Study Results
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Basic Information
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COMPLETED
21 participants
OBSERVATIONAL
2022-03-23
2023-05-06
Brief Summary
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Detailed Description
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Placebo effects, another mind-body technique that creates health improvements, have been shown to impact every major organ system. More recently, open-label placebos, placebos administered without concealment such that the subject is aware of the placebo, have been shown to be effective for a host of health conditions. Open-label placebo effects demonstrate that placebo responses are surprisingly not dependent on deception, positive expectation, or conditioning.
Meditation, yet another mind-body intervention, has been shown to reduce pain, inflammation, stress, anxiety, depression, and to improve immune function, and emotional regulation. Different meditation techniques can produce mystical-type experiences-non-ordinary perceptual, cognitive, and affective states in which the distinction between the perceiver and the perceived is transcended. The specific pathways through which meditation promotes physical and mental health are not yet well understood, but meditation-induced changes in neural activity and on the immune and autonomic nervous systems, as well as meditation-induced molecular changes in gene expression and on the proteome and metabolome suggest that these are both broad and profound.
While each of these mind-body interventions has been studied individually, the combination of meditation, reconceptualization, and open label placebo and their combined effect on health, neural activity, and molecular physiology have never been jointly studied. This exploratory observational study will employ psychometric health questionnaires; functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG); and blood plasma-based real time cell metabolic analysis, quantitative assessment of neurite outgrowth, and high-throughput transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to investigate the joint neural and biological effects of these three mind-body interventions in a 7-day retreat setting.
Conditions
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Study Design
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COHORT
PROSPECTIVE
Study Groups
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Single group study
Dr Joe Dispenza Week Long Advanced Retreat Attendees
Advanced multi-component meditation practice
The study intervention is a multi-component advanced guided meditation practice that incorporates elements of focused attention, non-dual, and loving kindness and compassion meditation techniques as well as breathwork components. The practice includes sitting, lying down, standing, and walking components and is carried out at 7-day advanced meditation retreats lead by Joe Dispenza, D.C. These retreats include lecture-based instruction and up to 35 hours of meditation practice.
Interventions
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Advanced multi-component meditation practice
The study intervention is a multi-component advanced guided meditation practice that incorporates elements of focused attention, non-dual, and loving kindness and compassion meditation techniques as well as breathwork components. The practice includes sitting, lying down, standing, and walking components and is carried out at 7-day advanced meditation retreats lead by Joe Dispenza, D.C. These retreats include lecture-based instruction and up to 35 hours of meditation practice.
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
2. Must speak English
3. Must be a registered attendee of the advanced week-long meditation retreat
4. Must be in generally good health
5. Must agree to provide blood and buccal samples before and after the retreat
6. Must be willing to wear a Garmin device for the entire retreat
7. Must agree to fMRI scans before and after the retreat
8. Must agree to qEEG measurements before, during, and after the retreat
9. Must complete the research consent in its entirety
10. Must be willing to complete self-report surveys for physical and emotional well-being
Exclusion Criteria
2. Non-English speaking
3. Not a registered attendee of the advanced week-long meditation retreat
4. Not willing to complete the research consent
5. Has a serious health condition
6. Not willing to provide blood or buccal samples
7. Does not agree to fMRI scans
8. Not willing to wear a Garmin watch
9. Does not agree to qEEG measurements
10. Not willing or able to complete all self-report surveys
21 Years
ALL
No
Sponsors
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Metamorphosis, LLC
UNKNOWN
University of California, San Diego
OTHER
Tobias Moeller-Bertram
INDUSTRY
Responsible Party
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Tobias Moeller-Bertram
President
Principal Investigators
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Tobias Moeller-Bertram, MD
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
VitaMed Research LLC
Locations
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VitaMed Research, LLC
Palm Desert, California, United States
Countries
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References
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Zeidan F, Martucci KT, Kraft RA, Gordon NS, McHaffie JG, Coghill RC. Brain mechanisms supporting the modulation of pain by mindfulness meditation. J Neurosci. 2011 Apr 6;31(14):5540-8. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5791-10.2011.
Ng TKS, Fam J, Feng L, Cheah IK, Tan CT, Nur F, Wee ST, Goh LG, Chow WL, Ho RC, Kua EH, Larbi A, Mahendran R. Mindfulness improves inflammatory biomarker levels in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial. Transl Psychiatry. 2020 Jan 21;10(1):21. doi: 10.1038/s41398-020-0696-y.
Khoury B, Knauper B, Schlosser M, Carriere K, Chiesa A. Effectiveness of traditional meditation retreats: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Psychosom Res. 2017 Jan;92:16-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2016.11.006. Epub 2016 Nov 18.
Oyler, D. L. et al. The Influence of Meditative Interventions on Immune Functioning: A Meta-Analysis. Mindfulness 14, 1815-1851 (2023).
de Castro JM. Meditation has stronger relationships with mindfulness, kundalini, and mystical experiences than yoga or prayer. Conscious Cogn. 2015 Sep;35:115-27. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.04.022. Epub 2015 May 22.
Afonso RF, Kraft I, Aratanha MA, Kozasa EH. Neural correlates of meditation: a review of structural and functional MRI studies. Front Biosci (Schol Ed). 2020 Mar 1;12(1):92-115. doi: 10.2741/S542.
Tang YY, Ma Y, Fan Y, Feng H, Wang J, Feng S, Lu Q, Hu B, Lin Y, Li J, Zhang Y, Wang Y, Zhou L, Fan M. Central and autonomic nervous system interaction is altered by short-term meditation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jun 2;106(22):8865-70. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0904031106. Epub 2009 May 18.
Buric I, Farias M, Jong J, Mee C, Brazil IA. What Is the Molecular Signature of Mind-Body Interventions? A Systematic Review of Gene Expression Changes Induced by Meditation and Related Practices. Front Immunol. 2017 Jun 16;8:670. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00670. eCollection 2017.
Xue T, Chiao B, Xu T, Li H, Shi K, Cheng Y, Shi Y, Guo X, Tong S, Guo M, Chew SH, Ebstein RP, Cui D. The heart-brain axis: A proteomics study of meditation on the cardiovascular system of Tibetan Monks. EBioMedicine. 2022 Jun;80:104026. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104026. Epub 2022 May 13.
Chen, W. et al. Comprehensive Metabolomic and Lipidomic Analysis Reveals Metabolic Changes After Mindfulness Training. Mindfulness 11, 1390-1400 (2020).
Other Identifiers
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20211477B
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id
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