Yogic Breathing and Guided Meditation for Long Covid Symptoms

February 4, 2025 updated by: Balachundhar Subramaniam, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
This study aims to assess the impact of brief digitally delivered breathing practice and guided meditation on post-Covid physical and mental symptoms in Long Covid Patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Long Covid symptoms can last weeks to months after the initial Covid infection or can appear weeks after. It can occur in those with mild disease or asymptomatic patients. Most commonly reported symptoms of Long Covid are:

  • Tiredness or fatigue
  • Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as "brain fog")
  • Headache
  • Loss of smell or taste
  • Dizziness on standing
  • Fast-beating or pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations)
  • Chest pain
  • Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
  • Cough
  • Joint or muscle pain
  • Depression or anxiety
  • Fever
  • Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities

To this date, nearly 180 million people have been infected with Covid19 and over 3 million have lost their lives worldwide. The increasing prevalence of patients with Long Covid symptoms and the lack of effective solutions to address their condition, creates an urgent need for non-pharmacological interventions that are effective and scalable and can be delivered online to accommodate for the limitations due to the Covid pandemic.

Yogic Breathing and Meditation techniques have been shown to have various health benefits including improving pulmonary function and mental health. Prominent health institutions are recommending breathing exercise to their Covid patients to assist their respiratory recovery9. Meditation and breathing is also shown to help with Covid related stress and anxiety.

This study is a waitlisted randomized controlled trial conducted in 2 phases:

Phase 1: If participants are in the intervention group, they will be asked to learn and practices two Yogic Breathing practices (Simha Kriya and Nadi Shuddhi) and a guided meditation (Isha Kriya) for 3 weeks They will be asked to complete a set of questionnaires at baseline and the end of each week. Participants in the waitlisted control group will be asked to perform their regular daily routine as they wait to be enrolled into the intervention at the end of 3 weeks. The waitlisted control group will also be recruited for semi-structured individual interviews during this time.

Phase 2: The waitlisted control group will begin the intervention at week 3 and continue until week 6. They will be asked to continue completing the questionnaires at the end of each week. The intervention group will be asked to complete a final follow-up questionnaire at the end of week 6. The intervention group will also be recruited for semi-structured individual interviews during this time.

Focus group discussions with both the intervention and control groups are conducted at the end of the study to collect general information about the participant's general experience with the current study and what matters to them as a Long COVID patients.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

189

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215
        • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age between 18 and 70 years
  • Interested in attending the online Breathing and Wellness webinar.
  • Laboratory-confirmed (PCR) history of Covid-19 infection.
  • Long Covid condition diagnosis by a physician.
  • Able to read and comprehend English.
  • Currently residing in the United States.

Exclusion Criteria:

● Any medically limiting diagnosis that prevents a patient from doing the intervention or completing the assessments as determined by the PI such as severe Major Depression (under medication), Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Webinar-Based Intervention
Breathing and Wellness Webinar: two yogic breathing practices (Simha Kriya and Naddi Shuddi) and a guided meditation (Isha Kriya).
Behavioral: Breathing and Wellness Webinar

Simha Kriya : a 3-minute energizing breathing practice to expand lung capacity and improve immunity, to be practiced twice daily.

Nadi Shuddhi - a gentle 4-minute breathing practice for creating mental balance and relaxation, to be practiced for a minimum of 4 minutes daily.

Isha Kriya - a 15-minute guided meditation that incorporates the breath and the awareness to create mental clarity and health, to be practiced at least once (ideally twice) daily.
Placebo Comparator: Control
This group will be asked to wait for 3 weeks before being introduced to the Breathing and Wellness Webinar intervention which includes two yogic breathing practices (Simha Kriya and Naddi Shuddi) and a guided meditation (Isha Kriya).
Other: Routine Daily Activity
Participants in the control group are asked to perform routine daily activities until enrolled into the intervention arm.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Compliance
Time Frame: For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
The weekly compliance questionnaire is a tool which helps the participants to keep track of their activities each week. This enables the study team to measure compliance and protocol adherence by the participants by collecting information on their routine activity practiced and its frequency. This will be reported in "Number of days an intervention was practiced in a week". Compliance is defined as completing 60% (4 days/week or more) of the activity that is prescribed in the protocol. This means that at least one of the three practices (Isha Kriya, Nadi Shuddhi, or Simha Kriya) must be completed once a day for a minimum of four days.
For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)
Time Frame: For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
PSS is a 10-question validated instrument that assesses stress. Participants are asked to rate on a scale of 0 (never) to 4 (very often) how often they agree with various statements.
For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
Profile of Mood States (POMS)
Time Frame: For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
This is a short validated survey used to measure six different dimensions of mood swings over a period of time. These include: Tension or Anxiety, Anger or Hostility, Vigor or Activity, Fatigue or Inertia, Depression or Dejection, Confusion or Bewilderment. A five-point scale ranging from "not at all" to "extremely" is administered and scores for each dimension contributes to calculation of positive and negative subscales in conjunction to total mood disturbance.
For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
Quality of Life Survey (SF12)
Time Frame: For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
SF12 is a validated self-reported measure of the impact of health on everyday quality of life. It evaluates domains of physical activities, social activities, usual role activities, bodily pain, general mental health, vitality and general health perception.
For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile (MDP)
Time Frame: For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
MDP is a validated scale to assess the overall breathing discomfort, sensory qualities and emotional responses using 8 questions. It is not intended for a particular activity and can be used during rest, activity or during clinical care. For assessing Long Covid patients, the first three parts (breathing discomfort and sensory qualities) are commonly used.
For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
Somatic Symptom Scale 8 Items (SS8)
Time Frame: For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
SS8 is a validated brief questionnaire to assess common somatic symptoms including pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, fatigue and trouble sleeping. Participants are asked to rate on a scale of 0 (not at all) to 4 (very much) how often they agree with various statements. Items from each of the 8 questions are then summed to create a total perceived stress score.
For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.
Qualitative Assessments
Time Frame: For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.

The semi-structured individual interviews will allow us to gain rich, descriptive information about the participant's experience with the long COVID symptoms, treating physicians, and the effect of the provided practices on their symptoms. The focus group interviews will be semi-structured to ensure a systematic and flexible approach to data collection, allowing us to gain rich information about the participant's general experience with the current study and what matters to them as a Long COVID patients.

The interviews will cover the following main topics: (1) Perceptions of the participants on their long COVID symptoms, (2) Perceptions of the participants on their treating physicians (3) the effect of the provided meditation practices on their long COVID symptoms (4) and what matters to the Long COVID patients as well as their general experience as participants in the current study.
For Phase 1 analysis: Baseline to 3 weeks. For Phase 2 analysis: Baseline to 6 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Balachundar Subramaniam, MD, MPH, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 15, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 7, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

February 7, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 23, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 29, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

December 1, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 4, 2025

Last Verified

June 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2021P000552

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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