Restoring Function in Long COVID Through Web-Based Isha Kriya Meditation and Breathwork: A Mixed Methods Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)
Akila Rayapuraju, Enas Mohamed, Preeti Upadhyay Reed, Hibiki Orui, Morgan Pratt, Nashaw Jafari, Tulsi Chase, Amberly Ticotsky, Jason Maley, Balachundhar Subramaniam
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Qualitative |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 68 |
| Population | Individuals with long COVID recruited from U.S. long COVID clinics and self-referrals |
| Intervention | yogic breathing and meditation program |
| Duration | 3-week intervention, 6-week follow-up |
| Topics | Breathwork Meditation |
| Registration | NCT05139979 |
| Key findings | A 3-week web-based yogic breathing and meditation program led to significant improvements in mood, dyspnea, and somatic symptoms in people with long COVID compared to a waitlist control, with no meaningful differences in stress or quality of life. |
Abstract
Background: Long COVID imposes severe functional impairments and strains health systems. Web-based mind-body interventions may offer scalable support for multidisciplinary care.
Objective: We assessed the feasibility and efficacy of a 3-week web-based yogic breathing and meditation program on quality of life in individuals with long COVID. METHODS : In this 6-week waitlisted, mixed-methods randomized controlled trial, participants were recruited from U.S. long COVID clinics and self-referrals and randomized to intervention or waitlist control groups. The meditation and breathwork intervention was delivered via instructor-guided live webinars supplemented with video guides for daily self-practice. Weekly logs tracked compliance, and secondary outcomes including perceived stress (PSS), mood (POMS), quality of life (SF-12), multidimensional dyspnea (MDP), and somatic symptom burden (SS8), were assessed at baseline, 3 weeks, and 6 weeks. The data was analyzed using linear mixed effects models with qualitative insights regarding experience with long COVID and the intervention contextualizing quantitative findings.
Results: Of the 68 participants who completed the study, 50 (74%) were compliant. Linear mixed-effects models showed significant between-group improvements favoring the intervention group, with small to medium effect sizes. Compared with the waitlisted control, the intervention group demonstrated greater reductions in total mood disturbance (Mean Difference (MD) = -10; 95% CI [-19 to -1.6]; p = .02), immediate perception (MD = -5.5; 95% CI [-9.4 to -1.6]; P = .007) and sensory dimension (MD = -5.1; 95% CI [-8.5 to -1.7; P = .003] of dyspnea, and somatic symptom burden ( MD = -2.0; 95% CI [-3.6 to -0.38]; P = .02) over time in the intervention group compared to the waitlisted control. No meaningful differences were found in stress and quality of life. Qualitative findings complemented the quantitative result revealing four key themes: (1) meditation building resilience, (2) online support networks, (3) benefits and challenges of digital delivery, and (4) struggles with the medical system.
Conclusions: This web-based, low-burden yogic breathing and meditation program appears feasible and accessible for people with Long COVID. In three weeks, participants demonstrated meaningful improvements across validated clinical scales for mood, dyspnea, and somatic symptoms as well as in their lived experience of symptom management. These findings support further evaluation of this scalable approach as a supportive intervention while more definitive medical treatments continue to evolve. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05139979); https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05139979