Nature Inspired Scenes for Guided Mindfulness Training: Presence, Perceived Restorativeness and Meditation Depth

Practicing mindfulness-based stress reeducation and other contemplative practices generates a number of health and human performance benefits. However, limited access to qualified training and practice support, as well as poor practice environments, makes it difficult to sustain the habits necessary to develop the attentional regulation skills needed to benefit from mindfulness. In this paper, we report on our research, which focuses on developing immersive environments to support mindfulness-based stress reduction practices. We specifically look at how the design of a virtual environment can foster a restorative experience, if that restorative experience is associated with the depth of the meditation session, and if there are associations between presence and the depth of the meditation session and the restorative properties of the virtual experience. Results show there are significant relationships between the three core concepts, suggesting future work is needed to determine if there are causal relationships exist between the presence, meditation depth, and perceived restorativeness. Understanding how the design of virtual environments may facilitate mindfulness and other contemplative practices has implications for promoting the use of the practices in a variety of contexts.