1 1286 114 GRAY MATTER AND FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY IN ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE STATE OF MENTAL SILENCE DURING SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION. SOME MEDITATION TECHNIQUES TEACH THE PRACTITIONER TO ACHIEVE THE STATE OF MENTAL SILENCE. THE AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE BRAIN REGIONS THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR VOLUME AND FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY (FC) WITH THE DEPTH OF MENTAL SILENCE IN LONG-TERM PRACTITIONERS OF SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION. TWENTY-THREE LONG-TERM PRACTITIONERS OF THIS MEDITATION WERE SCANNED USING MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING. IN ORDER TO IDENTIFY THE NEURAL CORRELATES OF THE DEPTH OF MENTAL SILENCE, WE TESTED WHICH GRAY MATTER VOLUMES (GMV) WERE CORRELATED WITH THE DEPTH OF MENTAL SILENCE AND WHICH REGIONS THESE AREAS WERE FUNCTIONALLY CONNECTED TO UNDER A MEDITATION CONDITION. GMV IN MEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX INCLUDING ROSTRAL ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX WERE POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH THE SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF THE DEPTH OF MENTAL SILENCE INSIDE THE SCANNER. FURTHERMORE, THERE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED FC BETWEEN THIS AREA AND BILATERAL ANTERIOR INSULA/PUTAMEN DURING A MEDITATION-STATE SPECIFICALLY, WHILE DECREASED CONNECTIVITY WITH THE RIGHT THALAMUS/PARAHIPPOCAMPAL GYRUS WAS PRESENT DURING THE MEDITATION-STATE AND THE RESTING-STATE. THE CAPACITY OF LONG-TERM MEDITATORS TO ESTABLISH A DURABLE STATE OF MENTAL SILENCE INSIDE AN MRI SCANNER WAS ASSOCIATED WITH LARGER GRAY MATTER VOLUME IN A MEDIAL FRONTAL REGION THAT IS CRUCIAL FOR TOP-DOWN COGNITIVE, EMOTION AND ATTENTION CONTROL. THIS IS FURTHERMORE CORROBORATED BY INCREASED FC OF THIS REGION DURING THE MEDITATION-STATE WITH BILATERAL ANTERIOR INSULA/PUTAMEN, WHICH ARE IMPORTANT FOR INTEROCEPTION, EMOTION, AND ATTENTION REGULATION. THE FINDINGS HENCE SUGGEST THAT THE DEPTH OF MENTAL SILENCE IS ASSOCIATED WITH MEDIAL FRONTO-INSULAR-STRIATAL NETWORKS THAT ARE CRUCIAL FOR TOP-DOWN ATTENTION AND EMOTIONAL CONTROL. 2018 2 1641 42 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 3 1472 43 INSULAR CORTEX MEDIATES INCREASED PAIN TOLERANCE IN YOGA PRACTITIONERS. YOGA, AN INCREASINGLY POPULAR DISCIPLINE AMONG WESTERNERS, IS FREQUENTLY USED TO IMPROVE PAINFUL CONDITIONS. WE INVESTIGATED POSSIBLE NEUROANATOMICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF YOGA USING SENSORY TESTING AND MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING TECHNIQUES. NORTH AMERICAN YOGIS TOLERATED PAIN MORE THAN TWICE AS LONG AS INDIVIDUALLY MATCHED CONTROLS AND HAD MORE GRAY MATTER (GM) IN MULTIPLE BRAIN REGIONS. ACROSS SUBJECTS, INSULAR GM UNIQUELY CORRELATED WITH PAIN TOLERANCE. INSULAR GM VOLUME IN YOGIS POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH YOGA EXPERIENCE, SUGGESTING A CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOGA AND INSULAR SIZE. YOGIS ALSO HAD INCREASED LEFT INTRAINSULAR WHITE MATTER INTEGRITY, CONSISTENT WITH A STRENGTHENED INSULAR INTEGRATION OF NOCICEPTIVE INPUT AND PARASYMPATHETIC AUTONOMIC REGULATION. YOGIS, AS OPPOSED TO CONTROLS, USED COGNITIVE STRATEGIES INVOLVING PARASYMPATHETIC ACTIVATION AND INTEROCEPTIVE AWARENESS TO TOLERATE PAIN, WHICH COULD HAVE LED TO USE-DEPENDENT HYPERTROPHY OF INSULAR CORTEX. TOGETHER, THESE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT REGULAR AND LONG-TERM YOGA PRACTICE IMPROVES PAIN TOLERANCE IN TYPICAL NORTH AMERICANS BY TEACHING DIFFERENT WAYS TO DEAL WITH SENSORY INPUTS AND THE POTENTIAL EMOTIONAL REACTIONS ATTACHED TO THOSE INPUTS LEADING TO A CHANGE IN INSULAR BRAIN ANATOMY AND CONNECTIVITY. 2014 4 1666 24 NEURAL NETWORK-ORIENTED BIG DATA MODEL FOR YOGA MOVEMENT RECOGNITION. THE USE OF COMPUTER VISION FOR TARGET DETECTION AND RECOGNITION HAS BEEN AN INTERESTING AND CHALLENGING AREA OF RESEARCH FOR THE PAST THREE DECADES. PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES AND SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS IN GENERAL CAN BE TRAINED WITH APPROPRIATE SYSTEMS FOR CORRECTIVE TRAINING AND ASSISTIVE TRAINING. SUCH A NEED HAS MOTIVATED RESEARCHERS TO COMBINE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITH THE FIELD OF SPORTS TO CONDUCT RESEARCH. IN THIS PAPER, WE PROPOSE A MASK REGION-CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORK (MR-CNN)- BASED METHOD FOR YOGA MOVEMENT RECOGNITION BASED ON THE IMAGE TASK OF YOGA MOVEMENT RECOGNITION. THE IMPROVED MR-CNN MODEL IS BASED ON THE FRAMEWORK AND STRUCTURE OF THE REGION-CONVOLUTIONAL NETWORK, WHICH PROPOSES A CERTAIN NUMBER OF CANDIDATE REGIONS FOR THE IMAGE BY FEATURE EXTRACTION AND CLASSIFIES THEM, THEN OUTPUTS THESE REGIONS AS DETECTED BOUNDING BOXES, AND DOES MASK PREDICTION FOR THE CANDIDATE REGIONS USING SEGMENTATION BRANCHES. THE IMPROVED MR-CNN MODEL USES AN IMPROVED DEEP RESIDUAL NETWORK AS THE BACKBONE NETWORK FOR FEATURE EXTRACTION, BILINEAR INTERPOLATION OF THE EXTRACTED CANDIDATE REGIONS USING REGION OF INTEREST (ROI) ALIGN, FOLLOWED BY TARGET CLASSIFICATION AND DETECTION, AND SEGMENTATION OF THE IMAGE USING THE SEGMENTATION BRANCH. THE MODEL IMPROVES THE CONVOLUTION PART IN THE SEGMENTATION BRANCH BY REPLACING THE ORIGINAL STANDARD CONVOLUTION WITH A DEPTH-SEPARABLE CONVOLUTION TO IMPROVE THE NETWORK EFFICIENCY. EXPERIMENTALLY CONSTRUCTED POLYGON-LABELED DATASETS ARE SIMULATED USING THE ALGORITHM. THE DEEPENING OF THE NETWORK AND THE USE OF DEPTH-SEPARABLE NETWORK IMPROVE THE ACCURACY OF DETECTION WHILE MAINTAINING THE RELIABILITY OF THE NETWORK AND VALIDATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE IMPROVED MR-CNN. 2021 5 1897 40 RESTING STATE FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION. NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT MEDITATION PRACTICES HAVE EFFECTS ON BRAIN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION. HOWEVER, FEW STUDIES HAVE COMBINED INFORMATION ON THE EFFECTS ON STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN THE SAME SAMPLE. LONG-TERM DAILY MEDITATION PRACTICE PRODUCES REPEATED ACTIVITY OF SPECIFIC BRAIN NETWORKS OVER YEARS OF PRACTICE, WHICH MAY INDUCE LASTING STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY (FC) CHANGES WITHIN RELEVANT CIRCUITS. THE AIM OF OUR STUDY WAS THEREFORE TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENCES IN FC DURING THE RESTING STATE BETWEEN 23 SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION EXPERTS AND 23 HEALTHY PARTICIPANTS WITHOUT MEDITATION EXPERIENCE. SEED-BASED FC ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED DEPARTING FROM VOXELS THAT HAD SHOWN STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THESE SAME PARTICIPANTS. THE CONTRAST OF CONNECTIVITY MAPS YIELDED THAT MEDITATORS SHOWED INCREASED FC BETWEEN THE LEFT VENTROLATERAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX AND THE RIGHT DORSOLATERAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX BUT REDUCED FC BETWEEN THE LEFT INSULA AND THE BILATERAL MID-CINGULATE AS WELL AS BETWEEN THE RIGHT ANGULAR GYRUS AND THE BILATERAL PRECUNEUS/CUNEUS CORTICES. IT THUS APPEARS THAT LONG-TERM MEDITATION PRACTICE INCREASES DIRECT FC BETWEEN VENTRAL AND DORSAL FRONTAL REGIONS WITHIN BRAIN NETWORKS RELATED TO ATTENTION AND COGNITIVE CONTROL AND DECREASES FC BETWEEN REGIONS OF THESE NETWORKS AND AREAS OF THE DEFAULT MODE NETWORK. 2021 6 2714 34 YOGA LESSONS FOR CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH: A PARALIMBIC NETWORK BALANCING BRAIN RESOURCE ALLOCATION. CONSCIOUSNESS HAS BEEN PROPOSED TO PLAY A KEY ROLE IN SHAPING FLEXIBLE LEARNING AND AS SUCH IS THOUGHT TO CONFER AN EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE. ATTENTION AND AWARENESS ARE THE PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANT UNDERLYING PROCESSES, YET THEIR PRECISE RELATIONSHIP IS PRESENTLY UNCLEAR. BOTH OF THESE PROCESSES MUST, HOWEVER, SERVE THE EVOLUTIONARY IMPERATIVES OF SURVIVAL AND PROCREATION. THEY ARE THUS INTIMATELY BOUND BY REWARD AND EMOTION TO HELP TO PRIORITIZE EFFICIENT BRAIN RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN ORDER TO PREDICT AND OPTIMIZE BEHAVIOR. HERE WE SHOW HOW THIS PROCESS IS SERVED BY A PARALIMBIC NETWORK CONSISTING PRIMARILY OF REGIONS LOCATED ON THE MIDLINE OF THE HUMAN BRAIN. USING MANY DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES, EXPERIMENTS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THIS NETWORK IS EFFECTIVE AND SPECIFIC FOR SELF-AWARENESS AND CONTRIBUTES TO THE SENSE OF UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS BY ACTING AS A COMMON NEURAL PATH FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCES. INTERESTINGLY, HEMODYNAMIC ACTIVITY IN THE NETWORK DECREASES WITH FOCUSING ON EXTERNAL STIMULI, WHICH HAS LED TO THE IDEA OF A DEFAULT MODE NETWORK. THIS NETWORK IS ONE OF MANY NETWORKS THAT WAX AND VANE AS RESOURCES ARE ALLOCATED TO ACCOMMODATE THE DIFFERENT CYCLICAL NEEDS OF THE ORGANISM PRIMARILY RELATED TO THE FUNDAMENTAL PLEASURES AFFORDED BY EVOLUTION: FOOD, SEX, AND CONSPECIFICS. HERE WE HYPOTHESIZE, HOWEVER, THAT THE PARALIMBIC NETWORK SERVES A CRUCIAL ROLE IN BALANCING AND REGULATING BRAIN RESOURCE ALLOCATION, AND DISCUSS HOW IT CAN BE THOUGHT OF AS A LINK BETWEEN CURRENT THEORIES OF SO-CALLED "DEFAULT MODE," "RESTING STATE NETWORKS," AND "GLOBAL WORKSPACE." WE SHOW HOW MAJOR DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS OF SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-CONTROL CAN ARISE FROM PROBLEMS IN THE PARALIMBIC NETWORK AS DEMONSTRATED HERE BY THE EXAMPLE OF ASPERGER SYNDROME. WE CONCLUDE THAT ATTENTION, AWARENESS, AND EMOTION ARE INTEGRATED BY A PARALIMBIC NETWORK THAT HELPS TO EFFICIENTLY ALLOCATE BRAIN RESOURCES TO OPTIMIZE BEHAVIOR AND HELP SURVIVAL. 2011 7 499 41 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 8 1670 29 NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF YOGA PRACTICE: AGE-, EXPERIENCE-, AND FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT PLASTICITY. YOGA COMBINES POSTURES, BREATHING, AND MEDITATION. DESPITE REPORTED HEALTH BENEFITS, YOGA'S EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN HAVE RECEIVED LITTLE STUDY. WE USED MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING TO COMPARE AGE-RELATED GRAY MATTER (GM) DECLINE IN YOGIS AND CONTROLS. WE ALSO EXAMINED THE EFFECT OF INCREASING YOGA EXPERIENCE AND WEEKLY PRACTICE ON GM VOLUME AND ASSESSED WHICH ASPECTS OF WEEKLY PRACTICE CONTRIBUTED MOST TO BRAIN SIZE. CONTROLS DISPLAYED THE WELL DOCUMENTED AGE-RELATED GLOBAL BRAIN GM DECLINE WHILE YOGIS DID NOT, SUGGESTING THAT YOGA CONTRIBUTES TO PROTECT THE BRAIN AGAINST AGE-RELATED DECLINE. YEARS OF YOGA EXPERIENCE CORRELATED MOSTLY WITH GM VOLUME DIFFERENCES IN THE LEFT HEMISPHERE (INSULA, FRONTAL OPERCULUM, AND ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX) SUGGESTING THAT YOGA TUNES THE BRAIN TOWARD A PARASYMPATICALLY DRIVEN MODE AND POSITIVE STATES. THE NUMBER OF HOURS OF WEEKLY PRACTICE CORRELATED WITH GM VOLUME IN THE PRIMARY SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX/SUPERIOR PARIETAL LOBULE (S1/SPL), PRECUNEUS/POSTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX (PCC), HIPPOCAMPUS, AND PRIMARY VISUAL CORTEX (V1). COMMONALITY ANALYSES INDICATED THAT THE COMBINATION OF POSTURES AND MEDITATION CONTRIBUTED THE MOST TO THE SIZE OF THE HIPPOCAMPUS, PRECUNEUS/PCC, AND S1/SPL WHILE THE COMBINATION OF MEDITATION AND BREATHING EXERCISES CONTRIBUTED THE MOST TO V1 VOLUME. YOGA'S POTENTIAL NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS MAY PROVIDE A NEURAL BASIS FOR SOME OF ITS BENEFICIAL EFFECTS. 2015 9 1266 32 FLUID INTELLIGENCE AND BRAIN FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION IN AGING YOGA AND MEDITATION PRACTITIONERS. NUMEROUS STUDIES HAVE DOCUMENTED THE NORMAL AGE-RELATED DECLINE OF NEURAL STRUCTURE, FUNCTION, AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE. PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT MEDITATION MAY REDUCE DECLINE IN SPECIFIC COGNITIVE DOMAINS AND IN BRAIN STRUCTURE. HERE WE EXTENDED THIS RESEARCH BY INVESTIGATING THE RELATION BETWEEN AGE AND FLUID INTELLIGENCE AND RESTING STATE BRAIN FUNCTIONAL NETWORK ARCHITECTURE USING GRAPH THEORY, IN MIDDLE-AGED YOGA AND MEDITATION PRACTITIONERS, AND MATCHED CONTROLS. FLUID INTELLIGENCE DECLINED SLOWER IN YOGA PRACTITIONERS AND MEDITATORS COMBINED THAN IN CONTROLS. RESTING STATE FUNCTIONAL NETWORKS OF YOGA PRACTITIONERS AND MEDITATORS COMBINED WERE MORE INTEGRATED AND MORE RESILIENT TO DAMAGE THAN THOSE OF CONTROLS. FURTHERMORE, MINDFULNESS WAS POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH FLUID INTELLIGENCE, RESILIENCE, AND GLOBAL NETWORK EFFICIENCY. THESE FINDINGS REVEAL THE POSSIBILITY TO INCREASE RESILIENCE AND TO SLOW THE DECLINE OF FLUID INTELLIGENCE AND BRAIN FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE AND SUGGEST THAT MINDFULNESS PLAYS A MECHANISTIC ROLE IN THIS PRESERVATION. 2014 10 1987 21 SPATIAL-TEMPORAL GRAPH CONVOLUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR YOGA ACTION RECOGNITION AND GRADING. THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET HAS CHANGED OUR LIVES. MANY PEOPLE GRADUALLY LIKE ONLINE VIDEO YOGA TEACHING. HOWEVER, YOGA BEGINNERS CANNOT MASTER THE STANDARD YOGA POSES JUST BY LEARNING THROUGH VIDEOS, AND HIGH YOGA POSES CAN BRING GREAT DAMAGE OR EVEN DISABILITY TO THE BODY IF THEY ARE NOT STANDARD. TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM, WE PROPOSE A YOGA ACTION RECOGNITION AND GRADING SYSTEM BASED ON SPATIAL-TEMPORAL GRAPH CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORK. FIRSTLY, WE CAPTURE YOGA MOVEMENT DATA USING A DEPTH CAMERA. THEN WE LABEL THE YOGA EXERCISE VIDEOS FRAME BY FRAME USING LONG SHORT-TERM MEMORY NETWORK; THEN WE EXTRACT THE SKELETAL JOINT POINT FEATURES SEQUENTIALLY USING GRAPH CONVOLUTION; THEN WE ARRANGE EACH VIDEO FRAME FROM SPATIAL-TEMPORAL DIMENSION AND CORRELATE THE JOINT POINTS IN EACH FRAME AND NEIGHBORING FRAMES WITH SPATIAL-TEMPORAL INFORMATION TO OBTAIN THE CONNECTION BETWEEN JOINTS. FINALLY, THE IDENTIFIED YOGA MOVEMENTS ARE PREDICTED AND GRADED. EXPERIMENT PROVES THAT OUR METHOD CAN ACCURATELY IDENTIFY AND CLASSIFY YOGA POSES; IT ALSO CAN IDENTIFY WHETHER YOGA POSES ARE STANDARD OR NOT AND GIVE FEEDBACK TO YOGIS IN TIME TO PREVENT BODY DAMAGE CAUSED BY NONSTANDARD POSES. 2022 11 1439 42 INCREASED GREY MATTER ASSOCIATED WITH LONG-TERM SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION: A VOXEL-BASED MORPHOMETRY STUDY. OBJECTIVES: TO INVESTIGATE REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN GREY MATTER VOLUME ASSOCIATED WITH THE PRACTICE OF SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION. DESIGN: TWENTY THREE EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONERS OF SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION AND TWENTY THREE NON-MEDITATORS MATCHED ON AGE, GENDER AND EDUCATION LEVEL, WERE SCANNED USING STRUCTURAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING AND THEIR GREY MATTER VOLUME WERE COMPARED USING VOXEL-BASED MORPHOMETRY. RESULTS: GREY MATTER VOLUME WAS LARGER IN MEDITATORS RELATIVE TO NON-MEDITATORS ACROSS THE WHOLE BRAIN. IN ADDITION, GREY MATTER VOLUME WAS LARGER IN SEVERAL PREDOMINANTLY RIGHT HEMISPHERIC REGIONS: IN INSULA, VENTROMEDIAL ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX, INFERIOR TEMPORAL AND PARIETAL CORTICES AS WELL AS IN LEFT VENTROLATERAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX AND LEFT INSULA. NO AREAS WITH LARGER GREY MATTER VOLUME WERE FOUND IN NON-MEDITATORS RELATIVE TO MEDITATORS. CONCLUSIONS: THE STUDY SHOWS THAT LONG-TERM PRACTICE OF SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION IS ASSOCIATED WITH LARGER GREY MATTER VOLUME OVERALL, AND WITH REGIONAL ENLARGEMENT IN SEVERAL RIGHT HEMISPHERIC CORTICAL AND SUBCORTICAL BRAIN REGIONS THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH SUSTAINED ATTENTION, SELF-CONTROL, COMPASSION AND INTEROCEPTIVE PERCEPTION. THE INCREASED GREY MATTER VOLUME IN THESE ATTENTION AND SELF-CONTROL MEDIATING REGIONS SUGGESTS USE-DEPENDENT ENLARGEMENT WITH REGULAR PRACTICE OF THIS MEDITATION. 2016 12 1972 44 SHORT-TERM SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION TRAINING MODULATES BRAIN STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY IN THE EXECUTIVE CONTROL NETWORK. INTRODUCTION: WHILE CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDIES HAVE SHOWN NEURAL CHANGES IN LONG-TERM MEDITATORS, THEY MIGHT BE CONFOUNDED BY SELF-SELECTION AND POTENTIAL BASELINE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEDITATORS AND NON MEDITATORS. PROSPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL STUDIES OF THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION IN NAIVE SUBJECTS ARE MORE CONCLUSIVE WITH RESPECT TO CAUSAL INFERENCES, BUT RELATED EVIDENCE IS SO FAR LIMITED. METHODS: HERE, WE ASSESSED THE EFFECTS OF A 4-WEEK SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION TRAINING ON GRAY MATTER DENSITY AND SPONTANEOUS RESTING-STATE BRAIN ACTIVITY IN A GROUP OF 12 MEDITATION-NAIVE HEALTHY ADULTS. RESULTS: COMPARED WITH 30 CONTROL SUBJECTS, THE PARTICIPANTS TO MEDITATION TRAINING SHOWED INCREASED GRAY MATTER DENSITY AND CHANGES IN THE COHERENCE OF INTRINSIC BRAIN ACTIVITY IN TWO ADJACENT REGIONS OF THE RIGHT INFERIOR FRONTAL GYRUS ENCOMPASSING THE ANTERIOR COMPONENT OF THE EXECUTIVE CONTROL NETWORK. BOTH THESE MEASURES CORRELATED WITH SELF-REPORTED WELL-BEING SCORES IN THE MEDITATION GROUP. CONCLUSIONS: THE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT OF A BRIEF MEDITATION TRAINING ON BRAIN REGIONS ASSOCIATED WITH ATTENTION, SELF-CONTROL, AND SELF-AWARENESS MAY REFLECT THE ENGAGEMENT OF COGNITIVE CONTROL SKILLS IN SEARCHING FOR A STATE OF MENTAL SILENCE, A DISTINCTIVE FEATURE OF SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION. THE MANIFOLD IMPLICATIONS OF THESE FINDINGS INVOLVE BOTH MANAGERIAL AND REHABILITATIVE SETTINGS CONCERNED WITH WELL-BEING AND EMOTIONAL STATE IN NORMAL AND PATHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS. 2019 13 455 42 CHANGES IN NEURAL CONNECTIVITY AND MEMORY FOLLOWING A YOGA INTERVENTION FOR OLDER ADULTS: A PILOT STUDY. BACKGROUND: NO STUDY HAS EXPLORED THE EFFECT OF YOGA ON COGNITIVE DECLINE AND RESTING-STATE FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY. OBJECTIVES: THIS STUDY EXPLORED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERFORMANCE ON MEMORY TESTS AND RESTING-STATE FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY BEFORE AND AFTER A YOGA INTERVENTION VERSUS ACTIVE CONTROL FOR SUBJECTS WITH MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT (MCI). METHODS: PARTICIPANTS ( >/= 55 Y) WITH MCI WERE RANDOMIZED TO RECEIVE A YOGA INTERVENTION OR ACTIVE "GOLD-STANDARD" CONTROL (I.E., MEMORY ENHANCEMENT TRAINING (MET)) FOR 12 WEEKS. RESTING-STATE FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING WAS USED TO MAP CORRELATIONS BETWEEN BRAIN NETWORKS AND MEMORY PERFORMANCE CHANGES OVER TIME. DEFAULT MODE NETWORKS (DMN), LANGUAGE AND SUPERIOR PARIETAL NETWORKS WERE CHOSEN AS NETWORKS OF INTEREST TO ANALYZE THE ASSOCIATION WITH CHANGES IN VERBAL AND VISUOSPATIAL MEMORY PERFORMANCE. RESULTS: FOURTEEN YOGA AND 11 MET PARTICIPANTS COMPLETED THE STUDY. THE YOGA GROUP DEMONSTRATED A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN DEPRESSION AND VISUOSPATIAL MEMORY. WE OBSERVED IMPROVED VERBAL MEMORY PERFORMANCE CORRELATED WITH INCREASED CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN THE DMN AND FRONTAL MEDIAL CORTEX, PREGENUAL ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX, RIGHT MIDDLE FRONTAL CORTEX, POSTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX, AND LEFT LATERAL OCCIPITAL CORTEX. IMPROVED VERBAL MEMORY PERFORMANCE POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH INCREASED CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN THE LANGUAGE PROCESSING NETWORK AND THE LEFT INFERIOR FRONTAL GYRUS. IMPROVED VISUOSPATIAL MEMORY PERFORMANCE CORRELATED INVERSELY WITH CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN THE SUPERIOR PARIETAL NETWORK AND THE MEDIAL PARIETAL CORTEX. CONCLUSION: YOGA MAY BE AS EFFECTIVE AS MET IN IMPROVING FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY IN RELATION TO VERBAL MEMORY PERFORMANCE. THESE FINDINGS SHOULD BE CONFIRMED IN LARGER PROSPECTIVE STUDIES. 2016 14 1772 29 POTENTIAL SELF-REGULATORY MECHANISMS OF YOGA FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH. RESEARCH SUGGESTING THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF YOGA ON MYRIAD ASPECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH HAS PROLIFERATED IN RECENT YEARS, YET THERE IS CURRENTLY NO OVERARCHING FRAMEWORK BY WHICH TO UNDERSTAND YOGA'S POTENTIAL BENEFICIAL EFFECTS. HERE WE PROVIDE A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND SYSTEMS-BASED NETWORK MODEL OF YOGA THAT FOCUSES ON INTEGRATION OF TOP-DOWN AND BOTTOM-UP FORMS OF SELF-REGULATION. WE BEGIN BY CONTEXTUALIZING YOGA IN HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY SETTINGS, AND THEN DETAIL HOW SPECIFIC COMPONENTS OF YOGA PRACTICE MAY AFFECT COGNITIVE, EMOTIONAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND AUTONOMIC OUTPUT UNDER STRESS THROUGH AN EMPHASIS ON INTEROCEPTION AND BOTTOM-UP INPUT, RESULTING IN PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH. THE MODEL DESCRIBES YOGA PRACTICE AS A COMPREHENSIVE SKILLSET OF SYNERGISTIC PROCESS TOOLS THAT FACILITATE BIDIRECTIONAL FEEDBACK AND INTEGRATION BETWEEN HIGH- AND LOW-LEVEL BRAIN NETWORKS, AND AFFERENT AND RE-AFFERENT INPUT FROM INTEROCEPTIVE PROCESSES (SOMATOSENSORY, VISCEROSENSORY, CHEMOSENSORY). FROM A PREDICTIVE CODING PERSPECTIVE WE PROPOSE A SHIFT TO PERCEPTUAL INFERENCE FOR STRESS MODULATION AND OPTIMAL SELF-REGULATION. WE DESCRIBE HOW THE PROCESSES THAT SUB-SERVE SELF-REGULATION BECOME MORE AUTOMATIZED AND EFFICIENT OVER TIME AND PRACTICE, REQUIRING LESS EFFORT TO INITIATE WHEN NECESSARY AND TERMINATE MORE RAPIDLY WHEN NO LONGER NEEDED. TO SUPPORT OUR PROPOSED MODEL, WE PRESENT THE AVAILABLE EVIDENCE FOR YOGA AFFECTING SELF-REGULATORY PATHWAYS, INTEGRATING EXISTING CONSTRUCTS FROM BEHAVIOR THEORY AND COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE WITH EMERGING YOGA AND MEDITATION RESEARCH. THIS PAPER IS INTENDED TO GUIDE FUTURE BASIC AND CLINICAL RESEARCH, SPECIFICALLY TARGETING AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE TREATMENT OF STRESS-MEDIATED PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS. 2014 15 2371 31 WHAT HAS NEUROIMAGING TAUGHT US ON THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF YOGA? A REVIEW. YOGA IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY POPULAR WORLDWIDE, WITH SEVERAL IMPLICATED PHYSICAL AND MENTAL BENEFITS. HERE WE PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE AND CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH GENERATED FROM THE EXISTING NEUROIMAGING LITERATURE IN STUDIES OF YOGA PRACTITIONERS. WE REVIEWED 34 INTERNATIONAL PEER-REVIEWED NEUROIMAGING STUDIES OF YOGA USING MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI), POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY (PET), OR SINGLE-PHOTON EMISSION COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (SPECT): 11 MORPHOLOGICAL AND 26 FUNCTIONAL STUDIES, INCLUDING THREE STUDIES THAT WERE CLASSIFIED AS BOTH MORPHOLOGICAL AND FUNCTIONAL. CONSISTENT FINDINGS INCLUDE INCREASED GRAY MATTER VOLUME IN THE INSULA AND HIPPOCAMPUS, INCREASED ACTIVATION OF PREFRONTAL CORTICAL REGIONS, AND FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY CHANGES MAINLY WITHIN THE DEFAULT MODE NETWORK. THERE IS QUITE SOME VARIABILITY IN THE NEUROIMAGING FINDINGS THAT PARTIALLY REFLECTS DIFFERENT YOGA STYLES AND APPROACHES, AS WELL AS SAMPLE SIZE LIMITATIONS. DIRECT COMPARATOR GROUPS SUCH AS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ARE SCARCELY USED SO FAR. FINALLY, HYPOTHESES ON THE UNDERLYING NEUROBIOLOGY DERIVED FROM THE IMAGING FINDINGS ARE DISCUSSED IN THE LIGHT OF THE POTENTIAL BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF YOGA. 2020 16 1669 24 NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL AND NEUROCOGNITIVE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THE EFFECTS OF YOGA-BASED PRACTICES: TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK. DURING RECENT DECADES NUMEROUS YOGA-BASED PRACTICES (YBP) HAVE EMERGED IN THE WEST, WITH THEIR AIMS RANGING FROM FITNESS GAINS TO THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT. YOGA IS ALSO BEGINNING TO SPARK GROWING INTEREST WITHIN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY, AND YOGA-BASED INTERVENTIONS HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH MEASUREABLE CHANGES IN PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS, PERCEIVED EMOTIONAL STATES, AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING. YBP TYPICALLY INVOLVE A COMBINATION OF POSTURES OR MOVEMENT SEQUENCES, CONSCIOUS REGULATION OF THE BREATH, AND VARIOUS TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE ATTENTIONAL FOCUS. HOWEVER, SO FAR LITTLE IF ANY RESEARCH HAS ATTEMPTED TO DECONSTRUCT THE ROLE OF THESE DIFFERENT COMPONENT PARTS IN ORDER TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THEIR RESPECTIVE CONTRIBUTION TO THE EFFECTS OF YBP. A CLEAR OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF YOGA-BASED THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS FOR SCIENTIFIC PURPOSES, AS WELL AS A COMPREHENSIVE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FROM WHICH TESTABLE HYPOTHESES CAN BE FORMULATED, IS THEREFORE NEEDED. HERE WE PROPOSE SUCH A FRAMEWORK, AND OUTLINE THE BOTTOM-UP NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL AND TOP-DOWN NEUROCOGNITIVE MECHANISMS HYPOTHESIZED TO BE AT PLAY IN YBP. 2015 17 2781 27 YOGA THERAPY AND POLYVAGAL THEORY: THE CONVERGENCE OF TRADITIONAL WISDOM AND CONTEMPORARY NEUROSCIENCE FOR SELF-REGULATION AND RESILIENCE. YOGA THERAPY IS A NEWLY EMERGING, SELF-REGULATING COMPLEMENTARY AND INTEGRATIVE HEALTHCARE (CIH) PRACTICE. IT IS GROWING IN ITS PROFESSIONALIZATION, RECOGNITION AND UTILIZATION WITH A DEMONSTRATED COMMITMENT TO SETTING PRACTICE STANDARDS, EDUCATIONAL AND ACCREDITATION STANDARDS, AND PROMOTING RESEARCH TO SUPPORT ITS EFFICACY FOR VARIOUS POPULATIONS AND CONDITIONS. HOWEVER, HETEROGENEITY OF PRACTICE, POOR REPORTING STANDARDS, AND LACK OF A BROADLY ACCEPTED UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN YOGA THERAPY LIMITS THE STRUCTURING OF TESTABLE HYPOTHESES AND CLINICAL APPLICATIONS. CURRENT PROPOSED FRAMEWORKS OF YOGA-BASED PRACTICES FOCUS ON THE INTEGRATION OF BOTTOM-UP NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL AND TOP-DOWN NEUROCOGNITIVE MECHANISMS. IN ADDITION, IT HAS BEEN PROPOSED THAT PHENOMENOLOGY AND FIRST PERSON ETHICAL INQUIRY CAN PROVIDE A LENS THROUGH WHICH YOGA THERAPY IS VIEWED AS A PROCESS THAT CONTRIBUTES TOWARDS EUDAIMONIC WELL-BEING IN THE EXPERIENCE OF PAIN, ILLNESS OR DISABILITY. IN THIS ARTICLE WE BUILD ON THESE FRAMEWORKS, AND PROPOSE A MODEL OF YOGA THERAPY THAT CONVERGES WITH POLYVAGAL THEORY (PVT). PVT LINKS THE EVOLUTION OF THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM TO THE EMERGENCE OF PROSOCIAL BEHAVIORS AND POSITS THAT THE NEURAL PLATFORMS SUPPORTING SOCIAL BEHAVIOR ARE INVOLVED IN MAINTAINING HEALTH, GROWTH AND RESTORATION. THIS EXPLANATORY MODEL WHICH CONNECTS NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL PATTERNS OF AUTONOMIC REGULATION AND EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR, IS INCREASINGLY UTILIZED AS A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOR, STRESS AND ILLNESS. SPECIFICALLY, WE DESCRIBE HOW PVT CAN BE CONCEPTUALIZED AS A NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL COUNTERPART TO THE YOGIC CONCEPT OF THE GUNAS, OR QUALITIES OF NATURE. SIMILAR TO THE NEURAL PLATFORMS DESCRIBED IN PVT, THE GUNAS PROVIDE THE FOUNDATION FROM WHICH BEHAVIORAL, EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES EMERGE. WE DESCRIBE HOW THESE TWO DIFFERENT YET ANALOGOUS FRAMEWORKS-ONE BASED IN NEUROPHYSIOLOGY AND THE OTHER IN AN ANCIENT WISDOM TRADITION-HIGHLIGHT YOGA THERAPY'S PROMOTION OF PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND SOCIAL WELLBEING FOR SELF-REGULATION AND RESILIENCE. THIS PARALLEL BETWEEN THE NEURAL PLATFORMS OF PVT AND THE GUNAS OF YOGA IS INSTRUMENTAL IN CREATING A TRANSLATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR YOGA THERAPY TO ALIGN WITH ITS PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS. CONSEQUENTLY, YOGA THERAPY CAN OPERATE AS A DISTINCT PRACTICE RATHER THAN FITTING INTO AN OUTSIDE MODEL FOR ITS UTILIZATION IN RESEARCH AND CLINICAL CONTEXTS. 2018 18 1668 40 NEUROCOGNITIVE CORRELATES OF THE EFFECTS OF YOGA MEDITATION PRACTICE ON EMOTION AND COGNITION: A PILOT STUDY. MINDFULNESS MEDITATION INVOLVES ATTENDING TO EMOTIONS WITHOUT COGNITIVE FIXATION OF EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE. OVER TIME, THIS PRACTICE IS HELD TO PROMOTE ALTERATIONS IN TRAIT AFFECTIVITY AND ATTENTIONAL CONTROL WITH RESULTANT EFFECTS ON WELL-BEING AND COGNITION. HOWEVER, RELATIVELY LITTLE IS KNOWN REGARDING THE NEURAL SUBSTRATES OF MEDITATION EFFECTS ON EMOTION AND COGNITION. THE PRESENT STUDY INVESTIGATED THE NEUROCOGNITIVE CORRELATES OF EMOTION INTERFERENCE ON COGNITION IN YOGA PRACTITIONERS AND A MATCHED CONTROL GROUP (CG) UNDERWENT FMRI WHILE PERFORMING AN EVENT-RELATED AFFECTIVE STROOP TASK. THE TASK INCLUDES IMAGE VIEWING TRIALS AND STROOP TRIALS BRACKETED BY NEUTRAL OR NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL DISTRACTORS. DURING IMAGE VIEWING TRIALS, YOGA PRACTITIONERS EXHIBITED LESS REACTIVITY IN RIGHT DORSOLATERAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX (DLPFC) TO NEGATIVE AS COMPARED TO NEUTRAL IMAGES; WHEREAS THE CG HAD THE OPPOSITE PATTERN. A MAIN EFFECT OF VALENCE (NEGATIVE > NEUTRAL) WAS OBSERVED IN LIMBIC REGIONS (E.G., AMYGDALA), OF WHICH THE MAGNITUDE WAS INVERSELY RELATED TO DLPFC ACTIVATION. EXPLORATORY ANALYSES REVEALED THAT THE MAGNITUDE OF AMYGDALA ACTIVATION PREDICTED DECREASED SELF-REPORTED POSITIVE AFFECT IN THE CG, BUT NOT AMONG YOGA PRACTITIONERS. DURING STROOP TRIALS, YOGA PRACTITIONERS HAD GREATER ACTIVATION IN VENTROLATERAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX (VLPFC) DURING STROOP TRIALS WHEN NEGATIVE, COMPARED TO NEUTRAL, EMOTIONAL DISTRACTOR WERE PRESENTED; THE CG EXHIBITED THE OPPOSITE PATTERN. TAKEN TOGETHER, THESE DATA SUGGEST THAT THOUGH YOGA PRACTITIONERS EXHIBIT LIMBIC REACTIVITY TO NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL STIMULI, SUCH REACTIVITY DOES NOT HAVE DOWNSTREAM EFFECTS ON LATER MOOD STATE. THIS UNCOUPLING OF VIEWING NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL IMAGES AND AFFECT AMONG YOGA PRACTITIONERS MAY BE OCCASIONED BY THEIR SELECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF FRONTAL EXECUTIVE-DEPENDENT STRATEGIES TO REDUCE EMOTIONAL INTERFERENCE DURING COMPETING COGNITIVE DEMANDS AND NOT DURING EMOTIONAL PROCESSING PER SE. 2012 19 82 23 A MECHANISTIC MODEL FOR YOGA AS A PREVENTIVE AND THERAPEUTIC MODALITY. YOGA IS AN ANCIENT INDIAN TECHNIQUE OF HEALTHY LIVING. NUMEROUS STUDIES HAVE CORROBORATED YOGA'S BENEFICIAL EFFECTS, INCLUDING A FAVORABLE INFLUENCE ON AUTONOMIC FUNCTION AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS. EXTENSIVE RESEARCH IN THE LAST FEW DECADES HAS REVEALED THE CRITICAL ROLE THAT YOGA CAN PLAY IN ERADICATING STRESS. THIS HAS LAID TO THE FOUNDATION FOR A SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES ATTRIBUTED TO STRESS, PARTICULARLY AT THE MOLECULAR AND GENETIC LEVELS. THIS PRIMARILY HAS HELPED UNDERSTAND THE EPIGENETIC AND GENETIC MECHANISM AT PLAY TO INDUCE AND ALLEVIATE STRESS, PARTICULARLY THOSE RELATED TO EMOTIONAL ABERRATIONS. AS RESEARCH HAS INDICATED, NEGATIVE EMOTIONS ARE TRANSLATED INTO VASCULAR INFLAMMATION APPROPRIATELY ACCENTUATED BY A SYMPATHETIC PREDOMINANT AUTONOMIC FUNCTION. THIS CASCADE IS BOLSTERED BY MULTIPLE FACTORS, INCLUDING ACTIVATION OF "STRESSOR" GENES AND ELABORATING HORMONES, INCLUDING STEROIDS WITH SOMETIMES NOCUOUS CONSEQUENCES, PARTICULARLY WHEN CHRONIC. YOGA HAS BEEN CATEGORICALLY FOUND TO HAVE INHIBITED EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THESE BANEFUL EFFECTS OF STRESS. IN FACT, IT ALSO CHANGES THE NEURONAL CIRCUITS THAT POTENTIATE SUCH A PLETHORA OF PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES. THIS, IN TURN, HAS ACCENTUATED YOGA'S RELEVANCE AS A POWERFUL PREVENTIVE INTERVENTION IN NONCOMMUNICABLE DISEASES (NCD). NCDS, INCLUDING HEART DISEASE, STROKE, AND RHEUMATOLOGICAL DISORDERS, ARE ESSENTIALLY INFLAMMATORY DISEASES THAT PERPETUATE INFLAMMATION IN DIFFERENT BEDS LIKE VASCULAR OR JOINT SPACES. THE PRECISE MECHANISM BY WHICH YOGA INDUCES SUCH BENEFICIAL CHANGES IS YET TO BE DELINEATED. HOWEVER, A CORNUCOPIA OF POINTERS INDICATES THAT NEURAL, ENDOCRINE, IMMUNOLOGICAL, CELLULAR, GENETIC, AND EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS ARE AT PLAY. THIS ARTICLE ATTEMPTS TO COBBLE TOGETHER NEWFANGLED RESEARCH TO DELINEATE A MEDICAL MODEL FOR THIS 5000-YEAR-OLD PRACTICE FROM INDIA. THIS IS IMPERATIVE, AS A MECHANISTIC MODEL OF THIS ANCIENT-BUT-COMPLEX SYSTEM WOULD ENABLE A MORE COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF ITS MECHANISM AND REVEAL ITS YET-UNDISCOVERED POSITIVE HEALTH EFFECTS. 2021 20 1590 14 MEDITATION AND YOGA CAN MODULATE BRAIN MECHANISMS THAT AFFECT BEHAVIOR AND ANXIETY-A MODERN SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE. MEDITATION AND YOGA TECHNIQUES ARE RECEIVING INCREASED ATTENTION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, DUE TO THE ACCUMULATION OF EVIDENCE BASED RESEARCH THAT PROVES THE DIRECT AND INDIRECT BENEFITS OF SUCH PRACTICES. BASED ON STUDIES CONDUCTED SO FAR, IT HAS BEEN FOUND THAT THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION TRIGGERS NEUROTRANSMITTERS THAT MODULATE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS SUCH AS ANXIETY. THIS PAPER WILL REVIEW THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION, THE ROLE OF NEUROTRANSMITTERS, AND STUDIES USING EEG AND FMRI. 2015