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Free web-based meditation course is launched

01 March 2013

Dr Julieta Galante

Designed by researchers at Cardiff University, the Web Wellbeing Experience study will assess the impact of Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM) and light physical exercise on the health of participants from a range of backgrounds and abilities. LKM is a meditation technique that has proven to increase positive emotions, psychological resources, altruism and wellbeing.

The four-week course is delivered through an interactive website where participants are required to follow 10-minute easy-to-follow instruction videos, five times a week. Participants will be split into two groups: one group will be instructed to light physical exercise, and the other group will be doing loving-kindness meditation. After the initial course is completed, participants will also have the option of doing their opposite group’s course.

Before and after the course, participants of both groups will be asked to fill out online questionnaires about their emotions and wellbeing. The data gathered from both groups will be compared. The benefits of light physical exercise are already known to scientists, but this study will enable researchers to compare these benefits with those of meditation.

The principal investigator of the study, Dr Julieta Galante of Cardiff University’s Institute of Primary Care & Public Health, said:

"Programmes that promote mental and physical wellbeing have generated great interest among researchers and policy makers. It is a priority to develop effective solutions that could improve populations’ wellbeing and to test the effectiveness of already popular techniques that claim to do this. Web-based training could be a highly cost-effective public health intervention."

A preview of the Web Wellbeing Experience course can be viewed on the following video: Click here

The course is currently recruiting participants who can join by clicking on the ‘Join’ tab in the study website . Participants can also receive updates through the following social media channels: (Twitter) @wwe_study and (Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/TheWebWellbeingExperience.

Useful links:

Cardiff University’s Institute of Primary Care and Public Health

Web Wellbeing Experience