Interventions
MM
FOUNDER
During both interventions, a ten-minute audio recording was played through Bluetooth sports earphones (KeyOuest, model K0014998, France), with the audio volume adjusted to the participants’ convenience. Both recordings featured the same voice with the same slow pace of speech, and similar breaks in their occurrence time and duration.The AL and MM recordings were conceived and provided by an experienced meditation instructor who trained in several meditative practices including Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Vipassana. He is the founder of a guided-meditation mobile application.The MM recording consisted in a guided fundamental breathing exercise inspired by fundamental Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs. In this type of exercise, attention is focused on the sensation of the breath to avoid distractions and redirect awareness in a non-reactive and non-elaborative manner to the present moment [The AL recording offered an informative general introduction to the history, the origins and the philosophy of MM, without inviting to practice it. It required a selective and sustained attention but involved no specific instructions. Participants were requested to remain focused on the recording and to avoid distractions, falling asleep or meditating.In both interventions, the participants were not allowed to talk, and were required to keep their eyes closed and stay as still as possible.