Grounding the Mind: How Guided Meditation Impacts Attention Span

Abstract

When individuals use mindfulness and meditation techniques, research shows changes in the brain and overall mental well-being. Additionally, time spent in natural environments shows a similar improvement in quality of life. With this in mind, while much research has been conducted on the effects of meditation on attention and mindfulness, there is a lack of research examining the effects of grounding on attention and mindful awareness throughout the day. To rectify this, differences in attention and mindfulness between an indoor focused attention (FA) meditation group and an outdoor (FA) meditation group engaged in grounding will be examined using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). To control for influences on how the session is guided, all control and experimental groups will be completing the same procedures throughout the study. The only difference between the groups is control groups are inside and experimental groups are outside, in direct contact with the Earth. Although our study is still ongoing, the potential implications held by these methods are impressive. We predict higher daily attentional and mindful awareness for all groups, with a significant increase in attentional awareness found in the outdoor (FA) meditation group when compared to the indoor group.