Body Matters: Exploration of the Human Body as a Resource for the Design of Technologies for Meditation

Meditation benefits wellbeing, yet interactive technologies designed to support real-time meditation often overlook the role of bodily sensations. Workshops with 24 experts explored the bodily experiences that arise during meditation. Using material speculation, participants described their lived meditation experiences and identified stages where additional, often multimodal, support could help. Findings highlight the value of recreating mindful physical sensations during mind-wandering, particularly to regulate attention through embodied metaphors and haptic feedback tailored to key transitions in meditation.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Much research on meditation has shown its significant benefits for wellbeing. In turn, there has been growing HCI interest for the design of novel interactive technologies intended to facilitate meditation in real-time. In many of these systems, physiological signals have been mapped onto creative audiovisual feedback, however, there has been limited attention to the experiential qualities of meditation and the specific role that the body may play in them. In this paper, we report on workshops with 24 experts exploring the bodily sensations that emerge during meditation. Through material speculation, participants shared their lived experience of meditation and identified key stages during which they may benefit from additional aid, often multimodal. Findings emphasize the importance of recreating mindful physical sensations during moments of mind-wandering; in particular for supporting the regulation of attention through a range of embodied metaphors and haptic feedback, tailored to key transitions in the meditation process.