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

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

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Dream Yoga Inspired Intervention

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

BEHAVIORAL

Sleep Health Enhancement program

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

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Virginia

  collaborator OTHER

• Tiny Blue Dot Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• Northwestern University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-10-01

Primary Completion

2025-12-01

Completion

2025-12-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations