A multisensory mindfulness experience: exploring the promotion of sensory awareness as a mindfulness practice

Carolyn Finck; Alba Avila; William Jiménez-Leal; Juan Pablo Botero; Daniel Shambo; Susana Hernandez; Felipe Reinoso-Carvalho; Veneta Andonova

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1230832

A multisensory mindfulness experience: exploring the promotion of sensory awareness as a mindfulness practice

Front Psychol. 2023 Nov 9:14:1230832. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1230832. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Carolyn Finck¹, Alba Avila^{2

3}, William Jiménez-Leal¹, Juan Pablo Botero⁴, Daniel Shambo⁵, Susana Hernandez¹, Felipe Reinoso-Carvalho⁵, Veneta Andonova⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
² Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
³ Center for Microelectronics (CMUA), Faculty of Engenieering, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
⁵ School of Management, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.

Abstract

Objectives: In this preliminary and multidisciplinary exploratory study, we assessed whether a mindfulness practice could be enhanced through a multisensory experience design that mimics the "beginner's mind," relying on sensory awareness and biofeedback processes as participants interact with the experience.

Methods: We piloted and designed two conditions, being (a) a guided mindfulness practice based on the senses as an anchor to the present moment, using audio instruction only; and (b) an experience of mindfulness practice with successive sensory stimulation (olfactory, audio, and visual stimulation) followed by an interactive experience with biofeedback that provides a visual representation of the person's heartbeat in real-time. For each of the conditions we assessed anxiety (state and trait), as well as other psychological variables pre- and post-experience. Additionally, we measured the heart rate variability (HRV) at baseline, during each stage of the experience as well as post intervention.

Results: We collected valid data for a total of 68 individuals. Both groups were similar regarding mean age, sex, and occupation and had similar prior experience with mindfulness. There were no significant differences regarding prior state or trait anxiety between the groups. Analysis of the physiological variables showed that for both groups there was an increase in the parasympathetic activity after the multisensory experience, with small differences in the conditions of stimulation. We did not observe significant differences between the pre and post measures for state of test anxiety. The observed parasympathetic activity variations after both experiences compared with pre and post-surveys demonstrate the importance of physiological vs psychological inspection beyond the common human rational experience that is not always resonate with the body's response and impacts the needed literacy to self-awareness of emotional well-being.

Conclusion: Participants in both conditions could effectively connect with the experience, while achieving a physiological response different from their baseline state. The acceptance of the designed stimuli was very high, although more research is still needed to uncover its full potential. In sum, the design of multisensory experiences using technology to create an interactive connection with the sensory stimulus, is a promising field in mindfulness and especially in practices involving sensory awareness through the monitoring of parasympathetic activity as an inference indicator of the present-moment connection.

Keywords: biofeedback; heart rate variability; mindfulness; multisensory experience design; sensory stimulation; technology.

Grants and funding

We wish to thank the Vice Presidency of research and knowledge creation, the School of Management, and the Laboratory of Digital Humanities (especially Luis Silva), at Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia), for the funding and support during the setup of this study.