A 4-week online meditation program increased mindfulness, connectedness to nature, and pro-environmental behavior in 97 participants. Those who meditated with nature sounds showed a greater increase in connectedness to nature than those who meditated with spa-like sounds. The findings extend earlier cross-sectional work by showing that meditation can boost pro-environmental behavior and its proposed mechanisms.
Mindfulness-based art therapy (MBAT) combines mindfulness practices with art therapy to promote health and adaptive responses to stress. While mindfulness-based stress reduction programs reduce anxiety in people with generalized anxiety disorder and serious medical conditions, the benefits of MBAT for routine day-to-day anxiousness have received little attention. This mini-review summarizes how established mindfulness-based interventions affect mental health, focusing on MBAT, and describes data indicating involvement of specific neural circuits and neuroendocrine markers of stress and anxiety. Recent studies demonstrate therapeutic potential of intensive MBAT for severe health conditions including cancer, heart disease, and anxiety, with effectiveness that rivals cognitive behavior therapy. The field currently suffers from inconsistent deployment protocols and needs additional validation data.