And this is precisely the reason why foundations such as the EDEN Foundation are taking on this medicine and funding research projects: The niche ensures that the research funds do not go to waste, but are used sensibly, visibly and hopefully effectively and efficiently. For the benefit of patients. 

Of course, it is not only the visibility of the funds that plays a role in a foundation's decision as to which projects and areas it invests its funding in, but also the potential, originality and innovative strength of these areas. The EDEN Foundation is committed to a holistic approach by virtue of its statutes. However, it is also convinced that something groundbreaking has emerged or can emerge from the linking of body, mind and behaviour. The concept of self-efficacy, both in the prevention and treatment of illnesses, is not new, but it is innovative and full of potential. The aim is to leverage this potential through research and optimise the effects.

WHERE EXACTLY SHOULD WE FUND?

How exactly the potential is best realised certainly depends in many respects on the personal attitude of the promoter, his or her own experiences and preferences. I myself have been involved for many years in patient-centred research into the clinical effectiveness of Mind-Body interventions (i.e. does fasting lead to improved sleep and better health (Michalsen et al., 2003)? Is Iyengar Yoga effective for neck pain (Michalsen et al., 2012)?...). Nowadays I would be less interested in whether certain interventions work, but rather why they do: What exactly is actually happening (immunologically, neurologically, morphologically...) to our bodies when we do relaxation exercises? Which are specific stimuli for certain diseases, which stimulate in a rather non-specific way? Why are there placebo effects and how can they be used specifically? How and why do mind-body techniques fit into multimodal therapy approaches? I know, much work has already been done in these fields. However, I believe we can and should go into much further detail here.

We know that yoga exercises can relieve back pain (Anheyer et al., 2022), as can Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) (Anheyer et al., 2017). However, a landmark study by Cherkin et al. (2016) has shown that MBSR and cognitive behavioural therapies are roughly equally effective in relieving chronic back pain . That must make a researcher wonder. Does it really matter which method we use to tackle health problems on the Mind-Body axis, as long as we do it? Are the individual specifics of the procedures indeed irrelevant? I am convinced that a clarification of the details, a decomposition of the procedures could provide insights.

As a Board member of the EDEN Foundation, I must and want to adopt a different funding perspective. As already mentioned, the foundation not only has a funding focus on Integrative Medicine, but also on nutrition. In the context of Mind-Body Medicine, it would therefore be expedient for the EDEN Foundation to promote research at this interface in order to understand the interactions of nutrition, nutritional behaviour, and attitudes with psychological, mental and physical phenomena more precisely; aiming at implementing them in self-efficacious interventions.