Abstract
This study is aimed to determine significant physiological parameters of brain and heart under meditative state, both in each activities and their dynamic correlations. Electrophysiological changes in response to meditation were explored in 12 healthy volunteers who completed 8 weeks of a basic training course in autogenic meditation. Heart coherence, representing the degree of ordering in oscillation of heart rhythm intervals, increased significantly during meditation. Relative EEG alpha power and alpha lagged coherence also increased. A significant slowing of parietal peak alpha frequency was observed. Parietal peak alpha power increased with increasing heart coherence during meditation, but no such relationship was observed during baseline. Average alpha lagged coherence also increased with increasing heart coherence during meditation, but weak opposite relationship was observed at baseline. Relative alpha power increased with increasing heart coherence during both meditation and baseline periods. Heart coherence can be a cardiac marker for the meditative state and also may be a general marker for the meditative state since heart coherence is strongly correlated with EEG alpha activities. It is expected that increasing heart coherence and the accompanying EEG alpha activations, heart brain synchronicity, would help recover physiological synchrony following a period of homeostatic depletion.
Highlights
The confluence of empirical neuroscience and computational network models is beginning to reveal the complex architecture of the human brain (Sporns, 2011; Thatcher, 2012)
Self-networks, integrative fronto-parietal control network, and neurocognitive systems which consists of self-awareness, regulation, and transcendence during mindfulness meditation, covering both concentrative and open monitoring receptive process were proposed (Vago and David, 2012)
A systematic review of mindfulness training showed that early phase of training are more concerned with the development of focused attention and the following phase are characterized by an open monitoring (Chiesa et al, 2011)
Summary
The confluence of empirical neuroscience and computational network models is beginning to reveal the complex architecture of the human brain (Sporns, 2011; Thatcher, 2012). Self-networks, integrative fronto-parietal control network, and neurocognitive systems which consists of self-awareness, regulation, and transcendence during mindfulness meditation, covering both concentrative and open monitoring receptive process were proposed (Vago and David, 2012). Another kind of meditation called loving kindness or compassion meditation has been shown to be related with emotion sharing network including limbic circuitry, insula, and anterior cingulated cortices (Lutz et al, 2008; Mograbi, 2011). Brain regions associated with the default mode were active during MW
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