Virtual mental fitness trainer comes to Minot AFB

Submitted Photo
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Shelby Moore, left, 5th Mission Support Group noncommissioned officer in charge of religious affairs, receives feedback about her MindGym session from Brandon Murphy, Lumena Inc.’s head of growth, at Minot Air Force Base on Friday. Photo by U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Trust Tate.

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE – Peaceful sounds, guided prompts and composed music soothe your ears while your eyes are captivated by reflective walls and lights. This is the environment of the MindGym.

MindGym is a cube-shaped virtual mental fitness trainer designed to use the combined power of isolation, reflection, light and sound to create an immersive cognitive training environment. The MindGym is meant to regulate stress, improve focus and promote resilience.

Team Minot hosted a demonstration day of its newly acquired MindGym by Lumena Inc., at the McAdoo Fitness Center on Minot Air Force Base on Friday.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Shelby Moore, 5th Mission Support Group Religious Affairs noncommissioned officer in charge, shared her hopes for positive change in airmen’s lives thanks to the MindGym unit.

“This is a huge step towards mental health,” said Moore. “With this new initiative, airmen can improve their mental health in so many ways and thrive while they are stationed here, especially during the winter season.”

The MindGym is a 7-by-7 foot reflective cube, which fuses mindfulness training in an immersive domain with a biosensor headband. The biosensor headband uses Electroencephalogram technology which measures mental fitness by generating assessments on cognitive task management, clarity and relaxation. Each session uses low lighting to stimulate and calm the user.

The appointments usually run 10-20 minutes and are divided into segments of peace, mental training and performance enhancement. During the session, the MindGym measures the user’s stress levels and monitors their mental performance which is then provided to the user.

Lumena Inc. has partnered with U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command to ensure these cognitive training platforms are equipped at every Global Strike base.

“We have been working with General (Thomas) Bussiere, and he is a true visionary for building the most lethal warfighter and striker,” stated Brandon Murphy, Lumena Inc.’s head of growth. “He understands the importance of prevention-based training to build resilient minds that have confidence when being called to do hard things.”

Bussiere is the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, with headquarters at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana.

Lumena studied the benefits of MindGym at Hill AFB, Utah, and found task completion by military members improved 29% while improving stress management by 61%.

Murphy said Minot AFB is the fifth MindGym in Global Strike so far, and that Lumena Inc. will have MindGym units across all AFGSC installations by this year’s end.