A recently published article in Communications Biology reported significant neural and molecular changes following a seven-day mind-body retreat that included meditation, cognitive reconceptualization, and open-label placebo exercises. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, conducted a study of the impact that intensive, non-pharmacological interventions have on the brain activity, neuroplasticity, and metabolic functioning of healthy adults. The study also intended to bridge the gap between psychological activities and biological reactions, with a focus on the significant impact of consciousness-based curative experiences on brain function and overall physiological health.
This observational study involved 20 healthy adult participants (14 females, mean age = 46.35 ± 10.06 years) who were randomly selected from a pool of 561 screened volunteers.
The intervention comprised 25 hours of lectures, 33 hours of guided meditation, and 5 hours of ritual healing during the 7-day period. The practices were designed towards self-healing, heart-based awareness, and mystic-like experience by means of Kundalini techniques that combined focused attention with conscious breathing.
The participants were subjected to blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) scans during rest (5 min) and meditation (15 min) scans, and plasma samples were collected pre- and post-retreat. Proteins and metabolite changes in the blood were measured through proteomics (7596 protein targets with SomaScan), metabolomics (LC-MS), exosome-specific miRNA transcriptomics, and the cell culture of neurons to analyze the neuroplastic and metabolic changes.
The growth of neurites was measured by using NGF-treated PC12 cells subjected to 1% pre- and post-intervention plasma and BE (2)-M17 neuroblastoma cells in Seahorse XF real-time metabolism analysis. Paired t-tests, ANOVA, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to perform statistical tests with corrections for multiple comparisons (pFWE < 0.05).
Functional MRI revealed that meditation was linked with lowered intra-network connectedness of the default mode network (p = 0.00009) and the salience network (p = 0.000003). The modularity of the entire brain reduced (p = 0.001), whereas the modularity of the whole brain reduced (p = 0.00002). It was found that the medial prefrontal cortex and cerebellum (t = -5.81, p = 0.00002) and bilateral insulae (p ≤ 0.0003) were less connected, indicating a transition to more integrated and less self-referential neural activity.
High meditators demonstrated the larger volume of gray matter in the right superior parietal lobule (p = 0.049), which is associated with body awareness. The neurites of post-intervention plasma-treated cells were longer (t = -2.52, p = 0.01), which means that neuroplasticity improved, and BDNF level was increased (t = 3.21, p = 0.001), as well as the expression of SLITRK1 and NGFR. Post-retreat plasma also caused a metabolic shift towards glycolysis with an increase in basal glycolytic rate (t = 3.39, p = 0.003) and a decrease in basal respiration (t = -4.80, p = 0.0001). The glycolysis proteomic index increased significantly (t = 3.37, p = 0.0008), which was caused by upregulation of ENO2 and LDHA.
Volcano plot analysis showed 21 significantly changed proteins, such as the up-regulation of Cofilin-2, LDHA, and FGF19, which suggested the increased cytoskeletal and metabolic activity. Inflammatory markers increased overall (t = 3.81, p = 0.0001), which was fueled by the S100A8 (p = 0.004) and CCL2 (p = 0.03), and there was also an increase in anti-inflammatory proteins (t = 2.25, p = 0.03), indicating balanced immune modulation. The endogenous opioid pathway had been upregulated significantly (t = 2.14, p = 0.03) with increased concentrations of β-endorphin (p = 0.0002) and dynorphin (p = 0.009) concentrations. The metabolomic analysis revealed that six pathways were significantly different (p < 0.05), especially the tryptophan metabolism (pFDR = 0.03), with the decreases of L-tryptophan (p = 0.03), tryptamine (p = 0.04), and indole-3-acetate (p = 0.001). Exosome-specific transcriptomics identified 18 non-coding RNAs and 66 protein-coding mRNAs as differentially expressed after the intervention.
The study found that a seven-day mind-body retreat involving meditation, reconceptualization, and healing rituals led to significant brain and molecular reorganization. The imaging of the brain revealed more neural integration, and the blood tests were also used to show more neuroplasticity and metabolic activities. Pro- and anti-inflammatory proteins, along with tryptophan and opioid pathways, were stimulated, which is a sign of balanced physiological re-programming. These results imply that psychotherapeutic interventions could initiate biological remodeling within a short period of time, although larger controlled clinical studies are required to verify their therapeutic value in the management of stress, pain, and other mental disorders.
Reference: Jinich-Diamant A, Simpson S, Zuniga-Hertz JP, et al. Neural and molecular changes during a mind-body reconceptualization, meditation, and open-label placebo healing intervention. Communications Biology. 2025;8:1525. doi:10.1038/s42003-025-09088-3
