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| Jewel has come a long way since she grew up in Alaska with no running water. Today, she's known for being an iconic singer-songwriter, actress, New York Times best-selling author, and now a pioneer in the mental health and virtual reality spaces by co-founding the new Cognitive Behavioral Immersion™ platform, Innerworld. |
| We scored the chance to chat with the superstar about her personal wellness journey and how she envisions Innerworld helping millions of folks across the globe with or without access to mental healthcare or a Meta Quest headset. |
| Enter Jewel's Innerworld below. |
| *This interview has been edited for length and clarity. |
| Q: | What do you wish you knew earlier in your mental health journey? | |
| A: Learning that every thought, feeling, or action takes you in or out of one of your nervous system responses (sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system response). |
| Every time you're contracted, tight, anxious –– noticing those body cues, then keeping a journal of "What was I just thinking, feeling, or doing?" Then every time you're relaxed, open, or calm, keep a journal of "What was I thinking, feeling, or doing?" |
| What you're going to have after a month is a blueprint to your specific nervous system. You can force yourself out of a dysregulated nervous system state by participating in something on your list of what calms you and what gets you back into that parasympathetic nervous system. |
| It's a really simple skill. Everybody's able to do that. That one thing really changed my life. |
| Q: | Why do you think virtual reality lends itself so well to vulnerable conversations about mental health? | |
| A: It lends itself to mental health for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is anonymity. This can help people feel much safer psychologically. |
| We're seeing adoption from groups that traditionally don't adopt easily into mental health care, like men. We're also seeing people from all walks of life coming –– people who use this to supplement their mental health needs, people who don't have the means for traditional support systems, etc. |
| We believe it's because of the anonymity and [because] people are able to connect around the fact that we all struggle with anxiety, no matter our socioeconomic [status], environment, or job. |
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| Q: | What would you say to people who are skeptical about Innerworld? | |
| A: It's free. It's as easy to use as Zoom. It doesn't [require] VR goggles. It's very simple. |
| You sign in, sign your forms, and you're intaken. First, you're brought into your own private living room where there's no people. I felt that was really important, especially for people with social anxiety. Then, you can enter the community space where there are people and always a live guide. |
| It's also really safe. We have incredible monitoring around any kind of trolling or bullying. We have AI protocols and live guides that can help monitor that, so we're a safe, positive environment. |
| Q: | How do you combine your entire life's experience to stay present and grounded without letting it pull you back or maybe getting stuck in a particularly hard moment? | |
| A: Something I noticed in my childhood was that abuse was quick. Being hit took 1 second, [but] the decisions I made about being hit affected my life forever. It was me who was giving myself secondary abuse because of the assumptions and conclusions I was drawing from this one moment in time. |
That's where I had a lot of power, in: - How am I going to process what's happening to me?
- Do I think I have worth?
- Is my life going to make me more bitter and less trusting? Or am I going to become wiser, more discerning, more giving, more generous?
- What kind of person am I going to be because of this?
That's up to you. That's within your control. And it's the most rebellious thing we can do. The best "revenge" is a life well lived. |
| There's a beautiful Navajo proverb that says, "The obstacle is the path." I think I was 9 when I learned that the buffalo is the only animal that heads into the heart of the storm, because the quickest way is through. How can I make something beautiful out of my pain? Be the buffalo. Move directly to it. The quicker I can look at it and get curious about it, the quicker I can help it transform. |
| Read more from our chat with Jewel about Innerworld here. |
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