NCT03489148

Implications of Tamarkoz® on Stress, Emotion, Spirituality and Heart Rate

Completed NA Last updated 5 April 2018

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Tamarkoz® in Stress in 103 participants. Completed in 4 February 2016.

Timeline

24 August 2015

Primary endpoint
4 February 2016

4 February 2016

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Loma Linda University
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	non randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	prevention
Enrollment	103
Start date	24 August 2015
Primary completion	4 February 2016
Estimated completion	4 February 2016
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Tamarkoz®
• Stress management resources

Conditions studied

• Stress — all drugs for Stress →

Sponsor

Loma Linda University

Who can join

Adults 18 to 30, any sex, with Stress. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Depression, anxiety, hopelessness, poor sleep quality, somatic pain, high risk of substance abuse, and suicide ideation are positively correlated with perceived stress. Spirituality and positive emotions have profound, positive impacts on health and reduce perceived stress. The current study is an exploration of Tamarkoz®, a Sufi practice that is a method to concentrate, as a pathway by which spirituality and positive emotions effect perceived stress. Tamarkoz® incorporates physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of an individual. In its current form, it includes Movazaneh® which is movement balancing developed by the Sufi Master, Professor Nader Angha. Movazaneh® movements direct concentration of the mind to a state of collectiveness and activates electromagnetic centers in the body, which are said to develop spirituality in an individual. A national survey of college students indicated that over 80% have interest in spiritual development.

Participants were recruited from the University of California, Berkeley for an 18-week quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest and follow-up in three groups. Assessments were conducted with blood pressure, heart rate, the 10-item perceived stress scale, the 38-item dispositional positive emotions scale, and the 16-item daily spiritual experiences scale in a Tamarkoz® group, a wait-list control, and a third group utilizing the campus health center's stress management resources. Blood pressure and heart rate measurements were taken by the researcher using a validated home monitoring device. Additionally, all participants provided 3 diurnal saliva samples to determine changes in salivary immunoglobulin A and salivary cortisol. All data were collection was through non-evasive procedures and were assessed at baseline, end of the school semester (12 weeks) and 18 weeks.

Participants, diverse university students, had no prior exposure to Tamarkoz®.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Implications of Tamarkoz on stress, emotion, spirituality and heart rate.
   Bahadorani N, Lee JW, Martin LR. · · 2021 · cited 10× · PMID 34238979 · DOI 10.1038/s41598-021-93470-8