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We tested for you:O.ZEN, a fun game that boosts our health and morale

Having fun for better health and relaxation:here is the soothing "stronger-than-chamomile" cocktail offered by a brand new game created by Ubisoft:O.ZEN. That the bad losers (like me) don't run away:here, it's not a question of knocking out the cars of your adversaries with mushrooms or of killing a lot of zombies (although that can be enjoyable, especially when we're fired up):here, we're just going to...breathe. Because this little game, developed on iPhone and iPad, invites you to become a black belt in…cardiac coherence!

What is cardiac coherence?

Democratized in France by Dr David Servan-Schreiber, cardiac coherence consists of making you breathe in and out in a deep, calm way, according to a regular rhythm (in general, 5 seconds of inspiration, 5 seconds of expiration, and so on). continued for several minutes). With its games and its small pulse sensor in which you slide your finger, O.ZEN therefore proposes to become your daily sport for "rested heart". We reassure you:it only takes a few minutes a day (we can even do short "help" sessions of 1 minute).

Explanations of why and how, by Florence Servan-Schreiber:“Our emotions are a breeding ground for excitement, positive or negative, that we have little control over. Bringing our heart and our breathing into resonance, by activating a particular heart rate, allows us to restore balance, to refocus. This is one of the only methods identified to date, to regain control of our emotions. The extremely good idea of ​​O.zen is to offer here the learning of this technique without seeming to do so, "explains the teacher of happiness (3 kifs per day, Power Potato) and specialist in cardiac coherence.

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More explanation on cardiac coherence by Florence Servan-Schreiber

What is it for?

To regain control of our emotions, first of all, as Florence Servan-Schreiber has just explained to us, but also to boost your vitality, relax or gain confidence. In short:to work on your overall well-being!

Thus specific sessions such as "I want to prepare before a stressful event" or "I want to train before an intellectual test" are intended to help you better manage a specific event, while "I suffer from overwork", "I suffers from insomnia" or "I suffer from phobias" will help you "solve a problem". Finally, "I want to start my day well", "I want to take a step back from my life" or "I want to have fun" are there to boost your daily well-being. On the iPad version, there are also a whole bunch of games with more staging.

"O.zen is like a first aid kit, available at any time for anyone who feels the need to take a breather", summarize the brothers Sébastien and Frédéric Kochman, respectively Creative Director of O.zen at Ubisoft and Child psychiatrist specializing in heart coherence.

How do we play?

First of all, it should be noted that the iPad and iPhone versions are not identical. Clearly:the iPad version is complete (the breathing exercises we saw above + the games with more staging), while the iPhone version is limited to instant breathing exercises.

To start, via the iPad and Phone application, you create your avatar and answer a few questions, just to assess your physical and psychological state. In the program ? More than 600 introspection questions, which allow the user to create their own personalized profile. Then, we let ourselves be guided by Dr. K, who offers us fun games and breathing exercises that correspond to our needs, spread over 70 levels and 14 different programs.

During the breathing exercises, to put it simply, it will be a question of maintaining a small "fish" bubble in the blue curve. And for that, you will have to breathe well and relax!

How often should we play it for the effect to be optimal?

To promote daily well-being, the creators recommend playing it daily, in sessions of 3 to 8 minutes. To manage particular circumstances of stress or emotion, you can also have fun there on a more occasional basis.

Worth it?

If you have an iPad, yes. Equipped with a tablet, I played there for a whole week. Very bad loser, I nevertheless managed to relax little by little, to let go of the results and - above all - to give myself a few minutes a day "just for me", with my tablet, to relax and to breathe. Because very quickly, O.ZEN becomes an appointment that we can't wait to find again, our moment when we do ourselves good. The cool graphics relax the eyes, while the soundscape created by Air takes care of our ears. All our senses calm down with our breathing and our heart. And after only one minute of exercise, you already feel that you are calmer, which is quite surprising... So:YES!

And on the other hand, if you only have an iPhone, unless you're very stressed, it's a bit expensive... It might have been better to release a version at a reduced price for those who "only have an » iPhone (not everyone has tablets, let alone an iPad).

> O.ZEN,
available on iOS

>
www.experience-ozen.com

> Recommended retail price:€99.99.