OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine
December 19, 2023
Ting-Fen Lin, D. Linville, Rhonda N. T. Nese et al.
3 citations
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects both physical and mental health, with symptoms like dyspnea worsening anxiety and vice versa. This study tested Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY), a breathwork meditation program, in nine individuals with varying COPD severity. Using single-case multiple-baseline and qualitative methods, it found SKY feasible and acceptable. Results suggest SKY can alleviate aspects of COPD burden related to mind, body, and breath, and reduce the cyclical effect of disease sequelae. Larger trials are needed, but this is the first evidence supporting SKY as a viable complementary approach for COPD.
OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine
March 5, 2025
Gaëtan Collignon, Aminata Bicego, Marie-élisabeth Faymonville et al.
2 citations
A 68-year-old man with chronic pain from an open Spina Bifida at L4-L5 used auto-induced cognitive trance (AICT) to manage his condition. After four days of training, pain intensity, anxiety, and depression slightly decreased; most attitudes and beliefs improved; the mental component of quality of life improved while the physical component decreased, and the patient reported his overall health had worsened. Qualitative analysis of his diary over two months revealed themes including trance characteristics, pain location, difficulties with practice, and medical history. The findings suggest AICT may alter subjective pain experience, but its effects on physical health and global well-being were mixed.
OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine
March 2, 2026
Elif Özgen
Movement has historically served as a healing practice tied to meaning-making and social balance. This paper traces the continuity of movement-based performative practices in Turkish health culture, including religious and mystical rituals, folk dances, and music-associated healing traditions. Using a conceptual, historical-comparative, and interpretive framework from performance studies, health anthropology, art therapies, and architectural theory, it examines relationships among ritual, movement, healing, and space. The trajectory from ancient rhythmic body practices to Seljuk and Ottoman hospitals and contemporary complementary health approaches shows continuity of healing through bodily experience and spatial interaction. Ritual components such as rhythm, repetition, breath, and centering can inform design strategies for sensory regulation and emotional balance in wellness spaces. The argument provides a conceptual basis for human-centered, healing-oriented spatial approaches.
OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine
September 7, 2023
Alberto Dubbini
Western researchers' epistemic and ethical foundations, rooted in a culturally shared idea of therapy, can hinder their understanding of different cultural realities and their knowledge and practices. Examining cases in psychedelic therapy, this paper focuses on obstacles created by ethical and epistemic conflicts in researchers with Western scientific training, who struggle to explore situations induced by psychedelic substances when integrating their therapeutic know-how with that of a centuries-old spiritual tradition like Amazonian mestizo vegetalismo. These obstacles can increase awareness of cultural bias and limitations of the scientific gaze, highlighting the importance of contexts where declared independence, neutrality, and effectiveness of human alert thinking as undebatable values are under discussion.