For my early intervention, I tried using the Skylite by Bliss lights and a LED floodlight to be able to use different colors as well. In addition, I wanted to integrate scents as well to boost the feeling of comfort. I offered 6 smells that the participant could choose from and that was consequently added to a diffuser. In this case, she chose lavender. Finally, I played different sounds, such as rain, waves, and a meditation sound with a real human voice talking. As this should support healing and relaxation, she laid down on a bed to gain the most comfort.
We did this healing intervention for about 20 minutes for her to get the chance to get used to the experiment and be properly part of the process.
On this day especially she did not feel at peace due to a lack of sleep over several days which was beneficial for the experiment.
It turned out to work out well for her, nevertheless, it took about 12 minutes for her to really feel a difference. It certainly did not change the mood totally within seconds. In between I changed lights and realized blue as well as orange was in her case the most beneficial color. Whereas yellow and red were not as helpful for her relaxation.
In terms of sound, I observed that a human voice made my participant feel less lonely and therefore worked probably the best in this intervention.
If I would try this intervention again, I would start using different sounds and smells that people connect to their childhood and lights that create patterns and operate as curing.
In the following you can see the questions I posed to my participant and answers from her before and after the intervention, in order to understand her and the exercise better for future improvement.
This provides you with even more info and her feelings during and after the intervention.
Before:
- In what mental state are you generally right now? – Anxious due to lack of sleep in the past three days
- Do you feel worse than usual? – Yes, as the lack of sleep lowers my mood, and motivation and leads to me being tired, but tense at the same time.
- Have you tried some kind of meditation before? – No, this will be my first time.
- Are there any tools that help you generally feel more relaxed that could additionally be used here? – Music or a voice that is talking to you while meditating.
After:
- Do you feel more relaxed and at peace? – Even though it took me a while and I needed to allow myself to be part of the process, it definitely made me feel more comfortable and my inner tension disappeared, which led me to fall asleep.
- What effect had this intervention on you (positive/negative)? – Especially the colors orange and blue helped me relax and made me feel safe. The darkness in combination with the light took away the feeling of being lonely and scared and turned the environment into a ”safe space” which I could compare to a sense of being at home with your family. This in specific would be helpful for a person like me who is away from home most of the time and alone in a flat. The scent I chose was lavender for the reason of it matching the color blue to make it more realistic. All the tools together and also listening to a human voice on audio made me feel connected to myself and also the environment. This was the final reason why the anxiety and loneliness disappeared.
- Would you personally use such tools/interventions by yourself again? – I definitely would. Usually, I didn’t put the effort into using such tools as sometimes I doubt them actually working. Nevertheless, I am happy someone ”pushed me” into doing them to make me believe that simple tools, especially combined can work and have an impact. I think each tool used in this process of healing and relaxing made a difference and supported the overall comfort. The patterns of stars reminded me of the glow-in-the-dark stars I had as a child and this provided me with a feeling of childhood too, which automatically led to feeling comfortable.
- In what situation would you try and repeat this intervention? – If I have trouble sleeping when feeling down, overwhelmed, or empty.
- Was there an element that was disturbing for you and what should be different if you would repeat this intervention? – None of the elements were necessarily disturbing, the next time I would just try and change the audio, just to try something different. I would use a sound that reminds me of childhood and that I can relate to even better. It would be also interesting to recreate an even more natural scent that people connect to their own childhood if this is even possible. Here I am thinking of the smell of nature, such as grass, animals, and trees. Additionally, I haven’t seen such lights which create a variety of patterns with light. This would be something fascinating to explore too maybe for the next intervention.