Meditation in the Woods: Is There a Return Effect?

Document Type

Conference Presentation

Publication Date

7-2024

Keywords

nature, meditation, psychological health, environmental psychology

Abstract

Decades of empirical evidence suggest that immersive experiences in Nature can promote psychological health. Research similarly demonstrates the ability of contemplative practices such as guided visual imagery to facilitate health and healing. We consequently sought to explore the potential of a synergy between these two lines of evidence. Informed by the combined literature and guided by a previous pilot study, we took twenty-two college professionals to the woods for a five-day immersive experience to leverage the synergistic potential of Nature and meditation to foster improved well-being in a non-clinical eco-therapeutic manner. The results of the study were statistically robust and contextually verified by the responses to a brief set of open-ended questions. We specifically demonstrated that the immersive field experience resulted in (a) improved thinking, (b) a more positive mood, (c) a less negative mood, and (d) a deeper connection with Nature. However, the longer-term results were murkier one month after a return to home and work. The data suggest that the subjects were doing worse across our metrics than they did at the time of pretesting on the first day in camp. We suggest two competing hypotheses, either or both of which might prove explanatory of the follow-up results. Regardless, the results from the field demonstrated a meaningful and statistically significant effect of guided visual imagery immersed in a natural setting on thought, mood, and human growth learned over a mere handful of days.

Department

Educational Leadership

Conference Name

33rd International Congress of Psychology

Conference Place

Prague, Czech Republic

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