Meditation-Based Lifestyle Modification: Development of an Integrative Mind-Body Program for Mental Health and Human Flourishing

Abstract

Mental disorders are a core health challenge in the 21st century. Integrative mental health care takes an individual, lifestyle-modifying, salutogenic approach, combining somatic, psychosocial, and spiritual perspectives from evidence-based conventional and complementary medicine. In particular, meditation and mindfulness have received growing research interest in the last decade. In this article, we present Meditation-Based Lifestyle Modification (MBLM), a new, complex mind-body intervention for mental health care. It is the first program to intensify meditation practice using classical yoga. The program (a) covers all areas of classical yoga, (b) considers ethical and spiritual aspects of daily life, (c) orients participants toward sustained lifestyle modification, and (d) is applicable in a clinical context. The scientific rationale of the program is outlined in this article, based on the Criteria for Reporting the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions in Healthcare. Further research is planned to show the clinical feasibility of MBLM and evaluate its efficacy, processes of change, and cost-effectiveness.

Differential Effects of Ethical Education, Physical Hatha Yoga, and Mantra Meditation on Well-Being and Stress in Healthy Participants—An Experimental Single-Case Study

“…The present study provides the first in-depth insights into the incremental impact of ethical education and physical Hatha yoga on mantra meditation in healthy participants. At the same time, it dismantled and investigated diverse combinations of the components of the new MBLM mind–body therapy (Bringmann et al, 2020 ), which is based on the yoga path. The single-case multiple-baseline design gave detailed access to individual responses and trajectories of change.…”

“…Ethical education followed the protocol developed for the MBLM mind–body program (Bringmann et al, 2020 ). Each week, we introduced one of the 10 yamas and niyamas , with the last three niyamas being grouped together for time reasons into one topic called “transcendence.” After we introduced each topic, we invited participants to discuss its application and relevance for their daily lives and engage in related mindful living activities (see Table 3 ) during the following week.…”

“…This study was part of a project evaluating a new mind–body program called Meditation-Based Lifestyle Modification (MBLM; Bringmann et al, 2020 ). This holistic program encourages and empowers participants to adopt a beneficial lifestyle in order to experience sustained eudaemonic well-being, mental health, and human flourishing.…”

Embodied Cognition in Meditation, Yoga, and Ethics: An Experimental Single-Case Study on Differential Effects of Four Treatments

“…During the physical Hatha yoga practice, participants learned a set of simple yoga postures, simple breathing techniques, the sun salutation, and relaxation techniques. Ethical education followed the protocol developed for the MBLM mind-body program (Bringmann et al, 2020), introducing and discussing a new topic of the yogic yamas and niyamas each week. We asked all participants to practice their respective treatment practices daily, that is, 20 min of mantra meditation, 20 min of yoga exercises, and/or engage in mindful living activities related to the ethical topic of the week.…”

“…Thus, in the present study we used a single-case multiple-baseline design to evaluate four different combinations of yoga components. The components were based on the new mind-body program Meditation-Based Lifestyle Modification (MBLM; Bringmann et al, 2020). We chose this design as it has strong internal validity and allows for a more detailed examination of individual responses and processes of change (Barlow et al, 2009).…”