New Research on Tibetan Meditation
Improvement Shown for Cancer Patients and Caregivers
Alejandro Chaoul with cancer patientsAn integrative medicine research study from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center recently concluded that cancer patients and their caregivers had “clinically significant reduction and improvement” in global distress, fatigue, anxiety and shortness of breath when they practiced the Tibetan meditation methods of Nine Breathings of Purification, sacred sounds (A, OM and HUNG) or tsa lung (Tibetan yoga) in a group meditation class.
The study, conducted by Gabriel Lopez, M.D., Alejandro Chaoul, Ph.D., and others is titled “A Pragmatic Evaluation of Symptom Distress After Group Meditation for Cancer Patients and Caregivers: A Preliminary Report.” It was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Pain and Systems Management.
The article also references two books by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha International: Tibetan Sound Healing and Awakening the Sacred Body.
Alejandro Chaoul is a faculty member with the Integrative Medicine Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas; director of research for Ligmincha International; a senior teacher and research team member for The 3 Doors Academy founded by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche; and a recently named fellow of the Mind & Life Institute. He is director of the new Mind, Body, and Spirit Institute at the Jung Center in Houston. His new book, Tibetan Yoga for Health & Well-Being: The Science and Practice of Healing Your Body, Energy, and Mind, is being released this summer.
