Effect of SKY Breath Meditation on Health and Well-being
Stress, Stress, Psychological, Stress, Physiological
About this trial
This is an interventional basic science trial for Stress focused on measuring mindfulness, breathing, meditation, stress reduction, anxiety, depression, DNA methylation, epigenetic, wearable devices, heart rate variability
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Healthy volunteers between the ages of 18-50 who are willing to meet the standards of the study. (After 50, we expect deleterious DNA methylation changes to have accumulated, therefore we are excluding them.)
- Medical checkup in last 3 years
- Minimum 5th grade equivalent competency in English
- Agree to complete 4 follow up sessions per week of SKY Breath practice.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Diagnosis of any major medical condition including, but not limited to: dementia, severe hypertension, cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma or respiratory illnesses, history of seizure disorder, Crohn's disease, lupus, colitis, dermatitis, fibromyalgia, HIV, hepatitis B or C.
- Diagnosis of any psychiatric condition including, but not limited to: severe clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, suicidal ideation, ADHD
- Recent history of major psychotic episode within the last 12 months
- Recent history of consistent substance dependence or abuse either by history or self-report within the last 3 months
- Major surgery within last 12 weeks
- On hormone-replacement therapy
- Taking lithium or lithium-based medication
- Currently pregnant/breastfeeding or actively trying to become pregnant
- Underweight or obese
- Diagnosed with COVID in last 4 weeks
- Exhibiting symptoms like prolonged cognitive fog or difficulty breathing.
- Smokes any tobacco products (including cigarettes, vapes, hookah)
- Heavy alcohol drinker (per CDC definition, 8 or more drinks per week for women, 15 or more drinks per week for men)
- Concurrently participating in another pilot study/clinical trial of a mind/body intervention
- Regularly practices (3+ times a week) a formal meditation or breath-based technique
Sites / Locations
- Subud HouseRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
No Intervention
SKY
Control
In-person SKY sessions will be 3 hours long on each of 3 consecutive days, and participants must be willing to attend all 3 sessions. Each session comprises a combination of breathwork, emotional resilience training, yoga, and leadership skills. The SKY technique includes a unique set of standardized breathing techniques to rapidly reduce neuroendocrine stress responses and the autonomic imbalance due to sympathetic overdrive. 8 weeks of online and/or in-person sessions will be delivered to participants in the follow-up period after the initial in-person intervention. They will receive intermittent reminders about their daily practice during the 8-week follow-up period. The participants will be asked to engage in daily 35 minute SKY sessions remotely, that is led by an instructor. Each participant will be required to log in the number of times a week they practice. In addition, weekly 60-minute reinforcement sessions will be conducted, in-person.
Waitlist control participants will not be provided any intervention. However, they will have the same schedule for data and biological specimen collection as the SKY intervention participants. They will be provided an opportunity to take the SKY retreat free of charge at the end of the follow up period.