience that raises awareness to one’s sense of “Self” in the grander context of Being. Go on a simply crafted 10-minute journey into the concept of mind as we comprehend ourselves in the present moment, moving beyond the realm of ‘thought’ through intentional visual and sensorial ‘nudges’. Peel away the external overwhelm and be brought back to your perceptive senses in the now. Grock a sense of “self” — and then “other” — and then the “whole” as you return to a simpler state of existence. Returning to the real world with less anxiety-induced stimulation and more fine-tuned senses.

• Move through 5-stages of ‘de-exposure’: Deprive / Aliven / Bliss / Empathy / Gratitude as a journey that intentionally shifts one state through guided attention to open awareness.

• Cube is lined with mirrors, with a stool in the middle, where a headset lies. Dark upon entering, the client sits and attaches the headset to begin the Merge ride.

• The ride begins with sensory deprivation and then slowly takes you through conceptual and perceptual aspects of mind, beyond intellect, as you move through 1D, 2D, 3D and 4D conscious awareness.

• The house-of-mirrors effect causes the viewer to notice different things about themselves through stages of the experience; making them more sensitive to their perceptive abilities and their ‘Observer.’

• The ride is a collaborative effort by a team of neuroscientists, artists, and innovators who explore how sensory inputs can be designed so that humans begin to better understand their two attentional faculties (of focus and awareness) as they are exposed to subtle changes in their environments. This ride takes one through the story of evolving consciousness awareness.