Presence, the sense of being in a virtual environment (VE), is analysed in an embodied cognition framework. We propose that VEs are mentally represented as meshed sets of patterns of actions and that presence is experienced when these actions include the perceived possibility to navigate and move the own body in the VE. A factor analyses of survey data shows 3 different presence components: spatial presence, involvement, and judgement of realness. A path analysis shows that spatial presence is mostly determined by sources of meshed patterns of actions: interaction with the VE, understanding of dynamics, and perception of dramatic meaning.