Ayurveda is playing a growing part in Europe. Questions regarding the role of religion and spirituality within Ayurveda are discussed widely. Yet, there is little data on the influence of religious and spiritual aspects on its European diffusion. Methods. A survey was conducted with a new questionnaire. It was analysed by calculating frequency variables and testing differences in distributions with the χ 2-Test. Principal Component Analyses with Varimax Rotation were performed. Results. 140 questionnaires were analysed. Researchers found that individual religious and spiritual backgrounds influence attitudes and expectations towards Ayurveda. Statistical relationships were found between religious/spiritual backgrounds and decisions to offer/access Ayurveda. Accessing Ayurveda did not exclude the simultaneous use of modern medicine and CAM. From the majority's perspective Ayurveda is simultaneously a science, medicine, and a spiritual approach. Conclusion. Ayurveda seems to be able to satisfy the individual needs of therapists and patients, despite worldview differences. Ayurvedic concepts are based on anthropologic assumptions including different levels of existence in healing approaches. Thereby, Ayurveda can be seen in accordance with the prerequisites for a Whole Medical System. As a result of this, intimate and individual therapist-patient relationships can emerge. Larger surveys involving bigger participant numbers with fully validated questionnaires are warranted to support these results.

Background: Religiously motivated Bahá'í fasting (BF) is a form of intermittent dry fasting celebrated by abstaining from food and drinks during daylight hours every year in March for 19 consecutive days.Aim: To test the safety and effects of BF on hydration, metabolism, and the circadian clock.Methods: Thirty-four healthy Bahá'í volunteers (15 women) participated in this prospective, exploratory cohort study. Laboratory examinations were carried out in four study visits: before fasting (V0), in the third week of fasting (V1) as well as 3 weeks (V3) and 3 months (V4) after fasting. Data collection included blood and urine samples, anthropometric measurements and bioelectrical impedance analysis. At V0 and V1, 24- and 12-hour urine and serum osmolality were measured. At V0–V2, alterations in the circadian clock phase were monitored in 16 participants. Our study was augmented by an additional survey with 144 healthy Bahá'í volunteers filling out questionnaires and with subgroups attending metabolic measurements (n = 11) and qualitative interviews (n = 13), the results of which will be published separately.Results: Exploratory data analysis revealed that serum osmolality (n = 34, p < 0.001) and 24-hour urine osmolality (n = 34, p = 0.003) decreased during daytime fasting but remained largely within the physiological range and returned to pre-fasting levels during night hours. BMI (body mass index), total body fat mass, and resting metabolic rate decreased during fasting (n = 34, p < 0.001), while body cell mass and body water appeared unchanged. The circadian phase estimated by transcript biomarkers of blood monocytes advanced by 1.1 h (n = 16, p < 0.005) during fasting and returned to pre-fasting values 3 weeks after fasting. Most observed changes were not detectable anymore 3 months after fasting.Conclusions: Results indicate that BF (Bahá'í fasting) is safe, has no negative effects on hydration, can improve fat metabolism and can cause transient phase shifts of circadian rhythms.Trial Registration:https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier: NCT03443739.

This article is the editors’ introduction to the transcript of a lecture that Harold Garfinkel delivered to a seminar in 1993. Garfinkel extensively discusses the relevance of Aron Gurwitsch’s phenomenological treatment of Gestalt theory for ethnomethodology. Garfinkel uses the term “misreading” to signal a respecification of Gurwitsch’s phenomenological investigations, and particularly his conceptions of contextures, functional significations, and phenomenal fields, so that they become compatible with detailed observations and descriptions of social actions and interactions performed in situ. Garfinkel begins with Gurwitsch’s demonstrations with line drawings and other abstract examples, and suggests how they can be used to suggest original procedures for investigating the vicissitudes of embodied practical actions in the lifeworld. This introduction to the lecture aims to provide some background on the scope of Gurwitsch’s phenomenological critique and elaboration of Gestalt theory and Garfinkel’s “misreading” of it in terms of his own conceptions of indexicality and accountability, and ethnomethodological investigations of the production of social order.

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