NCT05523414

The Effect of SKY Breath Meditation on Health and Well-being

A Pilot Feasibility Study to Evaluate the Effect of SKY Breath Meditation on Health and Well-being

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 45 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 21 Years – 99 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this pilot SKY (Sudarshan Kriya Yoga) Breath Meditation study is to establish feasibility and acceptability of the intervention; and investigate preliminary effectiveness of the intervention at the DNA methylation, RNA and protein levels in blood samples collected from participants before and after the 8 week SKY intervention. Primary outcomes also include preliminary effectiveness at the physiological level using a wearable device used for continuous monitoring. Secondary outcome measures include behavioral inventories.

Detailed description

The present study will recruit up to 60 participants in the SKY intervention and up to 60 participants in the control group. Recruitment is expected to take up to a year. After providing informed consent, participants will be randomly assigned to the SKY intervention group, or a waitlist control group. Interventions will be performed in-person in San Diego. Prior to interventions, each participant will be asked to fill out behavioral questionnaires containing surveys and standardized cognitive measurements. Participants will be also asked to provide blood samples for biological assays (epigenetics, transcriptomics and proteomics). All participants will be scheduled for the questionnaire data collection and specimen collection up to two weeks preceding the start of either intervention. Participants will be asked to wear a Garmin vivoSmart5 smartwatch to collect physiological measures. The SKY intervention will be administered in-person over three sessions over three consecutive days. All participants (SKY and control) will be asked to provide a second blood sample at the end of the third session of the SKY intervention. SKY participants will then engage in a remotely administered follow-up over up to eight weeks' time with the option to attend daily remotely-led breathwork sessions for 30 minutes. Participants will be asked to log daily practice engagement using online surveys through the eight-week follow-up period. Reminders will be provided to the participant intermittently during this time. During the period of eight weeks, the participants will return for 1-hour in-person follow-up SKY sessions once a week. They will be required to attend at least 75% of these weekly sessions. After 8 weeks of follow up, participants will provide a third sample of blood, and perform a post-intervention questionnaire. Control participants will also have a similar schedule of data and biological sample collection as the SKY group. Waitlist controls will be provided the opportunity to attend the SKY retreat free of charge at the conclusion of the follow up period.

Conditions

• Stress
• Stress, Psychological
• Stress, Physiological
• Anxiety
• Mental Well Being
• Happiness
• Resilience

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	SKY	The SKY intervention will be administered in-person over three sessions spread over three consecutive days by qualified instructors. Participants will then be followed up over eight weeks' time, where they will be given the option to attend daily 35 minute breathwork sessions, again, guided by experienced instructors. Participants will be required to log whether or not they practiced for each day in the eight-week period. They will also receive intermittent reminders about their daily practice during the 8-week follow-up period.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-04-01
• Primary completion: 2024-04-19
• Completion: 2024-09-12
• First posted: 2022-08-31
• Last updated: 2026-03-02

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States