1 1439 94 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 2 1565 34 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 3 1329 29 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 1496 33 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 5 1286 42 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 6 2720 34 YOGA MEDITATION PRACTITIONERS EXHIBIT GREATER GRAY MATTER VOLUME AND FEWER REPORTED COGNITIVE FAILURES: RESULTS OF A PRELIMINARY VOXEL-BASED MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS. HATHA YOGA TECHNIQUES, INCLUDING PHYSICAL POSTURES (ASANAS), BREATHING EXERCISES (PRANAYAMA), AND MEDITATION, INVOLVE THE PRACTICE OF MINDFULNESS. IN TURN, YOGA MEDITATION PRACTICES MAY INDUCE THE STATE OF MINDFULNESS, WHICH, WHEN EVOKED RECURRENTLY THROUGH REPEATED PRACTICE, MAY ACCRUE INTO TRAIT OR DISPOSITIONAL MINDFULNESS. PUTATIVELY, THESE CHANGES MAY BE MEDIATED BY EXPERIENCE-DEPENDENT NEUROPLASTIC CHANGES. THOUGH PRIOR STUDIES HAVE IDENTIFIED DIFFERENCES IN GRAY MATTER VOLUME (GMV) BETWEEN LONG-TERM MINDFULNESS PRACTITIONERS AND CONTROLS, NO STUDIES TO DATE HAVE REPORTED ON WHETHER YOGA MEDITATION IS ASSOCIATED WITH GMV DIFFERENCES. THE PRESENT STUDY INVESTIGATED GMV DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOGA MEDITATION PRACTITIONERS (YMP) AND A MATCHED CONTROL GROUP (CG). THE YMP GROUP EXHIBITED GREATER GM VOLUME IN FRONTAL, LIMBIC, TEMPORAL, OCCIPITAL, AND CEREBELLAR REGIONS; WHEREAS THE CG HAD NO GREATER REGIONAL GREATER GMV. IN ADDITION, THE YMP GROUP REPORTED SIGNIFICANTLY FEWER COGNITIVE FAILURES ON THE COGNITIVE FAILURES QUESTIONNAIRE (CFQ), THE MAGNITUDE OF WHICH WAS POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH GMV IN NUMEROUS REGIONS IDENTIFIED IN THE PRIMARY ANALYSIS. LASTLY, GMV WAS POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH THE DURATION OF YOGA PRACTICE. RESULTS FROM THIS PRELIMINARY STUDY SUGGEST THAT HATHA YOGA PRACTICE MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROMOTION OF NEUROPLASTIC CHANGES IN EXECUTIVE BRAIN SYSTEMS, WHICH MAY CONFER THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS THAT ACCRUE WITH REPEATED PRACTICE. 2012 7 1641 36 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 8 1545 59 LARGER WHOLE BRAIN GREY MATTER ASSOCIATED WITH LONG-TERM SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION: A DETAILED AREA BY AREA COMPARISON. OBJECTIVES: OUR PREVIOUS STUDY SHOWED THAT LONG-TERM PRACTITIONERS OF SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION (SYM) HAD AROUND 7% LARGER GREY MATTER VOLUME (GMV) IN THE WHOLE BRAIN COMPARED WITH HEALTHY CONTROLS; HOWEVER, WHEN TESTING INDIVIDUAL REGIONS, ONLY 5 SMALL BRAIN AREAS WERE STATISTICALLY DIFFERENT BETWEEN GROUPS. UNDER THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THOSE RESULTS WERE STATISTICALLY CONSERVATIVE, WITH THE SAME DATASET, WE INVESTIGATED IN MORE DETAIL THE REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN GMV ASSOCIATED WITH THE PRACTICE OF SYM, WITH A DIFFERENT STATISTICAL APPROACH. DESIGN: TWENTY-THREE EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONERS OF SYM AND 23 HEALTHY NON-MEDITATORS MATCHED ON AGE, SEX AND EDUCATION LEVEL, WERE SCANNED USING STRUCTURAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI). THEIR GMV WERE EXTRACTED AND COMPARED USING VOXEL-BASED MORPHOMETRY (VBM). USING A NOVEL AD-HOC GENERAL LINEAR MODEL, STATISTICAL COMPARISONS WERE MADE TO OBSERVE IF THE GMV DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEDITATORS AND CONTROLS WERE STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT. RESULTS: IN THE 16 LOBE AREA SUBDIVISIONS, GMV WAS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT IN 4 OUT OF 16 AREAS: IN RIGHT HEMISPHERIC TEMPORAL AND FRONTAL LOBES, LEFT FRONTAL LOBE AND BRAINSTEM. IN THE 116 AAL AREA SUBDIVISIONS, GMV DIFFERENCE WAS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT IN 11 AREAS. THE GMV DIFFERENCES WERE STATISTICALLY MORE SIGNIFICANT IN RIGHT HEMISPHERIC BRAIN AREAS. CONCLUSIONS: THE STUDY SHOWS THAT LONG-TERM PRACTICE OF SYM IS ASSOCIATED WITH LARGER GMV OVERALL, AND WITH SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES MAINLY IN TEMPORAL AND FRONTAL AREAS OF THE RIGHT HEMISPHERE AND THE BRAINSTEM. THESE NEUROPLASTIC CHANGES MAY REFLECT EMOTIONAL AND ATTENTIONAL CONTROL MECHANISMS DEVELOPED WITH SYM. ON THE OTHER HAND, OUR STATISTICAL AD-HOC METHOD SHOWS THAT THERE WERE MORE BRAIN AREAS WITH STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE COMPARED TO THE TRADITIONAL METHODOLOGY WHICH WE THINK IS SUSCEPTIBLE TO CONSERVATIVE TYPE II ERRORS. 2020 9 455 31 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 10 1670 31 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 11 1472 34 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 12 1897 35 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 13 447 15 CHANGED PATTERN OF REGIONAL GLUCOSE METABOLISM DURING YOGA MEDITATIVE RELAXATION. USING POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY (PET), MEASUREMENTS OF THE REGIONAL CEREBRAL METABOLIC RATE OF GLUCOSE (RCMRGLC) ARE ABLE TO DELINEATE CEREBRAL METABOLIC RESPONSES TO EXTERNAL OR MENTAL STIMULATION. IN ORDER TO EXAMINE POSSIBLE CHANGES OF BRAIN METABOLISM DUE TO YOGA MEDITATION PET SCANS WERE PERFORMED IN 8 MEMBERS OF A YOGA MEDITATION GROUP DURING THE NORMAL CONTROL STATE (C) AND YOGA MEDITATIVE RELAXATION (YMR). WHEREAS THERE WERE INTRAINDIVIDUAL CHANGES OF THE TOTAL CMRGLC, THE ALTERATIONS WERE NOT SIGNIFICANT FOR INTERGROUP COMPARISON; SPECIFIC FOCAL CHANGES OR CHANGES IN THE INTERHEMISPHERIC DIFFERENCES IN METABOLISM WERE ALSO NOT SEEN; HOWEVER THE RATIOS OF FRONTAL VS. OCCIPITAL RCMRGLC WERE SIGNIFICANTLY ELEVATED (P LESS THAN 0.05) DURING YMR. THESE ALTERED RATIOS WERE CAUSED BY A SLIGHT INCREASE OF FRONTAL RCMRGLC AND A MORE PRONOUNCED REDUCTION IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY VISUAL CENTERS. THESE DATA INDICATE A HOLISTIC BEHAVIOR OF THE BRAIN METABOLISM DURING THE TIME OF ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS DURING YMR. 1990 14 1208 42 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 15 1836 19 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 16 2693 25 YOGA INCREASES THE VOLUME OF THE HIPPOCAMPUS IN ELDERLY SUBJECTS. CONTEXT: THE NEUROBIOLOGICAL EFFECT OF YOGA ON THE CORTICAL STRUCTURES IN THE ELDERLY IS AS YET UNKNOWN. MATERIALS AND METHODS: SEVEN HEALTHY ELDERLY SUBJECTS RECEIVED YOGA INTERVENTION AS AN ADD-ON LIFE-STYLE PRACTICE. MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING SCANS WERE OBTAINED BEFORE AND 6 MONTHS LATER. VOXEL-BASED-MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSES COMPARED THE BRAINS BEFORE AND AFTER THE YOGA. RESULTS: YOGA GROUP WAS FOUND TO HAVE INCREASES IN HIPPOCAMPAL, BUT NOT IN OCCIPITAL GRAY MATTER. CONCLUSION: YOGA HAS POTENTIAL TO REDUCE NEURO-SENESCENCE. SMALL SAMPLE SIZE AND ABSENCE OF THE CONTROL GROUP PREVENT GENERALIZATION OF THE FINDINGS LIMITING ITS TRANSLATIONAL VALUE. 2013 17 2257 23 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 18 499 30 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 19 1287 31 GREATER ANTEROPOSTERIOR DEFAULT MODE NETWORK FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY IN LONG-TERM ELDERLY YOGA PRACTITIONERS. LARGE-SCALE BRAIN NETWORKS EXHIBIT CHANGES IN FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY DURING THE AGING PROCESS. RECENT LITERATURE DATA SUGGESTS THAT YOGA AND OTHER CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES MAY REVERT, AT LEAST IN PART, SOME OF THE AGING EFFECTS IN BRAIN FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY, INCLUDING THE DEFAULT MODE NETWORK (DMN). THE AIM OF THIS CROSS-SECTIONAL INVESTIGATION WAS TO COMPARE RESTING-STATE FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY OF THE MEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX (MPFC) AND POSTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX-PRECUNEUS (PCC-PRECUNEUS) IN LONG-TERM ELDERLY YOGA PRACTITIONERS AND HEALTHY PAIRED YOGA-NAIVE CONTROLS. TWO PAIRED GROUPS: YOGA (Y-20 WOMEN, HATHA YOGA PRACTITIONERS; PRACTICING A MINIMUM OF TWICE A WEEK WITH A FREQUENCY OF AT LEAST 8 YEARS) AND A CONTROL GROUP (C-20 WOMEN, YOGA-NAIVE, MATCHED BY AGE, YEARS OF FORMAL EDUCATION, AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY) WERE EVALUATED FOR: MINI MENTAL STATE EXAMINATION (MMSE), BECK DEPRESSION INVENTORY (BDI), INSTRUMENTAL ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING (IADL), AND OPEN-EYES RESTING-STATE FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (FMRI)-SEED TO VOXEL CONNECTIVITY ANALYSIS (CONN TOOLBOX 17.F) WITH PRE-PROCESSING-REALIGNMENT AND UNWARPING, SLICE-TIMING CORRECTION, SEGMENTATION, NORMALIZATION, OUTLIER DETECTION, AND SPATIAL FILTERING. THE ANALYSIS INCLUDED A PRIORI REGIONS OF INTEREST (ROI) OF DMN MAIN NODES-MPFC AND PCC-PRECUNEUS. THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GROUPS IN TERMS OF: AGE, YEARS OF FORMAL EDUCATION, MMSE, BDI AND IADL. THE YOGA GROUP HAD A HIGHER CORRELATION BETWEEN MPFC AND THE RIGHT ANGULAR GYRUS (AGR), COMPARED TO THE CONTROLS. ELDERLY WOMEN WITH AT LEAST 8 YEARS OF YOGA PRACTICE PRESENTED GREATER INTRA-NETWORK ANTEROPOSTERIOR BRAIN FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY OF THE DMN. THIS FINDING MAY CONTRIBUTE TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE INFLUENCES OF PRACTICING YOGA FOR A HEALTHIER COGNITIVE AGING PROCESS. 2019 20 1321 21 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