Changes in Microbiota in Healthy Subjects Before and After Meditation Practices in a Controlled Environment

Pranic Healing Research Institute27 enrolled

Overview

The goal of the study is to evaluate the Changes in Microbiota Markers in Healthy Subjects Before, During and After Meditation Practices in a Controlled Environment. This study provides a unique opportunity to test the hypotheses that (1) Arhatic Yoga practices will affect both oral and gut microbiome; (2) the oral and gut microbiome will shift dynamically in a short period; and (3) the overall shift resulting from the changes in the gut microbiome members will be associated with known benefits to health and well-being.

The present study was designed as a single-arm pilot scale to understand the temporal changes in both gut and oral microbiome of the practitioners at a meditation-cum-spiritual retreat in a controlled environment. There was open communication between all the participants before, during and after the retreat. As all the practitioners followed group practices in one location under the supervision of the senior instructors, separate assessment of the adherence of the practitioners to the protocol was not performed. Oral and fecal samples of practitioners were collected at the start (Day0: T1), middle (Day3-5: T2) and end (Day7-9:T3) of the retreat in a sterile containers. Amplicon sequencing was performed from extracted DNA to study changes in microbiome profile during retreat.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Healthy

Interventions

Meditation practiceOTHER

physical and breathing exercises

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * must provide written informed consent prior to initiation of any study procedures * was able to understand and agreed to comply with planned study procedures (agreed to the collection of specimens (saliva and fecal) before, during and after the study * male or non-pregnant female greater than 18 years of age at time of enrolment * must have a distinct Arhatic level (0-5 level) and performed meditation and MTH practices from once a week to more than 3 times a week prior to this retreat Exclusion Criteria: * concomitant disease that requires any medical treatment * pregnancy * any antibiotic treatment in the past two weeks * pediatric population * clinical apparent infectious disease

Locations (1)

Pranic Healing Research Institute

Lyndhurst, New Jersey, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Assessing the changes in gut and oral microbiome profile of the participants during retreat

Stool and oral samples were collected from the participants for three timepoints (T1: 1 day, T2: 3-5 days, and T3: 7-9 days) and changes in gut microbiome and oral microbiome were assessed through 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. T1 was considered as baseline data.

Time frame: Timepoint1: 1 day (Baseline), Timepoint2: 3-5 days, and Timepoint3: 7-9 days

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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