An 8-week yoga-based mind-body intervention, Meditation-Based Lifestyle Modification (MBLM), reduced pain intensity and improved quality of life and pain self-efficacy in most of 17 women with chronic back pain, fibromyalgia, or migraines. The largest improvement was in pain self-efficacy, followed by average pain intensity and quality of life, with a smaller effect on most severe pain. Responses varied among participants, suggesting the intervention helps many but not all. The authors call for larger controlled trials and further exploration of yoga's ethical and philosophical aspects.
A meditation-based lifestyle program (MBLM) increases spirituality more than standard therapy in patients with mild-to-moderate depression. Among 81 patients, those who began with an interest in spirituality or who already practiced spiritual mind-body activities showed greater improvement in depression severity after six months. Patients who regularly performed such practices benefited equally from either the meditation program or standard treatment, while those who did not engage in spiritual mind-body practices fared worse with standard therapy alone. The findings suggest that incorporating spiritual practices into depression treatment may be especially helpful for patients who are not already engaged in them.
A 21-day online meditation course based on the expansion method showed potentially beneficial effects on mental health, with medium-sized improvements in mental health, flourishing, and negative affect after one month, and small improvements in physical health, stress, positive affect, self-efficacy, spirituality, and mysticism at three months. The study included 359 participants, mostly German women with an average age of 51, and the course content was positively evaluated. These findings suggest the intervention may support mental health, but randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm effectiveness.