Breathing Space: Spatial Mapping of Breath and Cardiac Biofeedback for Affective State Representation and Coherence Training in Viscereality Fejer, George Holzapfel, Till Hirvonen, Taru Lalidis Mateo, Anestis-Pere Blum, Johannes Gaebler, Michael Lenggenhager, Bigna Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) heart rate variability biofeedback virtual reality affective state modulation affective visualization coherence breathing Heart rate variability biofeedback has emerged as a validated intervention for stress management and emotional regulation through coherence breathing techniques. Existing biofeedback systems typically present cardiac and respiratory signals as separate feedback channels or rely on discrete interface elements that fragment attention and disrupt immersion. We present a design framework that extends Viscereality, a bioresponsive VR framework originally developed for breath mapping, to integrate multi-channel biofeedback including heart rate within immersive VR, centered on a particle-based environment that functions as a spatial body-mapping interface. By leveraging bioresponsive breath interactions for embodiment and weak representational aesthetics for cardiac coherence, the framework aims to encode both streams within a shared visual substrate, reducing the attentional task-switching and experiential fragmentation that multi-channel displays otherwise risk. The system translates lung volume into spatial expansion and contraction of the environment itself, maps cardiac coherence onto affective visual dimensions (angularity, brightness, saturation, symmetry), and embeds breathing guidance within the same geometric substrate. We present the design rationale and implementation of this framework, with empirical validation of its effectiveness to be conducted in future studies. ACM 2026 info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject doc-type:conferenceObject text http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_5794 https://www.hsbi.de/publikationsserver/record/7162 https://www.hsbi.de/publikationsserver/download/7162/7163 Fejer G, Holzapfel T, Hirvonen T, et al. Breathing Space: Spatial Mapping of Breath and Cardiac Biofeedback for Affective State Representation and Coherence Training in Viscereality. In: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), ed. <i>Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction in the Alps</i>. New York, NY, USA: ACM; 2026:79-86. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3780045.3780061">10.1145/3780045.3780061</a> eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1145/3780045.3780061 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isbn/9798400719486 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess