Brain Health With Inner Engineering Meditation

Launched by BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER · Jul 8, 2022

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is looking at a 21-minute meditation practice called Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya to see if it can improve brain health and cognitive functioning. Researchers want to find out how this meditation might affect how our brains work physically and mentally. The study is currently recruiting participants who are between 20 and 65 years old and live in Massachusetts. To join, you should be able to understand instructions in English and give your consent to participate.

If you have been practicing meditation regularly for the past six months, have a history of serious mental health issues, or certain neurological conditions, you may not be eligible for this study. If you decide to participate, you can expect to engage in the meditation practice and undergo assessments to evaluate changes in your brain health. It's important to know that women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant in the next six months can still participate, but some procedures, like MRI scans, will not be performed if pregnancy occurs during the study.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Individuals between the ages of 20-65 years.
• • Subjects will be required to be able to understand study instructions and provide informed consent.
• • Currently residing in Massachusetts.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Non-English Speaking. (Justification: Meditation and cognitive assessment instruments are not validated in a sufficient range of languages, and the research team lacks polylingual capabilities or the financial resources to hire interpreters for the duration of all proposed assessments.)
• • Practicing meditation regularly for the past 6 months (3 or more times per week of practice regularly for the past 6 month).
• • History of psychiatric illness such as severe anxiety, severe depression, Schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
• • History of any form of cognitive decline or neurological conditions such as dementia, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, brain tumors, brain surgery.
• • Current use of cognition enhancing drugs
• • Current management for chronic pain.
• • History (within the last 5 years) of stroke/aneurysm.
• • Active history (within the last 5 years) of alcohol or drug abuse (\> 10 drinks per week).
• • Current pregnancy or planning to become pregnant in the next 6 months.
• • Currently enrolled in another interventional study that could impact the primary outcome, as determined by the PI.
• • Educational attainment below high school level or equivalent.
• • Significant visual impairment.
• • Women of childbearing potential will be included as the intervention and the procedures in the study have minimal risks. There will be no enrollment exclusions based on sex, racial or ethnic factors.
• • If a woman becomes pregnant during the course of the study and is willing to stay as a subject, MRI will not be conducted.