- Opera has released a new browser with mindfulness at its core called Opera Air.
- It includes an ethereal Scandinavian-inspired design and interface.
- Opera Air also packs features like break reminders, breathing and concentration exercises, as well as beats and soundscapes for focus.
Whenever a new browser is launched, productivity is often placed front of mind. Opera is one such company that specialises in browsers that can be customised and optimised for ultimate productivity, but this week it launched something a little different in the form of Opera Air.
While the name would suggest that it is a lite version of the company’s regular browser options, Opera Air is in fact a browser made with mindfulness at its core.
“With Opera Air we’re introducing a secure, powerful, and fully functional browser that is designed to make you feel better while you’re browsing the web. This new browser integrates calming, research-based mindfulness features such as breathing exercises, binaural beats, and inspiring positive quotes; they’re embedded into your browser so you can do mindfulness exercises without disrupting your daily routine,” the company explained in a blog post.
For now, the new offering is only available in Early Access format for mac users, but no mention has been made of when other operating systems will get a crack at it.
In terms of what makes Opera Air unique, for the design elements, Scandinavian aesthetics are said to have played a major part. To that end, the UI is quite ethereal and many of the panels for buttons and cards are transparent.
As for what makes it more mindful than other browsers, Opera says Air packed with a number of features aimed at keeping users both relaxed and concentrated. Here, the Take a Break feature contains a handful of elements for users to interact with, including:
- “Breathing exercises that help reduce stress and blood pressure. There’s nothing more important than stopping and taking a breather every so often – some fresh Air can always help you out.
- Neck exercises to relieve tension and reduce pain. It’s important that you take some time every day to stretch and exercise your neck, and this feature gives you guided neck exercises that make it simple and relaxing.
- Meditation sessions that put you in a relaxed state and help you improve focus, awareness, and general mindfulness. Meditation is a powerful tool that can help you live in the present moment, as opposed to being distracted by so many thoughts and feelings.
- Full Body Scans that aid you to deeply connect mind and body. These scans are a guided routine through which you literally focus on different parts of your body and become aware of what you’re currently feeling. This gives you a moment of relaxation, self-awareness, and, over time, helps you manage stressful situations.”
For those who work better with sound in the background, another feature in Opera Air is Boosts, which feature the aforementioned binaural beats.
According to Operas it is, “a clever auditory technique that plays two slightly different frequencies in each ear. You’ll need headphones for the feature to work as intended, so that your brain can perceive a third frequency that may induce various mental states, such as relaxation or focus.”
Whether such a mindful browser will prove as popular as the other ones that Opera has unveiled in the past, remains to be seen, but given how stressful life has been of late, any way to better manage it is welcome.
