Researchers from the Shanghai Mental Health Centre at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University school of medicine looked at stool samples from a small group of Tibetan Buddhist monks from three different temples, alongside samples from their neighbours outside the monastery, to determine whether deep meditation can alter the composition of the gut microbiome.

The monks studied traditional Tibetan Buddhist meditation, originating in the ancient Indian practice of Ayurveda. They focused on Samatha, the practice of calm abiding, which steadies and concentrates the mind by resting the individual’s attention on a single object or mantra, and Vipassana, which, according to the researchers “is an insightful meditation practice that enables one to enquire into the true nature of all phenomena”.

Do monks hold the secret to better gut health? How deep meditation can benefit your microbiome