1 1208 161 EXPLORATION OF LOWER FREQUENCY EEG DYNAMICS AND CORTICAL ALPHA ASYMMETRY IN LONG-TERM RAJYOGA MEDITATORS. BACKGROUND: RAJYOGA MEDITATION IS TAUGHT BY PRAJAPITA BRAHMAKUMARIS WORLD SPIRITUAL UNIVERSITY (BRAHMAKUMARIS) AND HAS BEEN FOLLOWED BY MORE THAN ONE MILLION FOLLOWERS ACROSS THE GLOBE. HOWEVER, RARE STUDIES WERE CONDUCTED ON PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF RAJYOGA MEDITATION USING ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY (EEG). BAND POWER AND CORTICAL ASYMMETRY WERE NOT STUDIED WITH RAJYOGA MEDITATORS. AIMS: THIS STUDY AIMS TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF REGULAR MEDITATION PRACTICE ON EEG BRAIN DYNAMICS IN LOW-FREQUENCY BANDS OF LONG-TERM RAJYOGA MEDITATORS. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: SUBJECTS WERE MATCHED FOR AGE IN BOTH GROUPS. LOWER FREQUENCY EEG BANDS WERE ANALYZED IN RESTING AND DURING MEDITATION. MATERIALS AND METHODS: TWENTY-ONE MALE LONG-TERM MEDITATORS (LTMS) AND SAME NUMBER OF CONTROLS WERE SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN STUDY AS PAR INCLUSION CRITERIA. SEMI HIGH-DENSITY EEG WAS RECORDED BEFORE AND DURING MEDITATION IN LTM GROUP AND RESTING IN CONTROL GROUP. THE MAIN OUTCOME OF THE STUDY WAS SPECTRAL POWER OF ALPHA AND THETA BANDS AND CORTICAL (HEMISPHERICAL) ASYMMETRY CALCULATED USING BAND POWER. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: ONE-WAY ANOVA WAS PERFORMED TO FIND THE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EEG SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF GROUPS. PEARSON'S CHI-SQUARE TEST WAS USED TO FIND DIFFERENCE AMONG DEMOGRAPHICS DATA. RESULTS: RESULTS REVEAL HIGH-BAND POWER IN ALPHA AND THETA SPECTRA IN MEDITATORS. CORTICAL ASYMMETRY CALCULATED THROUGH EEG POWER WAS ALSO FOUND TO BE HIGH IN FRONTAL AS WELL AS PARIETAL CHANNELS. HOWEVER, NO CORRELATION WAS SEEN BETWEEN THE EXPERIENCE OF MEDITATION (YEARS, HOURS) PRACTICE AND EEG INDICES. CONCLUSION: OVERALL FINDINGS INDICATE CONTRIBUTION OF SMALLER FREQUENCIES (ALPHA AND THETA) WHILE MAINTAINING MEDITATIVE EXPERIENCE. THIS SUGGESTS A POSITIVE IMPACT OF MEDITATION ON FRONTAL AND PARIETAL AREAS OF BRAIN, INVOLVED IN THE PROCESSES OF REGULATION OF SELECTIVE AND SUSTAINED ATTENTION AS WELL AS PROVIDE EVIDENCE ABOUT THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN EMOTION AND COGNITIVE PROCESSING. 2018 2 1836 30 PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF THE PRACTICE OF TANTRIC YOGA MEDITATION. AUTONOMIC AND ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC (EEG) CORRELATES OF TANTRIC YOGA MEDITATION WERE STUDIED IN THREE GROUPS OF SUBJECTS AS THEY PROGRESSED FROM NORMAL CONSCIOUSNESS INTO MEDITATION. GROUPS DIFFERED IN THEIR LEVEL OF MEDITATION PROFICIENCY. MEASURES OF SKIN RESISTANCE, HEART RATE, RESPIRATION, AUTONOMIC ORIENTING RESPONSES, RESTING EEG, EEG ALPHA AND THETA FREQUENCIES, SLEEP-SCORED EEG, AVERAGED EVOKED RESPONSES, AND SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE WERE EMPLOYED. UNLIKE MOST PREVIOUSLY REPORTED MEDITATION STUDIES, PROFICIENT MEDITATORS DEMONSTRATED INCREASED AUTONOMIC ACTIVATION DURING MEDITATION WHILE UNEXPERIENCED MEDITATORS DEMONSTRATED AUTONOMIC RELAXATION. DURING MEDITATION, PROFICIENT MEDITATORS DEMONSTRATED INCREASED ALPHA AND THETA POWER, MINIMAL EVIDENCE OF EEG-DEFINED SLEEP, AND DECREASED AUTONOMIC ORIENTING TO EXTERNAL STIMULATION. AN EPISODE OF SUDDEN AUTONOMIC ACTIVATION WAS OBSERVED THAT WAS CHARACTERIZED BY THE MEDITATOR AS AN APPROACH TO THE YOGIC ECSTATIC STATE OF INTENSE CONCENTRATION. THESE FINDINGS CHALLENGE THE CURRENT "RELAXATION" MODEL OF MEDITATIVE STATES. 1978 3 1329 54 HIGH-FREQUENCY CEREBRAL ACTIVATION AND INTERHEMISPHERIC SYNCHRONIZATION FOLLOWING SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA AS GLOBAL BRAIN RHYTHMS: THE STATE EFFECTS. CONTEXT: RESPIRATION IS KNOWN TO MODULATE NEURONAL OSCILLATIONS IN THE BRAIN AND IS MEASURED BY ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM (EEG). SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA (SKY) IS A POPULAR BREATHING PROCESS AND IS ESTABLISHED FOR ITS SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ON THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY. AIMS: THIS STUDY AIMED TO OBSERVE NEURONAL OSCILLATIONS IN MULTIFREQUENCY BANDS AND INTERHEMISPHERIC SYNCHRONIZATION FOLLOWING SKY. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: THIS STUDY EMPLOYED BEFORE- AND AFTER-STUDY DESIGN. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: FORTY HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS (AVERAGE AGE 25.45 +/- 5.75, 23 MALES AND 17 FEMALES) PARTICIPATED IN THE STUDY. NINETEEN-CHANNEL EEG WAS RECORDED AND ANALYZED FOR 5 MIN EACH: BEFORE AND AFTER SKY. SPECTRAL POWER FOR DELTA, THETA, ALPHA, BETA, AND GAMMA FREQUENCY BAND WAS CALCULATED USING MULTI-TAPER FAST FOURIER TRANSFORM (CHRONUX TOOLBOX). THE ASYMMETRY INDEX WAS CALCULATED BY SUBTRACTING THE NATURAL LOG OF POWERS OF LEFT (L) HEMISPHERE FROM THE RIGHT((R)) TO SHOW INTERHEMISPHERIC SYNCHRONIZATION. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: PAIRED T-TEST WAS USED FOR STATISTICAL ANALYSIS. RESULTS: SPECTRAL POWER INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY IN ALL FREQUENCY BANDS BILATERALLY IN FRONTAL, CENTRAL, PARIETAL, TEMPORAL, AND OCCIPITAL REGIONS OF THE BRAIN AFTER LONG SKY. ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY SHIFTED FROM LOWER TO HIGHER FREQUENCY RANGE WITH A SIGNIFICANT RISE IN THE GAMMA AND BETA POWERS FOLLOWING SKY. ASYMMETRY INDEX VALUES TENDED TOWARD 0 FOLLOWING SKY. CONCLUSIONS: A SINGLE SESSION OF SKY GENERATES GLOBAL BRAIN RHYTHM DOMINANTLY WITH HIGH-FREQUENCY CEREBRAL ACTIVATION AND INITIATES APPROPRIATE INTERHEMISPHERIC SYNCHRONIZATION IN BRAIN RHYTHMS AS STATE EFFECTS. THIS SUGGESTS THAT SKY LEADS TO BETTER ATTENTION, MEMORY, AND EMOTIONAL AND AUTONOMIC CONTROL ALONG WITH ENHANCED COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS, WHICH FINALLY IMPROVES PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELL-BEING. 2020 4 1565 49 LOW AND THEN HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATIONS OF DISTINCT RIGHT CORTICAL NETWORKS ARE PROGRESSIVELY ENHANCED BY MEDIUM AND LONG TERM SATYANANDA YOGA MEDITATION PRACTICE. MEDITATION PROFICIENCY IS RELATED TO TRAIT-LIKE (LEARNED) EFFECTS ON BRAIN FUNCTION, DEVELOPED OVER TIME. PREVIOUS STUDIES SHOW INCREASES IN EEG POWER IN LOWER FREQUENCY BANDS (THETA, ALPHA) IN EXPERIENCED MEDITATORS IN BOTH MEDITATION STATES AND BASELINE CONDITIONS. HIGHER GAMMA BAND POWER HAS BEEN FOUND IN ADVANCED BUDDHIST MEDITATORS, YET IT IS NOT KNOWN IF THIS OCCURS IN YOGA MEDITATION PRACTICES. THIS STUDY USED ELORETA TO COMPARE DIFFERENCES IN CORTICAL SOURCE ACTIVITY UNDERLYING SCALP EEG FROM INTERMEDIATE (MEAN EXPERIENCE 4 YEARS) AND ADVANCED (MEAN EXPERIENCE 30 YEARS) AUSTRALIAN MEDITATORS FROM THE SATYANANDA YOGA TRADITION DURING A BODY-STEADINESS MEDITATION, MANTRA MEDITATION, AND NON-MEDITATION MENTAL CALCULATION CONDITION. INTERMEDIATE YOGA MEDITATORS SHOWED GREATER SOURCE ACTIVITY IN LOW FREQUENCIES (PARTICULARLY THETA AND ALPHA1) DURING MENTAL CALCULATION, BODY-STEADINESS AND MANTRA MEDITATION. A SIMILAR SPATIAL PATTERN OF SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WAS FOUND IN ALL CONDITIONS BUT THE NUMBER OF SIGNIFICANT VOXELS WAS DOUBLE DURING BODY-STEADINESS AND MANTRA MEDITATION THAN IN THE NON-MEDITATION (CALCULATION) CONDITION. THESE DIFFERENCES WERE GREATEST IN RIGHT (R) SUPERIOR FRONTAL AND R PRECENTRAL GYRI AND EXTENDED BACK TO INCLUDE THE R PARIETAL AND OCCIPITAL LOBES. ADVANCED YOGA MEDITATORS SHOWED GREATER ACTIVITY IN HIGH FREQUENCIES (BETA AND ESPECIALLY GAMMA) IN ALL CONDITIONS BUT GREATLY EXPANDED DURING MEDITATION PRACTICE. ACROSS ALL CONDITIONS (MEDITATION AND NON-MEDITATION) DIFFERENCES WERE GREATEST IN THE SAME REGIONS: R INSULA, R INFERIOR FRONTAL GYRUS AND R ANTERIOR TEMPORAL LOBE. DISTINCT R CORE NETWORKS WERE IDENTIFIED IN ALPHA1 (8-10 HZ) AND GAMMA (25-42 HZ) BANDS, RESPECTIVELY. THE VOXELS RECRUITED TO THESE NETWORKS GREATLY EXPANDED DURING MEDITATION PRACTICE TO INCLUDE HOMOLOGOUS REGIONS OF THE LEFT HEMISPHERE. FUNCTIONAL INTERPRETATION PARALLELS TRADITIONALLY DESCRIBED STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT IN YOGA PROFICIENCY. 2014 5 757 31 EFFECT OF SLOW AND DEEP BREATHING ON BRAIN WAVES IN REGULAR YOGA PRACTITIONERS. VARIOUS YOGIC PRACTICES FOCUS ON BREATHING. BREATHING MAY AFFECT BRAIN WAVES. THIS CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO SEE THE EFFECT SLOW AND DEEP RESPIRATION ON EEG ACTIVITY IN EXPERIENCED YOGA PRACTITIONERS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY AT AIIMS, BHOPAL, INDIA. THE DURATION OF THE STUDY WAS ABOUT ONE YEAR. EEG WAS TAKEN AND WAS ANALYZED BY DINAMIKA - ADVANCED TEST SYSTEM, MOSCOW, RUSSIA. PAIRED T-TEST USING GRAPH PAD SOFTWARE WAS USED FOR STATISTICAL ANALYSIS. THE DELTA PERCENTAGE DECREASED AND THE OTHER WAVE'S PERCENTAGES THETA, ALPHA, AND BETA INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY. THE PERSON BECOMES DEEPLY RELAXED AND MORE FOCUSSED ON SLOW AND DEEP BREATHING. 2021 6 656 42 EEG SIGNAL BASED CLASSIFICATION BEFORE AND AFTER COMBINED YOGA AND SUDARSHAN KRIYA. NOWADAYS, THE STYLE OF LIVING IS RESTLESS AND BUSY WHICH HAS RESULTED IN INCREASED STRESS AMONG MANY PEOPLE. STRESS CAUSES VARIOUS MENTAL AND HEALTH ILLNESS SUCH AS DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, MOOD DISORDERS, AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR. YOGA AND SUDARSHAN KRIYA (SK) MEDITATION ARE HEALTHY WAYS TO ERADICATE STRESS FROM PEOPLE'S LIVES. BASED ON THE PREVIOUS STUDY, IT HAS BEEN ANALYZED THAT SK PRACTICE HELPS TO ENHANCE RELAXATION, MANAGEMENT OF EMOTION, ALERTNESS, FOCUS, AND ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECT. IN THIS PAPER, THE COMBINED IMPACT OF YOGA AND SK MEDITATION HAS BEEN ANALYZED ON BRAIN SIGNALS BY USING STATISTICAL PARAMETERS. TO THE BEST OF THE AUTHORS' KNOWLEDGE, NO SUCH STUDY HAS BEEN CONDUCTED IN THE PAST. IN THIS STUDY, THE PRE AND POST ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM (EEG) SIGNALS WERE CAPTURED FROM THE CONTROL AND STUDY GROUP BEFORE AND AFTER THREE MONTHS REGULAR PRACTICE OF COMBINED YOGA AND SK. DISCRETE WAVELET TRANSFORM (DWT) HAS BEEN USED TO DECOMPOSE THE SIGNAL INTO 6 SUB-BANDS (0-4, 4-8, 8-16, 16-32, 32-64, 64-128) HERTZ (HZ) BY USING DB4 WAVELET FOR ANALYSIS, STATISTICAL FEATURES SUCH AS VARIANCE, STANDARD DEVIATION, KURTOSIS, ZERO CROSSING, MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM HAVE BEEN CALCULATED FROM EACH SUB-BAND. THE OBTAINED PARAMETERS HAVE BEEN VALIDATED BY USING KRUSKAL-WALLIS STATISTICAL TEST. FURTHER, ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK (ANN) HAS BEEN APPLIED ON AFOREMENTIONED STATISTICAL PARAMETERS TO CLASSIFY SUBJECTS AS MEDITATORS AND NON-MEDITATORS. THE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE PROPOSED METHOD ACHIEVED 87.2% ACCURACY FOR CLASSIFICATION AND COULD BE FURTHER EXTENDED TO CONSTRUCT AN ACCURATE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM FOR DETECTION OF MEDITATORS AND NON-MEDITATORS. THIS STUDY FORMS A SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION TO ENCOURAGE THE USE OF MEDITATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICES. 2019 7 1321 31 HEMISPHERE SPECIFIC EEG RELATED TO ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING. BACKGROUND: PREVIOUSLY, FORCED UNILATERAL NOSTRIL BREATHING WAS ASSOCIATED WITH IPSILATERAL, OR CONTRALATERAL CEREBRAL HEMISPHERE CHANGES, OR NO CHANGE. HENCE IT WAS INCONCLUSIVE. THE PRESENT STUDY WAS CONDUCTED ON 13 NORMAL HEALTHY PARTICIPANTS TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING ON (A) CEREBRAL HEMISPHERE ASYMMETRY, AND (B) CHANGES IN THE STANDARD EEG BANDS. METHODS: PARTICIPANTS WERE RANDOMLY ALLOCATED TO THREE SESSIONS (A) ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING (ANYB), (B) BREATH AWARENESS AND (C) QUIET SITTING, ON SEPARATE DAYS. EEG WAS RECORDED FROM BILATERALLY SYMMETRICAL SITES (FP1, FP2, C3, C4, O1 AND O2). ALL SITES WERE REFERENCED TO THE IPSILATERAL EAR LOBE. RESULTS: THERE WAS NO CHANGE IN CEREBRAL HEMISPHERE SYMMETRY. THE RELATIVE POWER IN THE THETA BAND WAS DECREASED DURING ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING (ANYB) AND THE BETA AMPLITUDE WAS LOWER AFTER ANYB. DURING QUIET SITTING THE RELATIVE POWER IN THE BETA BAND INCREASED, WHILE THE AMPLITUDE OF THE ALPHA BAND REDUCED. CONCLUSION: THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT ANYB WAS ASSOCIATED WITH GREATER CALMNESS, WHEREAS QUIET SITTING WITHOUT SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS WAS ASSOCIATED WITH AROUSAL. THE RESULTS IMPLY A POSSIBLE USE OF ANYB FOR STRESS AND ANXIETY REDUCTION. 2017 8 499 39 COMBINED YOGA AND TRANSCRANIAL DIRECT CURRENT STIMULATION INCREASE FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY AND SYNCHRONIZATION IN THE FRONTAL AREAS. TRANSCRANIAL DIRECT CURRENT STIMULATION (TDCS) IS A NON-INVASIVE NEURO-STIMULATION TECHNIQUE THAT CAN MODULATE CORTICAL EXCITABILITY. SIMILARLY, YOGA IS SHOWN TO AFFECT THE BRAIN'S NEURAL ACTIVITY AND NETWORKS. HERE, WE AIMED TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF COMBINED YOGA AND TDCS ON BRAIN OSCILLATIONS AND NETWORKS USING RESTING-STATE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY RECORDINGS. IN A RANDOMIZED, CROSS-OVER, DOUBLE-BLIND DESIGN, TWENTY-TWO HEALTHY SUBJECTS PARTICIPATED IN A YOGA/ACTIVE TDCS SESSION (2 MA; 20 MIN; ANODE-F3, CATHODE F4) OR YOGA/SHAM TDCS ON 2 SEPARATE DAYS. RESTING-STATE EEG DATA WERE COLLECTED BEFORE AND AFTER EACH INTERVENTION. POWER SPECTRAL DENSITY (PSD) AND FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY, MEASURED BY A SYNCHRONIZATION MEASURE, PHASE-LOCKING VALUE, WERE COMPUTED FOR EACH CONDITION. THERE WERE NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN PSD VALUES AMONG THE TWO INTERVENTIONS. THE NETWORK-BASED STATISTIC METHOD WAS EMPLOYED FOR DETECTING FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOGA/ACTIVE AND YOGA/SHAM TDCS INTERVENTIONS. RESULTS SHOW THAT THE ADDITION OF ACTIVE TDCS TO YOGA IS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY OF THE SCALP AND SOURCE EEG DATA IN THE FRONTAL AREA. THE CHANGES WERE WIDESPREAD, INTRA-HEMISPHERIC, AND INTER-HEMISPHERIC CONNECTIONS, WHICH WERE MAINLY BETWEEN THE FRONTAL AREA TO OTHER REGIONS. AT THE SOURCE LEVEL, MOST OF THE CONNECTIVITY CHANGES WERE FOUND IN THE FRONTO-PARIETAL NETWORK. THESE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT COMBINING YOGA WITH TDCS MIGHT LEAD TO BRAIN NETWORK CHANGES RELATED TO THE EXECUTIVE AND ATTENTIONAL FUNCTIONS. 2022 9 749 33 EFFECT OF SAHAJA YOGA PRACTICE ON SEIZURE CONTROL & EEG CHANGES IN PATIENTS OF EPILEPSY. THE EFFECT OF SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION ON SEIZURE CONTROL AND ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC ALTERATIONS WAS ASSESSED IN 32 PATIENTS OF IDIOPATHIC EPILEPSY. THE SUBJECTS WERE RANDOMLY DIVIDED INTO 3 GROUPS. GROUP I (N = 10) PRACTISED SAHAJA YOGA FOR 6 MONTHS, GROUP II (N = 10) PRACTISED EXERCISES MIMICKING SAHAJA YOGA FOR 6 MONTHS AND GROUP III (N = 12) SERVED AS THE EPILEPTIC CONTROL GROUP. GROUP I SUBJECTS REPORTED A 62 PER CENT DECREASE IN SEIZURE FREQUENCY AT 3 MONTHS AND A FURTHER DECREASE OF 86 PER CENT AT 6 MONTHS OF INTERVENTION. POWER SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF EEG SHOWED A SHIFT IN FREQUENCY FROM 0-8 HZ TOWARDS 8-20 HZ. THE RATIOS OF EEG POWERS IN DELTA (D), THETA (T), ALPHA (A) AND BETA (B) BANDS I.E., A/D, A/D + T, A/T AND A + B/D + T WERE INCREASED. PER CENT D POWER DECREASED AND PER CENT A INCREASED. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN ANY OF THE PARAMETERS WERE FOUND IN GROUPS II AND III, INDICATING THAT SAHAJA YOGA PRACTICE BRINGS ABOUT SEIZURE REDUCTION AND EEG CHANGES. SAHAJA YOGA COULD PROVE TO BE BENEFICIAL IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS OF EPILEPSY. 1996 10 655 22 EEG PAROXYSMAL GAMMA WAVES DURING BHRAMARI PRANAYAMA: A YOGA BREATHING TECHNIQUE. HERE WE REPORT THAT A SPECIFIC FORM OF YOGA CAN GENERATE CONTROLLED HIGH-FREQUENCY GAMMA WAVES. FOR THE FIRST TIME, PAROXYSMAL GAMMA WAVES (PGW) WERE OBSERVED IN EIGHT SUBJECTS PRACTICING A YOGA TECHNIQUE OF BREATHING CONTROL CALLED BHRAMARI PRANAYAMA (BHPR). TO OBTAIN NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE NATURE OF THE EEG DURING BHPR, WE ANALYZED EEG SIGNALS USING TIME-FREQUENCY REPRESENTATIONS (TFR), INDEPENDENT COMPONENT ANALYSIS (ICA), AND EEG TOMOGRAPHY (LORETA). WE FOUND THAT THE PGW CONSISTS OF HIGH-FREQUENCY BIPHASIC RIPPLES. THIS UNUSUAL ACTIVITY IS DISCUSSED IN RELATION TO PREVIOUS REPORTS ON YOGA AND MEDITATION. IT IS CONCLUDED THIS EEG ACTIVITY IS MOST PROBABLY NON-EPILEPTIC, AND THAT APPLYING THE SAME METHODOLOGY TO OTHER MEDITATION RECORDINGS MIGHT YIELD AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEUROCORRELATES OF MEDITATION. 2009 11 303 40 AN EMPIRICAL COMPARISON OF MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF BRAIN SIGNALS TO ASSESS THE IMPACT OF COMBINED YOGA AND SUDARSHAN KRIYA. TODAY'S FAST PACED LIFE REPORTS SO MUCH STRESS AMONG PEOPLE THAT IT MAY LEAD TO VARIOUS PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL ILLNESSES. YOGA AND MEDITATION ARE THE BEST STRATEGIES TO REDUCE THE EFFECT OF STRESS ON PHYSICAL AND MENTAL LEVEL WITHOUT ANY SIDE-EFFECTS. IN THIS STUDY, COMBINED YOGA AND SUDARSHAN KRIYA (SK) HAS BEEN USED AS AN ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY THERAPY FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF STRESS. THE AIM OF THE STUDY IS TO FIND A METHOD TO CLASSIFY THE MEDITATOR AND NON-MEDITATOR STATES WITH THE BEST ACCURACY. THE 50 SUBJECTS HAVE BEEN PARTICIPATING IN THIS STUDY AND DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS, I.E. STUDY AND CONTROL GROUP. THE SUBJECTS WITH REGULAR PRACTICE OF YOGA AND SK ARE KNOWN AS MEDITATORS AND THE ONES WITHOUT ANY PRACTICE OF YOGA AND MEDITATION WERE KNOWN AS NON-MEDITATORS. ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM (EEG) SIGNALS WERE ACQUIRED FROM THESE BOTH GROUPS BEFORE AND AFTER 3 MONTHS. THE STATISTICAL PARAMETERS WERE COMPUTED FROM THESE ACQUIRED EEG SIGNALS USING DISCRETE WAVELET TRANSFORM (DWT). THESE EXTRACTED STATISTICAL PARAMETERS WERE GIVEN AS INPUT TO THE CLASSIFIERS. THE DECISION TREE, DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS, LOGISTIC REGRESSION, SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE (SVM), WEIGHTED K- NEAREST NEIGHBOUR (KNN) AND ENSEMBLE CLASSIFIERS WERE USED FOR CLASSIFICATION OF MEDITATOR AND NON- MEDITATOR STATES FROM THE ACQUIRED EEG SIGNALS. THE RESULTS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THE SVM METHOD GIVES THE HIGHEST CLASSIFICATION ACCURACY AS COMPARED TO OTHER CLASSIFIERS. THE PROPOSED METHOD CAN BE USED AS A DIAGNOSIS SYSTEM IN CLINICAL PRACTICES. 2022 12 492 39 COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR EVALUATION BASED ON PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS AMONG YOUNG HEALTHY SUBJECTS WITH YOGA AS INTERVENTION. OBJECTIVE: TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF YOGA PRACTICE ON COGNITIVE SKILLS, AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM, AND HEART RATE VARIABILITY BY ANALYZING PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS. METHODS: THE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED ON 30 NORMAL YOUNG HEALTHY ENGINEERING STUDENTS. THEY WERE RANDOMLY SELECTED INTO TWO GROUPS: YOGA GROUP AND CONTROL GROUP. THE YOGA GROUP PRACTICED YOGA ONE AND HALF HOUR PER DAY FOR SIX DAYS IN A WEEK, FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE MONTHS. RESULTS: THE YOGA PRACTISING GROUP SHOWED INCREASED ALPHA, BETA, AND DELTA EEG BAND POWERS AND SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN THETA AND GAMMA BAND POWERS. THE INCREASED ALPHA AND BETA POWER CAN REPRESENT ENHANCED COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS SUCH AS MEMORY AND CONCENTRATION, AND THAT OF DELTA SIGNIFIES SYNCHRONIZATION OF BRAIN ACTIVITY. THE HEART RATE INDEX THETA/ALPHA DECREASED, NEURAL ACTIVITY BETA/THETA INCREASED, ATTENTION RESOURCE INDEX BETA/(ALPHA + THETA) INCREASED, EXECUTIVE LOAD INDEX (DELTA + THETA)/ALPHA DECREASED, AND THE RATIO (DELTA + THETA)/(ALPHA + BETA) DECREASED. THE YOGA PRACTICE GROUP SHOWED IMPROVEMENT IN HEART RATE VARIABILITY, INCREASED SDNN/RMSSD, AND REDUCTION IN LF/HF RATIO. CONCLUSION: YOGA PRACTISING GROUP SHOWED SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN VARIOUS COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS, SUCH AS PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT, NEURAL ACTIVITY, ATTENTION, AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION. IT ALSO RESULTED IN INCREASE IN THE HEART RATE VARIABILITY, PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM ACTIVITY, AND BALANCED AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM REACTIVITY. 2015 13 1496 36 INTRACEREBRAL PAIN PROCESSING IN A YOGA MASTER WHO CLAIMS NOT TO FEEL PAIN DURING MEDITATION. WE RECORDED MAGNETOENCEPHALOGRAPHY (MEG) AND FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (FMRI) FOLLOWING NOXIOUS LASER STIMULATION IN A YOGA MASTER WHO CLAIMS NOT TO FEEL PAIN WHEN MEDITATING. AS FOR BACKGROUND MEG ACTIVITY, THE POWER OF ALPHA FREQUENCY BANDS PEAKING AT AROUND 10 HZ WAS MUCH INCREASED DURING MEDITATION OVER OCCIPITAL, PARIETAL AND TEMPORAL REGIONS, WHEN COMPARED WITH THE NON-MEDITATIVE STATE, WHICH MIGHT MEAN THE SUBJECT WAS VERY RELAXED, THOUGH HE DID NOT FALL ASLEEP, DURING MEDITATION. PRIMARY PAIN-RELATED CORTICAL ACTIVITIES RECORDED FROM PRIMARY (SI) AND SECONDARY SOMATOSENSORY CORTICES (SII) BY MEG WERE VERY WEAK OR ABSENT DURING MEDITATION. AS FOR FMRI RECORDING, THERE WERE REMARKABLE CHANGES IN LEVELS OF ACTIVITY IN THE THALAMUS, SII-INSULA (MAINLY THE INSULA) AND CINGULATE CORTEX BETWEEN MEDITATION AND NON-MEDITATION. ACTIVITIES IN ALL THREE REGIONS WERE INCREASED DURING NON-MEDITATION, SIMILAR TO RESULTS IN NORMAL SUBJECTS. IN CONTRAST, ACTIVITIES IN ALL THREE REGIONS WERE WEAKER DURING MEDITATION, AND THE LEVEL WAS LOWER THAN THE BASELINE IN THE THALAMUS. RECENT NEUROIMAGING AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES HAVE CLARIFIED THAT THE EMOTIONAL ASPECT OF PAIN PERCEPTION MAINLY INVOLVES THE INSULA AND CINGULATE CORTEX. THOUGH WE CANNOT CLEARLY EXPLAIN THIS UNUSUAL CONDITION IN THE YOGA MASTER, A CHANGE OF MULTIPLE REGIONS RELATING TO PAIN PERCEPTION COULD BE RESPONSIBLE, SINCE PAIN IS A COMPLEX SENSORY AND EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE. 2005 14 2257 32 THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF KUNDALINI YOGA MEDITATION: A STUDY OF A YOGA MASTER. THIS STUDY EXPLORES THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF A HIGHLY PRACTICED KUNDALINI YOGA MEDITATOR. THORACIC AND ABDOMINAL BREATHING PATTERNS, HEART RATE (HR), OCCIPITAL PARIETAL ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPH (EEG), SKIN CONDUCTANCE LEVEL (SCL), AND BLOOD VOLUME PULSE (BVP) WERE MONITORED DURING PREBASELINE, MEDITATION, AND POSTBASELINE PERIODS. VISUAL ANALYSES OF THE DATA SHOWED A DECREASE IN RESPIRATION RATE DURING THE MEDITATION FROM A MEAN OF 11 BREATHS/MIN FOR THE PRE- AND 13 BREATHS/MIN FOR THE POSTBASELINE TO A MEAN OF 5 BREATHS/MIN DURING THE MEDITATION, WITH A PREDOMINANCE OF ABDOMINAL/DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING. THERE WAS ALSO MORE ALPHA EEG ACTIVITY DURING THE MEDITATION (M = 1.71 MICROV) COMPARED TO THE PRE- (M = .47 MICROV) AND POSTBASELINE (M = .78 MICROV) PERIODS, AND AN INCREASE IN THETA EEG ACTIVITY IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE MEDITATION (M = .62 MICROV) COMPARED TO THE PRE-BASELINE AND MEDITATIVE PERIODS (EACH WITH M = .26 MICROV). THESE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT A SHIFT IN BREATHING PATTERNS MAY CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALPHA EEG, AND THOSE PATTERNS NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED FURTHER. 2001 15 1605 44 MENTAL STRESS: NEUROPHYSIOLOGY AND ITS REGULATION BY SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA. AIM: THE PRESENT STUDY FOCUSES ON ANALYZING THE EFFECTS OF SUDARSHAN KRIYA YOGA (SKY) ON EEG AS WELL AS ECG SIGNALS FOR STRESS REGULATION. TO ENVISION THE REGULATION OF STRESS DETERMINATION TEST (DT) HAS BEEN USED. WE HAVE CHOSEN A CONTROL GROUP FOR CONTRIVING A COGENT COMPARISON THAT COULD BE CORROBORATED USING STATISTICAL TESTS. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A TOTAL OF 20 SUBJECTS WERE TAKEN IN THE STUDY, OF WHICH 10 WERE ALLOTTED TO A CONTROL GROUP. ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPH WAS TAKEN DURING A DT TASK, BEFORE AND AFTER SKY THE SKY SESSION WITH 30 DAYS OF SKY SESSION GIVEN TO THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP. NO SKY WAS GIVEN TO THE CONTROL GROUP. RESULTS: WE QUANTIFIED MENTAL STRESS USING EEG, ECG AND DT SYNERGISTICALLY AND USED SKY TO REGULATE IT. WE OBSERVED THAT ALPHA BAND POWER DECREASES IN THE FRONTAL LOBE OF THE BRAIN WITH INCREASING MENTAL STRESS WHILE FRONTAL BRAIN ASYMMETRY DECREASES WITH INCREASING STRESS TOLERANCE. CONCLUSIONS: THESE EEG, ECG AND DT SHOWS A SIGNIFICANT DECREMENT IN MENTAL STRESS AND IMPROVEMENT IN COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE AFTER SKY, INDICATING SKY AS A GOOD ALTERNATIVE OF MEDICATION FOR STRESS MANAGEMENT. 2017 16 1050 33 EFFECTS OF YOGA ON BRAIN WAVE COHERENCE IN EXECUTIVES. AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO ASSESS THE EFFECT OF SELF MANAGEMENT OF EXCESSIVE TENSION (SMET), A YOGA BASED STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ON BRAIN WAVE COHERENCE. BRAIN WAVE RECORDINGS WERE TAKEN WITH BRAIN MASTER 2 CHANNEL EEG (VERSION-2.0). THE SUBJECTS FOR THE STUDY WERE 72 CORPORATE EXECUTIVES, 48.75 +/- 3.86 YEARS OF MEAN AGE REFERRED FROM OIL AND NATURAL GAS CORPORATION LIMITED. EEG DATA WAS RECORDED ON THE FIRST AND SIXTH DAY OF 5 DAYS SMET PROGRAM. A COMPLETE STATISTICAL AND SPECTRAL ANALYSIS SHOWED 19.31% INCREASE (P=0.03) IN DELTA, 5.04% INCREASE (P=0.65) IN THETA, 15.40% INCREASE (P=0.09) IN ALPHA, 1.67% DECREASE (P=0.54) IN BETA AND 18.68% INCREASE (P=0.07) IN GAMMA WAVE COHERENCE BETWEEN PRE AND POST INTERVENTION MEASUREMENTS. TAKEN TOGETHER, THESE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT PARTICIPATION IN A SMET PROGRAM WAS ASSOCIATED WITH IMPROVEMENT IN EMOTIONAL STABILITY AND MAY HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR 'EXECUTIVE EFFICIENCY'. BECAUSE BEFORE AND AFTER DESIGNS LIMIT INFERENCES ABOUT INTERVENTION EFFECTS, FURTHER RESEARCH IS WARRANTED TO EXPLORE THE EFFECTS OF SMET PROGRAM FOR STRESS MANAGEMENT USING A LARGER, RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL. 2011 17 1641 29 MONITORING THE NEURAL ACTIVITY OF THE STATE OF MENTAL SILENCE WHILE PRACTICING SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION. OBJECTIVE: TO IDENTIFY THE NEURAL CORRELATES OF THE STATE OF MENTAL SILENCE AS EXPERIENCED THROUGH SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION. DESIGN: NINETEEN EXPERIENCED MEDITATORS UNDERWENT FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING DURING THREE SHORT CONSECUTIVE MEDITATION PERIODS, CONTRASTED WITH A CONTROL RELAXATION CONDITION. RESULTS: RELATIVE TO BASELINE, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MEDITATION SESSIONS THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE OF ACTIVATION IN BILATERAL INFERIOR FRONTAL AND TEMPORAL REGIONS. ACTIVATION BECAME PROGRESSIVELY MORE REDUCED WITH DEEPER MEDITATION STAGES AND IN THE LAST MEDITATION SESSION IT BECAME LOCALIZED TO THE RIGHT INFERIOR FRONTAL CORTEX/ RIGHT INSULA AND RIGHT MIDDLE/SUPERIOR TEMPORAL CORTEX. FURTHERMORE, RIGHT INFERIOR FRONTAL ACTIVATION WAS DIRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE SUBJECTIVE DEPTH OF THE MENTAL SILENCE EXPERIENCE. CONCLUSIONS: MEDITATORS APPEAR TO PASS THROUGH AN INITIAL INTENSE NEURAL SELF-CONTROL PROCESS NECESSARY TO SILENCE THEIR MIND. AFTER THIS THEY EXPERIENCE RELATIVELY REDUCED BRAIN ACTIVATION CONCOMITANT WITH THE DEEPENING OF THE STATE OF MENTAL SILENCE OVER RIGHT INFERIOR FRONTAL CORTEX, PROBABLY REFLECTING AN EFFORTLESS PROCESS OF ATTENTIONAL CONTEMPLATION ASSOCIATED WITH THIS STATE. 2015 18 2067 41 THE CONSCIOUSNESS STATE OF TRADITIONAL NIDRA YOGA/MODERN YOGA NIDRA: PHENOMENOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND PRELIMINARY INSIGHTS FROM AN EEG STUDY. NIDRA YOGA IS AN ANCIENT YOGIC PRACTICE CAPABLE OF INDUCING ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS CHARACTERIZED BY DEEP RELAXATION, STRONG CONCENTRATION, ACUTE SELF-AWARENESS, AND JOY. IN MODERN CONTEMPLATIVE NEUROSCIENCE LANGUAGE, IT IS KNOWN BY THE NAME YOGA NIDRA, AND FEW STUDIES HAVE INVESTIGATED ITS PHENOMENOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS. SIX HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS (FOUR FEMALES AGED 31-74) PERFORMED 12 YOGA NIDRA SESSIONS GUIDED BY AN EXPERT DURING A 6-DAY RETREAT. EACH SESSION CONSISTED OF 10 MINUTES IN A RESTING STATE (BASELINE) FOLLOWED BY 2 HOURS OF YOGA NIDRA. PSYCHOMETRIC DATA REGARDING DISSOCIATIVE EXPERIENCES (CLINICIAN ADMINISTERED DISSOCIATIVE STATES SCALE) AND THE STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (PHENOMENOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS INVENTORY) WERE COLLECTED AFTER BASELINE AND YOGA NIDRA, WHILE HIGH-DENSITY EEG WAS RECORDED DURING THE ENTIRE SESSION. DURING NIDRA SESSIONS, NO SLEEP HALLMARKS (I.E., K-COMPLEXES AND SLEEP SPINDLES) WERE DETECTED BY THE EEG IN ANY SUBJECT. PSYCHOMETRIC DATA WE RE ANALYZED USING A WILCOXON SIGNED-RANK TEST CORRECTED WITH THE FALSE DISCOVERY RATE APPROACH FOR MULTIPLE COMPARISONS. COMPARED TO BASELINE, YOGA NIDRA PRACTICE WAS RELATED TO: (1) INCREASED DISSOCIATIVE EFFECTS (P = 0.022); (2) PERCEPTION OF BEING IN AN ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (P = 0.026); (3) ALTERATIONS IN PERCEIVED BODY IMAGE (P = 0.022); (4) INCREASED "MEANINGFULNESS" ATTRIBUTED TO THE EXPERIENCE (P = 0.026); (5) REDUCED RATIONAL THINKING (P = 0.029); AND (6) REDUCED VOLITIONAL THOUGHT CONTROL (P = 0.026). FIRST-PERSON EXPERIENCE IS DISCUSSED IN RELATION TO DESCRIPTIVE EEG POWER SPECTRAL DENSITY ANALYSIS, WHICH WAS PERFORMED IN ONE SUBJECT BECAUSE OF SEVERE EEG ARTIFACTS IN THE OTHER RECORDINGS; THAT SUBJECT SHOWED, COMPARED TO BASELINE: (1) EARLY INCREASE OF ALPHA AND BETA POWER, FOLLOWED BY A PROGRESSIVE WIDESPREAD REDUCTION; (2) WIDESPREAD EARLY INCREASE OF THETA POWER, FOLLOWED BY A PROGRESSIVE REDUCTION; AND (3) WIDESPREAD INCREASE OF GAMMA POWER IN THE LATEST STAGES. THE PRESENT PRELIMINARY RESULTS ENRICH THE KNOWLEDGE OF YOGA NIDRA, ELUCIDATING ITS PHENOMENOLOGY AND SUGGESTING SOME PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES THAT FUTURE STUDIES MAY ADDRESS. 2021 19 1909 24 RIGHT UNINOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING INFLUENCES IPSILATERAL COMPONENTS OF MIDDLE LATENCY AUDITORY EVOKED POTENTIALS. A PREVIOUS REPORT DESCRIBED SELECTIVE ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES WITH UNINOSTRIL BREATHING. IN THE PRESENT STUDY, MIDDLE LATENCY AUDITORY EVOKED POTENTIALS (MLAEPS) WERE RECORDED FROM SYMMETRICAL SCALP SITES DURING THE PRACTICE OF UNINOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING. THERE WERE TWO SESSIONS (40 MIN EACH) OF RIGHT NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING (RNB) AND OF BREATH AWARENESS (BAW), WITH (I) 'BEFORE', (II) TEST (EITHER RNB OR BAW) AND (III) 'AFTER' PERIODS. THE PARTICIPANTS WERE 14 MALE VOLUNTEERS AGED BETWEEN 18 AND 33 YEARS, AND THE SETTING WAS A YOGA CENTRE. MLAEPS WERE RECORDED FROM SYMMETRICAL SCALP SITES (C4 AND C3). DURING RNB, THE PEAK AMPLITUDES OF TWO NEGATIVE COMPONENTS (VIZ. NA WAVE AND NB WAVE) WERE SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED ON THE RIGHT SIDE. INCREASED PEAK AMPLITUDES OF NA AND NB WAVES SUGGESTED THAT RNB INCREASED THE NUMBER OF NEURONS RECRUITED ON THE RIGHT SIDE, SUGGESTING A POSSIBLE APPLICATION OF RNB IN CERTAIN PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS WITH CEREBRAL HEMISPHERIC IMBALANCE. 2004 20 457 28 CHANGES IN P300 FOLLOWING ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING AND BREATH AWARENESS. THIS STUDY ASSESSED THE EFFECT OF ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING (NADISUDDHI PRANAYAMA) ON P300 AUDITORY EVOKED POTENTIALS COMPARED TO A SESSION OF BREATH AWARENESS OF EQUAL DURATION, IN 20 MALE ADULT VOLUNTEERS WHO HAD AN EXPERIENCE OF YOGA BREATHING PRACTICES FOR MORE THAN THREE MONTHS. PEAK AMPLITUDES AND PEAK LATENCIES OF THE P300 WERE ASSESSED BEFORE AND AFTER THE RESPECTIVE SESSIONS. THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE P300 PEAK AMPLITUDES AT FZ, CZ, AND PZ AND A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN THE PEAK LATENCY AT FZ ALONE FOLLOWING ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING. FOLLOWING BREATH AWARENESS THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE PEAK AMPLITUDE OF P300 AT CZ. THIS SUGGESTS THAT ALTERNATE NOSTRIL YOGA BREATHING POSITIVELY INFLUENCES COGNITIVE PROCESSES WHICH ARE REQUIRED FOR SUSTAINED ATTENTION AT DIFFERENT SCALP SITES (FRONTAL, VERTEX AND PARIETAL), WHEREAS BREATH AWARENESS BRINGS ABOUT CHANGES AT THE VERTEX ALONE. 2013