Summary of Approach
We built an interactive experience for WebXR and VR that teaches meditative breathing exercises. The player literally breathes life into their own virtual garden by breathing into their microphone. The virtual garden responds to the breath inputs of the guest by growing and flourishing, creating a visual wonder for the guest. We built this experience to help guests manage stress, as stress is a prominent contributor to a variety of mental illnesses and health issues. Our hope is that, by playing this experience, players will have better health outcomes and be able to manage stress more effectively.

Subject-Matter/Problem Background
Stress is a risk factor for the emergence of behavioral and mental health problems at any age, but mainly for people in early stages of development, like children and adolescents. At that age, bad stress management could lead to several adverse behaviors, like suicide, substance abuse, and criminality, as well as mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. The general economic impact associated with mental illness for the next 3 decades is estimated to be more than $2.15 trillion. Our aim is to improve teenagers' ability to manage stress by teaching breathing exercises.

XR Platform
WebXR and Oculus Quest

Project Presentation
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1c4rp9DgzrNIU6BG3v3H3lkcSZgnopP6T0UEESJzSMeQ/edit#slide=id.ge249f6abdf_0_218

Full Credits for all of the Team Members and Contributors
Samir Ghosh: Graphics Programmer / Email: samirgho@usc.edu
Garrett Flynn: Programmer / Email: gflynn@usc.edu
Joshua Brewster: Programmer / Email: brewster.joshua1@gmail.com
Alex Serpa: Researcher and Subject Matter Expert / Email: alexandre@metacognitiv.com
Kerry Chang: UX Designer and Researcher / Email: ker.chang@gmail.com
Justin Fanzo: Producer and Designer / Email: jfanzo@alumni.cmu.edu