Feasibility of a Mental-Health Intervention Based on Contemplative Sleep Practices

NCT07217340 | Completed Early Phase 1

• 1 other identifier: STU00222189
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 25
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

This is a feasibility study to test whether it is possible to deliver a program inspired by Tibetan Dream Yoga in a modern, accessible way. Dream Yoga is a set of contemplative practices that combine mental exercises during the day with techniques for becoming aware of dreaming within a dream (lucid dreaming) and engage in certain dream activities. The purpose of these practices is to help people explore and loosen rigid patterns of thought and behavior. In this study, the investigators are developing and testing a program that includes guided imagination, meditation, and lucid-dreaming practices, supported by virtual-reality experiences and home-based sleep-monitoring technology. Participants are randomly assigned to either the Dream-Yoga-inspired program or a comparison program focused on general health and sleep education. Because this is a feasibility trial, our main goals are to see whether people are willing and able to take part, whether they find the program acceptable, and whether the investigators can deliver it as planned. The investigators will also explore early signals of change in sleep, dreaming, and thinking. The long-term goal of this research is to determine if such interventions could be beneficial for supporting psychological well-being, improving sleep, and enhancing creativity and flexibility of thought.

Conditions

Anxiety

Keywords

lucid dreaming; dream yoga; contemplative sleep practices; mind-body intervention; meditation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Study Retention

  Study retention as an outcome measure will be considered positive if ≥65% of participants complete data collection at both pre- and post-intervention.

  7 weeks (baseline to post-intervention)

• Acceptability of the Intervention

  Acceptability will be assessed through composite measures of adherence to different elements of the intervention. The intervention will be considered acceptable if at least 70% of participants attend a minimum of five sessions. Adherence to supportive practices (dream journaling and online SHEP engagement) will also be assessed. These components will be considered acceptable if ≥75% of participants engage in Virtual Reality at a rate of ≥65%.

  7 weeks (throughout the intervention period)

• Tolerability of Dream Yoga Virtual Reality

  Tolerability will be assessed using the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), which measures nausea, oculomotor strain, and disorientation. The intervention will be considered tolerable if fewer than 20% of participants report severe simulator sickness or withdraw due to VR-related adverse effects. Additional safety will be monitored through adverse event logs.

  7 weeks (after each VR session)

• Study Retention

  Feasibility will be assessed through study retention, defined as ≥65% of participants completing data collection at both pre- and post-intervention.

  7 weeks (baseline to post-intervention)

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Frequency of Lucid Dreaming

  7 weeks

• Acceptability of the intervention

  7 weeks

• Feasibility of the Intervention

  7 Week

Other Outcomes (6)

• Change in Cognitive Flexibility Scale Score

  7 weeks (baseline to post-intervention)

• Change in Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) Score

  7 weeks (baseline to post-intervention)

• Self-referential Processing: Composite od Subjective and Neural Markers

  7 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Dream Yoga Inspired Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

This customized contemplative training will guide participants in exploring techniques used in Tibetan Dream Yoga. Strategies in Tibetan Dream-Yoga manuals are thus transferred to a modern context and adapted as a group intervention. Goals will be set for dreaming that include gaining a degree of volitional influence over the dream. Wearable devices will be used to present cues during sleep both to provoke lucidity and to remind individuals of Dream-Yoga exercises to be engaged during sleep. Virtual-reality (VR) sessions provide a novel adjunct to Dream Yoga, in keeping with prior research integrating lucid dreaming and VR (Gott et al., 2021). The protocol progresses though several group activities; individuals feel themselves dispersing into a void within the VR world, and then blending with others, leading the reduced self-grasping. If this unique VR component can blur conventional self-other boundaries, it may reinforce the progressive instructions in Dream Yoga.

Behavioral: Dream Yoga Inspired Intervention

Sleep Health Enhancement program

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

A modified version of the Health Enhancement Program (HEP), which was developed as an active control condition for mindfulness-based interventions, with a particular focus on sleep hygiene. It controls for several non-specific factors such as expectations of positive change, group support, behavioural activation, facilitator attention, at-home practice, treatment duration, and format (MacCoon et al., 2012; Rosenkranz et al., 2013). Our modified HEP will be structurally equivalent to the Dream-Yoga condition, with high similarity on non-program-specific factors, including timing and number of sessions. The two VR sessions will focus on health enhancement. Participants will be taught positive health-enhancing practices, such as healthy diet and gentle exercise, with activity-based sessions covering exercise, sleep, dreaming, stress, anxiety, nutrition, journaling, music enjoyment, and drawing. Home practice and implementation of health-enhancing habits will be encouraged.

Behavioral: Sleep Health Enhancement program

Interventions

Sleep Health Enhancement program BEHAVIORAL

The control group will receive a modified version of the Health Enhancement Program (HEP), which was developed as an active control condition for mindfulness-based interventions, with a particular focus on sleep hygiene. It controls for several non-specific factors such as expectations of positive change, group support, behavioural activation, facilitator attention, at-home practice, treatment duration, and format (MacCoon et al., 2012; Rosenkranz et al., 2013). Our modified HEP will be structurally equivalent to the Dream-Yoga condition, with high similarity on non-program-specific factors, including timing and number of sessions. The two VR sessions will focus on health enhancement. Participants will be taught positive health-enhancing practices, such as healthy diet and gentle exercise, with activity-based sessions covering exercise, sleep, dreaming, stress, anxiety, nutrition, journaling, music enjoyment, and drawing. Home practice and implementation of health-enhancing habits will

Also known as: Health Enhancement Program

Sleep Health Enhancement program

Dream Yoga Inspired Intervention BEHAVIORAL

This customized contemplative training will guide participants in exploring techniques used in Tibetan Dream Yoga, including somatic awareness and intention-setting prior to sleep. Strategies in Tibetan Dream-Yoga manuals are thus transferred to a modern context and adapted as a group intervention. Goals will be set for dreaming that include gaining a degree of volitional influence over the dream. Participants will be instructed on how to work with their dream-world self-concept, which can include changing the environment deliberately, making other individuals appear, and switching identities with other individuals in the dream. Wearable devices will be used to present cues during sleep both to provoke lucidity and to remind individuals of Dream-Yoga exercises to be engaged during sleep. The intervention includes both wake- and sleep-based instructions, with instructions on learning to apply the new orientation in their daily lives. Participants will be contacted individually to assure

Also known as: Contemplative Sleep Practice Intervention

Dream Yoga Inspired Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Healthy, English-speaking adults (at least 18 years old) with
• High dream recall (at least 1/month).

You may not qualify if:

• a history of an established meditative practice
• psychological or psychiatric disorders (other than mild anxiety)
• sleep disorders, nightshift work in the past month, extreme chronotype or irregular sleeping pattern
• use of recreational drugs in the past month
• history of asthma, seizures or heart problems
• unwillingness to wear headband during sleep.
• Not having an address in the domestic United States, so residents of other countries would be excluded.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Northwestern University: lead
• University of Virginia: collaborator
• Tiny Blue Dot Foundation: collaborator

Study Sites (2)

Cresap Laboratory

Evanston, Illinois, 60208, United States

Location

Contemplative Sciences Center

Charlottesville, Virginia, 22908., United States

Location

Related Publications (8)

• Whitmore NW, Harris JC, Kovach T, Paller KA. Improving memory via automated targeted memory reactivation during sleep. J Sleep Res. 2022 Dec;31(6):e13731. doi: 10.1111/jsr.13731. Epub 2022 Sep 21.

  PMID: 36129154 BACKGROUND

• Rosenkranz MA, Davidson RJ, Maccoon DG, Sheridan JF, Kalin NH, Lutz A. A comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an active control in modulation of neurogenic inflammation. Brain Behav Immun. 2013 Jan;27(1):174-84. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2012.10.013. Epub 2012 Oct 22.

  PMID: 23092711 BACKGROUND

• MacCoon DG, Imel ZE, Rosenkranz MA, Sheftel JG, Weng HY, Sullivan JC, Bonus KA, Stoney CM, Salomons TV, Davidson RJ, Lutz A. The validation of an active control intervention for Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Behav Res Ther. 2012 Jan;50(1):3-12. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2011.10.011. Epub 2011 Nov 11.

  PMID: 22137364 BACKGROUND

• Konkoly KR, Appel K, Chabani E, Mangiaruga A, Gott J, Mallett R, Caughran B, Witkowski S, Whitmore NW, Mazurek CY, Berent JB, Weber FD, Turker B, Leu-Semenescu S, Maranci JB, Pipa G, Arnulf I, Oudiette D, Dresler M, Paller KA. Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. Curr Biol. 2021 Apr 12;31(7):1417-1427.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.026. Epub 2021 Feb 18.

  PMID: 33607035 BACKGROUND

• Katyal S, Hajcak G, Flora T, Bartlett A, Goldin P. Event-related potential and behavioural differences in affective self-referential processing in long-term meditators versus controls. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2020 Apr;20(2):326-339. doi: 10.3758/s13415-020-00771-y.

  PMID: 31981093 BACKGROUND

• Honma M, Plass J, Brang D, Florczak SM, Grabowecky M, Paller KA. Sleeping on the rubber-hand illusion: Memory reactivation during sleep facilitates multisensory recalibration. Neurosci Conscious. 2016;2016(1):niw020. doi: 10.1093/nc/niw020. Epub 2016 Oct 17.

  PMID: 28184322 BACKGROUND

• Glowacki DR, Williams RR, Wonnacott MD, Maynard OM, Freire R, Pike JE, Chatziapostolou M. Group VR experiences can produce ego attenuation and connectedness comparable to psychedelics. Sci Rep. 2022 May 30;12(1):8995. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-12637-z.

  PMID: 35637199 BACKGROUND

• Carr, M., Konkoly, K., Mallett, R., Edwards, C., Appel, K., & Blagrove, M. (2023). Combining presleep cognitive training and REM-sleep stimulation in a laboratory morning nap for lucid dream induction. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 10(4), 413-430. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000227

  BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anxiety Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: early phase 1
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Participants are blinded to the condition of their group. They don't know if they are in the intervention study or control. The outcome assessor is blinded too.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 24, 2025
• First Posted: October 15, 2025
• Study Start: October 1, 2025
• Primary Completion: December 1, 2025
• Study Completion: December 1, 2025
• Last Updated: February 12, 2026

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, ICF
• Time Frame: IPD will be made available beginning 6 months after publication of the primary results and will remain available for 5 years.

Locations

US (2)