The Efficacy of Ajapa Japa Meditation on Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder

INTERVENTION: Aims of the project: This research study intends to evaluate the efficacy of an 8‐week yoga meditation intervention utilising an ancient meditation technique known as Ajapa Japa in reducing anxiety, sleep problems, improving quality of life and increasing trait mindfulness for individuals with Anxiety Disorders. This meditation technique has never previously been used with Anxiety Disorder patients. Research Design: Participants: The participants will be volunteers from St John of God Outpatient programs (SJOG) who have Anxiety Disorders, who are 18 years or older, English speakers, have not had a previous psychotic episode and who are not experienced meditators. Method: These participants will perform the Ajapa japa meditation at least three times a week over 8 weeks. The meditation in total would take 15 minutes per session. The participants will be lead in person through the meditation by the student researcher Sally Blair once a week in the Outpatient Hospital suite. The other 2 meditations will be done by way of an audio meditation which is lead by Dr Swami Shankadev who is a medical doctor, a yoga swami and psychotherapist who lives and works in Sydney. The participants will receive the meditation via google drive and will download it onto their computer or personal device. The participants will perform track 3 and 4 of the meditation a minimum of twice a week at a time and place of their choosing. Thus, the participants will have one live session of meditation at the hospital per week and do two audio sessions of meditation a time and place of their choosing at least twice per week. Adherence to the meditation will be assessed by asking the participants to complete a sheet determining a) how many times they did the meditation 2) whether they were engaged in the meditation in a mindful fashion or not. These sheets will be returned to the student researcher after 8 weeks. Importantly, the participants will be still receiving their usual outpatient treatment throughout the 8‐week period. CONDITION: anxiety PRIMARY OUTCOME: The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI: Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988). The BAI is a brief 21‐item questionnaire that assesses anxiety symptoms (0‐3 Likert scale; total score 0‐63). SECONDARY OUTCOME: ; ; *The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006). The FFMQ is a 39‐item that assesses mindfulness on five scales (1‐5 Likert scale; total score 39‐195). ; ; * The Quality of Life Inventory (QOLI; Frisch, Cornell, Villanueva, & Retzlaff, 1992). The QOLI assesses the importance of (0‐2) Likert scale) and satisfaction with (‐3 to 3 Likert scale) 16 life domains on 32 items (total score ‐6 to 6); The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI; Morin, 1993). The ISI is a brief questionnaire that assesses insomnia on 7 items (0‐4 Likert scale; total score 0‐28); ; INCLUSION CRITERIA: The participants must have an Anxiety Disorder, not have had a psychotic episode, not be experienced meditators and be able to understand English.