A 6-day Ayurveda-based mind-body program significantly increased nondual awareness, a shift in self-perception that was sustained one month later. The study compared 69 healthy adults (average age 53.9) who participated in the intensive program against a control group. The program addressed physical, emotional, and spiritual domains. Participants showed a significant increase in scores on the Nondual Embodiment Thematic Inventory after the program and at a one-month follow-up. The findings suggest that holistic mind-body instruction can produce lasting changes in awareness that may benefit well-being.
Meditation may help preserve cognition and prevent dementia through several pathways: reducing stress-induced cortisol, increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor, improving lipid profiles, lowering oxidative stress, and strengthening neuronal circuits. Cross-sectional studies show meditation practitioners have slower age-related thinning of specific cortical regions. However, existing evidence is inconsistent and preliminary, meditation encompasses diverse practices, and key challenges remain including identifying common elements across modalities, replicating findings in larger randomized trials, determining appropriate dosing, and controlling for genetic, dietary, and lifestyle confounds.