Ralph Vacca
ABSTRACT
Despite an increased interest in loving-kindness meditation (LKM) as a practice to cultivate compassion, there has been limited research in digital approaches that go beyond traditional digital audio-based guides. Our research explores the use of an interactive guided loving-kindness meditation focused on providing external visualizations. This paper describes a pilot study that sought to understand the potential for such an interactive design approach. Participants engaged with a mobile app over a week and completed both quantitative and qualitative measures. Our findings suggest that an interactive approach that uses external guided visualizations inline with traditional LKM scripts, can cultivate compassion. Yet our findings suggest the use of externalized visualizations may deter from a focus on physiological sensations accompanying internal visualizations. In addition, a mobile approach may present new opportunities to provide situated forms of extending ones contemplative practice into everyday life through reminders and notifications.
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Digital Library
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Index Terms
- Designing for Interactive Loving and Kindness Meditation on Mobile
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