Research Confirms Power of Atmosphaeres VR-Enabled Mindfulness Training

EITORF, Germany, July 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Mindfulness training research done at RMIT University in Melbourne confirms that mindfulness practitioners benefit greatly from the immersive nature of Atmosphaeres’ 360° VR Experiences, particularly if they wish to improve their decentring skills. Decentring is a person’s ability to view his or her thoughts and feelings with some distance and dis-identification and acknowledge them as temporary and passing events in the mind, rather than as actual manifestations of reality.

The experiment
The RMIT researchers combined an early Atmosphaeres VR Experience, “A Walk on the Beach”, with an audio recording of the Counselling and Psychological Resources section of the University of Melbourne, titled “External world and breath.” The experimental group watched the VR Experience combined with the audio track, while the control group listened to the audio guide only.

While VR-based mindfulness training proved to be as effective as standard audio training in enhancing mindfulness overall, the more interesting outcome of the study was that VR-based mindfulness training is statistically significantly more effective at decentring than standard audio training*.

Embracing the future
Dr Eric Fassbender, CEO of Atmosphaeres, says the company will continue to support and encourage research in this relatively new field of VR mindfulness skills training as well as in other related disciplines, such as reducing stress and anxiety or boosting motivation, by using specially developed VR Experiences. “The current research offers us new insights into the psychological mechanisms that VR Nature Experiences are able to influence,” he explains, “but we need to learn more. Every insight we gain helps us to use the power of VR more effectively in mindfulness and other VR-based psychological training scenarios in the future.”

Dr Fassbender sees particular value in the present research for people who want to improve their ability to distance themselves from subjective thoughts and feelings by observing these thoughts and feelings from an expanded, external perspective. “VR Nature Experiences could help people who constantly get caught in a cycle of negative thoughts and excessive, iterative reflection to cultivate decentring. VR-empowered decentring allows people to curb and reduce negative thought patterns because they view the thoughts from a more neutral perspective,” he explains.

The power of Sphaeres for businesses and private users
The Atmosphaeres VR Experiences, called Sphaeres, are already being used by hospitals, healthcare organisations and wellness providers. The Sphaeres VR Experiences have also found application in the transportation industry, where they are used in airplanes, on buses and in waiting areas such as airport lounges. Patient and user feedback has been very positive so far and Atmosphaeres continue to make the Sphaeres VR Experiences available for third party licensing so more businesses can harness the power of decentring to help their users in their mindfulness practices.

There also exists tremendous scope for use of the Sphaeres VR Experiences in the private space. Mindfulness practitioners are already exploring the power of VR at home to decentre and disengage from negative thoughts and feelings and thus achieve a deeper, more objective awareness of their inner world.

Sphaeres VR Experiences are available on all major VR platforms, like Steam, Oculus Rift & Go, Viveport Video, VeeR and iTunes. Additional platforms and VR Experiences are continuously added. To find out more about current and upcoming Sphaeres VR Experiences, subscribe to the Atmosphaeres mailing list and its social channels on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Develop your own mediation product
While Atmosphaeres supports research and provides its ready-to-use Sphaeres VR Experiences to businesses and private users they also help start-ups, agencies and large companies to develop their own mindfulness products. Premium quality, royalty-free 360-degree stock video licensing does not have to be expensive or complicated. The Atmosphaeres stock licensing platform offers premium 360 stock footage with easy-to-understand licensing models at affordable prices.

About Atmosphaeres
Atmosphaeres is a producer of highly immersive, spherical 360° videos and VR Experiences that virtually create the feeling of being ‘there’. To learn more about the various ways in which you can use Atmosphaeres’ products and services, go to https://www.atmosphaeres.com

*Full research paper ‘A virtual reality approach to mindfulness skills training‘ available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10055-019-00380-2

Contact
Dr. Eric Fassbender
Tel: Germany +49 (0) 160 767 1143
email: 217636@email4pr.com

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SOURCE Atmosphaeres