It's one thing to breathe deeply and feel more relaxed while meditating. But imagine holding a soft biofeedback ball in your hand as you breathe so you can watch yourself relax in real time. That's what the Reflect Orb, a beautiful meditation device, is all about.
The Reflect Orb is basically a little robot friend that encourages you to meditate by sending reminders, guiding you through the process, and lighting up with different colors to indicate how cold (or stressed) you are at the moment. It does this using fingertip biofeedback sensors and an LED ring, two things that are a complete game-changer for people like me who have trouble sitting still and breathing.
As someone who meditates and breathes deeply, I like taking responsibility for something , even if it's just a glowing inanimate orb. I also hope that the lights and feedback will encourage me to actually get into the habit of meditating, thanks to a dose of instant gratification. Read on for my honest review of Reflect Orb after a week of trying it out. (Hint: It actually helps me meditate more.)
meditation ball reflexquick overview
- Price: $199.00
- Best for: Learning to meditate, tracking your mindfulness, reducing stress levels
- My rating: 4.5/5
- What we like: Cute, easy to use, provides useful personal information
- What we don’t like: Pricey, hard to connect to wifi at first
What is a reflective ball?
The Reflect Orb is a handheld orb that works with an app to provide you with personalized information about your health. It uses biofeedback sensors to measure physiological signals from your fingertips and "reflect" them back to you as you reflect on your mental state. (There's a lot of reflection going on.)
Finger sensors on the device detect your heart rate variability (HRV) and electrodermal activity (EDA), sort of like a fitness tracker. When you hold the ball, a colorful LED ring on top of the ball lights up, showing how calm you are. If the ring glows purple, it means you are nervous. Blue means you're alert, turquoise means you're relaxed, and if it turns white, you're calm.
Because the aura shows you how you're feeling in real time, it should help you regulate your stress levels so you can eventually learn how to control them. Hold the Orb for midday meditation as part of your daily relaxation routine, or as a way to unwind before bed. Because it doesn't have a screen, you can use it at night without worrying about blue light disrupting your sleep.
Go into the Reflect app to pair your sessions with relaxing music or guided meditations in the form of a soundtrack. Your Orb Aura will "breathe" with you by changing color, so you'll know how your body and mind react. After meditating, head to your dashboard to view a progress meter, which will tell you how many "calm moments" you've had—kind of like a sleep tracker that shows how deep your sleep was. You can also keep a diary in the app if you want.
How to use a reflective ball
After downloading the Reflect app and connecting the sphere to Bluetooth and WiFi, you should sit down, feel comfortable, and align your fingers with the biofeedback electrodes. Once in place, continue to breathe deeply for one to three minutes and watch the aura change color.
Breathe and check in with how you feel. It would be great if you could get into a turquoise or white area. If not, the goal is to simply notice feelings of alertness or nervousness. After meditating, you can go to the dashboard on the app, sync your devices, and view Calm Phase data. Every time you use the Orb, the chart updates so you'll know how calm you are throughout the week or month.
my experience
Like many people, I have gone through phases of meditation. Sometimes I download a meditation app and imagine myself sitting down for 5 to 10 minutes of mindfulness every day. But inevitably I forgot all about it. After all, applications can easily be overlooked. They're hidden deep inside your phone, lost in a sea of Wordle, TikTok and Spotify. But a real physical sphere? Not so easy to forget.
Placing the Orb on my desk serves as a physical reminder to take a break. Because it looks so unique—and its glowing rings are kind of cute—I not only remember but actually want to meditate on it. Holding something in your hand while meditating is very grounding and makes it easier to enter a Zen state. In the case of Orb, it's also inspiring to see your progress as you breathe. All these factors keep me coming back for more.
When I first sat down with the sphere, it immediately turned blue, which meant I was alert. (I feel like that’s a good way to express anxiety, but that’s okay.) While you can sit back and think to yourself, the Reflect app also offers relaxing playlists you can listen to, such as Nature Sounds, Soft & Earthy, and Piano & Instrumental . Usually I sit quietly, but occasionally I enjoy a moment of "drizzle" or "morning light".
Before making any big decisions, I decided to sit with Orb every day for a week. The plan is to lie comfortably on a pillow, close my eyes, hold the device, check my color (usually blue), and take one deep breath each day. Shockingly, I stuck with the plan...and kind of enjoyed it, to be honest.
result
I don't know if I like spheres, lights, data, or all of the above, but something about physical objects and biofeedback magically inspired me to meditate for an entire week. It's so satisfying to pick up the Orb for a few minutes and check in with yourself.
As the week went on, I noticed that I did have some white ring moments, which meant I was making slight progress in relaxing. It sounds unimpressive, but any progress is good. Even though I usually wear a blue ring and only get a few moments of true peace during each training session, I realize that's totally fine. There's no shame in being wary or nervous...it's just information you can use to feel more in tune with yourself.
It’s safe to say that my Orb and I are officially best friends. It excites me so much that I plan to continue this meditative movement, even if it’s just for a few minutes a day.
Research reference:
Brandmeyer, T. (2021). Meditation and the wandering mind: A theoretical framework of underlying neurocognitive mechanisms. Psychological science in perspective. Number: 10.1177/1745691620917340.
Norris, C. J. (2018). Brief mindfulness meditation improves attention in novices: Evidence from ERP and the modulation of neuroticism. Pre-Buzz Neuroscience. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00315.
Popular Jordanova, N. (2020). Electrodermal activity and stress assessment. Purir (Makedon Akad Nauk Umet Odd Med Nauki). doi:10.2478/prilozi-2020-0028.