Sahaja Yoga Research Articles

Influence of long-term Sahaja Yoga meditation practice on emotional processing in the brain: An ERP study

Despite growing interest in meditation as a tool for alternative therapy of stress-related and psychosomatic diseases, brain mechanisms of beneficial influences of meditation practice on health and quality of life are still unclear. We propose that the key point is a persistent change in emotional functioning, specifically the modulation of the early appraisal of motivational significance of events. The main aim was to study the effects of long-term meditation practice on event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during affective picture viewing. ERPs were recorded in 20 long-term Sahaja Yoga meditators and 20 control subjects without prior experience in meditation. The meditators’ mid-latency (140–400ms) ERPs were attenuated for both positive and negative pictures (i.e. there were no arousal-related increases in ERP positivity) and this effect was more prominent over the right hemisphere. However, we found no differences in the long latency (400–800ms) responses to emotional images, associated with meditation practice. In addition we found stronger ERP negativity in the time window 200–300ms for meditators compared to the controls, regardless of picture valence. We assume that long-term meditation practice enhances frontal top-down control over fast automatic salience detection, based on amygdala functions.

Dynamics of Heart rate induced by Sahaja yoga meditation in healthy normal subjects above 40 years

Background: Ageing is associated with cganges in cardiac autonomic control as measured by Heart rate variability. Heart rate variability is an indicator of the dynamic interaction and balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic system.The HRV can be measured non invasively.Therefore it becomes an attractive measure to use in the study of the ANS to response to different stimuli.Sahaja yoga meditation creates a thoughtless awareness by virtue of which a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system is achieved. Aim and Objectives: To evaluate and compare the HRV parameters in healthy subjects above 40 years before and after practice of Sahaja yoga meditation and to correlate HRV parameters with age . Methods : The study included 30 healthy normal subjects above 40 years of age ,willing for Sahaja yoga meditation , selected from JNMC campus as well as wardha district.The study group was between 40-70 years of age.The time domain and frequency domain parmeters of HRV were evaluated in all 30 subjects using RMS polyrite machine. The subjects were trained to practice sahaja yoga meditation.After 3 months of meditation practice, they were again evaluated for HRV parameters.The results were analyzed using unpaired student t test & pearrson:s correlation coefficient. Results : The mean heart rate of the subjects decreased significantly from 72.59+ 10.5 to 68.30 + 7.5 ( p value

Effect ofSahajaYoga Meditation on Quality of Life, Anxiety, and Blood Pressure Control

The present study investigates the effect of Sahaja yoga meditation on quality of life, anxiety, and blood pressure control. The prospective observational cohort study enrolled two study groups: those receiving treatment from the International Sahaja Yoga Research and Health Center (meditation group) and those receiving treatment from the Mahatma Gandhi Mission Hospital (control group). Researchers measured quality of life, anxiety, and blood pressure before and after treatment. Sixty-seven (67) participants in the meditation group and 62 participants in the control group completed the study. The two groups were comparable in demographic and clinical characteristics. At baseline, the meditation group had higher quality of life (p<0.001) than controls but similar anxiety level (p=0.74) to controls. Within-group pre- versus post-treatment comparisons showed significant improvement in quality of life, anxiety, and blood pressure in the meditation group (p<0.001), while in controls, quality of life deteriorated and there was no improvement in blood pressure. The improvement in quality of life, anxiety reduction, and blood pressure control was greater in the meditation group. The beneficial effect of meditation remained significant after adjusting for confounders. Meditation treatment was associated with significant improvements in quality of life, anxiety reduction, and blood pressure control.

Reduced functional connectivity between cortical sources in five meditation traditions detected with lagged coherence using EEG tomography

Brain functional states are established by functional connectivities between brain regions. In experienced meditators (13 Tibetan Buddhists, 15 QiGong, 14 Sahaja Yoga, 14 Ananda Marga Yoga, 15 Zen), 19-channel EEG was recorded before, during and after that meditation exercise which their respective tradition regards as route to the most desirable meditative state. The head surface EEG data were recomputed (sLORETA) into 19 cortical regional source model time series. All 171 functional connectivities between regions were computed as 'lagged coherence' for the eight EEG frequency bands (delta through gamma). This analysis removes ambiguities of localization, volume conduction-induced inflation of coherence, and reference-dependence. All significant differences (corrected for multiple testing) between meditation compared to no-task rest before and after meditation showed lower coherence during meditation, in all five traditions and eight (inhibitory as well as excitatory) frequency bands. Conventional coherence between the original head surface EEG time series very predominantly also showed reduced coherence during meditation. The topography of the functional connectivities was examined via PCA-based computation of principal connectivities. When going into and out of meditation, significantly different connectivities revealed clearly different topographies in the delta frequency band and minor differences in the beta-2 band. The globally reduced functional interdependence between brain regions in meditation suggests that interaction between the self process functions is minimized, and that constraints on the self process by other processes are minimized, thereby leading to the subjective experience of non-involvement, detachment and letting go, as well as of all-oneness and dissolution of ego borders during meditation.

Effects of Yoga Interventions on Fatigue: A Meta-Analysis

Background. Researchers aimed at systematically reviewing and meta-analyzing the effectiveness of yoga interventions for fatigue. Methods. PubMed/Medline was searched until January 2012 for controlled clinical studies. Two reviewers independently extracted the data. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed. A meta-analysis was performed. Results. Nineteen clinical studies (total n = 948) were included in this review. Investigated yoga styles included Hatha, Iyengar, Asanas, Patanjali, Sahaja, and Tibetan yoga. Participants were suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, dialysis, chronic pancreatitis, fibromyalgia, asthma, or were healthy. Yoga had a small positive effect on fatigue (SMD = 0.27, 59% CI = 0.23–0.31). Seven studies received 4 points on the Jadad score. There were baseline differences in at least 5 studies. Conclusion. Overall, the effects of yoga interventions on fatigue were only small, particularly in cancer patients. Although yoga is generally a safe therapeutic intervention and effective to attenuate other health-related symptoms, this meta-analysis was not able to define the powerful effect of yoga on patients suffering from fatigue. Treatment effects of yoga could be improved in well-designed future studies. According to the GRADE recommendations assessing the overall quality of evidence, there is a moderate effect of the confidence placed in the estimates of the effects discussed here.

Quality of life and functional health status of long-term meditators.

Background. There is very little data describing the long-term health impacts of meditation. Aim. To compare the quality of life and functional health of long-term meditators to that of the normative population in Australia. Method. Using the SF-36 questionnaire and a Meditation Lifestyle Survey, we sampled 343 long-term Australian Sahaja Yoga meditation practitioners and compared their scores to those of the normative Australian population. Results. Six SF-36 subscales (bodily pain, general health, mental health, role limitation—emotional, social functioning, and vitality) were significantly better in meditators compared to the national norms whereas two of the subscales (role limitation—physical, physical functioning) were not significantly different. A substantial correlation between frequency of mental silence experience and the vitality, general health, and especially mental health subscales (P < 0.005) was found. Conclusion. Long-term practitioners of Sahaja yoga meditation experience better functional health, especially mental health, compared to the general population. A relationship between functional health, especially mental health, and the frequency of meditative experience (mental silence) exists that may be causal. Evidence for the potential role of this definition of meditation in enhancing quality of life, functional health and wellbeing is growing. Implications for primary mental health prevention are discussed.

Sahaja yoga: A unique adjunctive approach for the management of cardiac arrhythmias?

Sahaja yoga (SY) is a unique meditative technique that has both spiritual and mundane aspects. Although SY has generally been regarded as a practice of spiritual and mental well-being, it is also closely associated with a variety of subtle influences on some organ systems. SY has been suggested to have some beneficial effects in a variety of psycho-somatic diseases [1]. Besides subtle effects throughout the whole body, sympatho-vagal regulation associated with SY technique has been proposed as the direct evidence of its beneficial effects on some organ systems including cardiovascular system etc. As describedbelow,SYpracticemaybe regarded as anadjunctiveoption for the management of a variety of cardiac arrhythmias primarily on the basis of its potential effects on the autonomic nervous system largely through unknown mechanisms. Autonomic imbalance including hyperactivation of sympathetic system has been known to be associated with the occurrence of life threatening conditions including acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and may directly trigger malign arrhythmic events in arrhythmia-prone subjects [2]. Hyperactivation of sympathetic system is also well known to prolong QT interval, and impair some indices of autonomic nervous system including heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate turbulence (HRT) etc. thatmay serve asmarkers of arrhythmogenesis in susceptible subjects. Therefore, therapeutic strategies aiming at management of autonomic imbalance on topof conventional anti-arrhythmic therapy in arrhythmia-prone subjects have gained particular importance in the recent years. However, therapeutic options including beta blockers, sympathetic ganglion blockage etc. have limited value for the management of autonomic imbalance as these approaches generally

A randomized, controlled trial of meditation for work stress, anxiety and depressed mood in full-time workers.

Objective. To assess the effect of meditation on work stress, anxiety and mood in full-time workers. Methods. 178 adult workers participated in an 8-week, 3-arm randomized controlled trial comparing a “mental silence” approach to meditation (n = 59) to a “relaxation” active control (n = 56) and a wait-list control (n = 63). Participants were assessed before and after using Psychological Strain Questionnaire (PSQ), a subscale of the larger Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI), the State component of the State/Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults (STAI), and the depression-dejection (DD) subscale of the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Results. There was a significant improvement for the meditation group compared to both the relaxation control and the wait-list groups the PSQ (P = .026), and DD (P = .019). Conclusions. Mental silence-orientated meditation, in this case Sahaja Yoga meditation, is a safe and effective strategy for dealing with work stress and depressive feelings. The findings suggest that “thought reduction” or “mental silence” may have specific effects relevant to work stress and hence occupational health.

Changing Definitions of Meditation-Is there a Physiological Corollary? : Skin temperature changes of a mental silence orientated form of meditation compared to rest

Objectives) Until very recently, the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) defined meditation as "a conscious mental process that induces a set of integrated physiological changes termed the relaxation response". Recently the NCCAM appears to have reviewed its understanding of meditation, by including a new central feature: "In meditation, a person learns to focus his attention and suspend the stream of thoughts that normally occupy the mind", indicating a shift from a physiological ("relaxation-response") to an experiential (suspension of thinking activity) definition, more in line with traditional eastern understandings. We explore the physiological implications of this paradigmatic shift. (Design) A controlled, observational study.of acute physiological changes. N=26. Participants were asked to either meditate or rest for 10 minutes. (Settings/Location) A temperature controlled room at Swinburne University's Psychophysiology Laboratory, Melbourne. (Subjects) 16 meditators proficient at a mental silence orientated form of meditation (Sahaja yoga, SYM) and 10 non-meditators with an interest in meditation. (Interventions) A mental silence orientated form of meditation (Sahaja yoga, SYM) was compared to rest. (Outcome Measures) Palmar skin temperature and heart rate. (Results) Throughout the meditation period mean ST of the SYM group decreased while that of the Rest group increased. After ten minutes of meditation, 13 of the 16 meditators manifested a reduction in ST compared to baseline whereas 7 of the 10 participants in the control group manifested an increase compared to baseline. Chi-Square tests showed that the difference between the two groups was significant (p=.003). Heart rate changes however did not differ between the two groups. (Conclusions) The study suggests that the experience of mental silence and rest are not psychophysiologically identical despite the fact that they are overtly similar. Implications of this, and need for further evaluation, are discussed.

A Pilot Study of a Mental Silence Form of Meditation for Women in Perimenopause

Menopausal symptoms often feature or are worsened by psychological and psychosomatic factors. As there is limited research into the potential role of psychological interventions, especially meditation, for the treatment of these symptoms the current study adopted an AB case series design with a follow-up phase. Fourteen women who were experiencing hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms and receiving no treatment for them attended meditation classes twice weekly for 8 weeks and practiced daily at home. A mental silence orientated technique of meditation called Sahaja Yoga (SYM) was taught. The Hot Flash Diary, Kupperman Index, MENQOL, Greene’s Climacteric Scale and STAI, were administered at baseline, mid treatment (4 weeks), post-treatment (8 weeks) and at 8 weeks follow-up. Substantial improvements in all measures occurred at post treatment. Changes in vasomotor symptoms, especially hot flashes, were most prominent as a significant decrease of 67% at post-treatment and 57% at follow-up (χ2 = 11.7, p < .003) were noted and Kupperman’s Index score decreased by 58% at post-treatment and 40% at follow-up (χ2 = 11.7, p < .005). All other symptom measures improved substantially from baseline to post-treatment, non-parametric analysis indicating that most of these changes were significant. These findings tentatively suggest that menopausal symptoms, especially vasomotor symptoms, and particularly hot flashes, might be substantially improved by using meditation.

Impact of regular meditation practice on EEG activity at rest and during evoked negative emotions

The main objective of the present investigation was to examine how long-term meditation practice is manifested in EEG activity under conditions of non-emotional arousal (eyes-closed and eyes-open periods, viewing emotionally neutral movie clip) and while experiencing experimentally induced negative emotions (viewing aversive movie clip). The 62-channel EEG was recorded in age-matched control individuals (n=25) and Sahaja Yoga meditators (SYM, n=25). Findings from the non-emotional continuum show that at the lowest level of arousal (eyes closed) SYM manifested larger power values in theta-1 (4–6 Hz), theta-2 (6–8 Hz) and alpha-1 (8–10 Hz) frequency bands. Although increasing arousal desynchronized activity in these bands in both groups, the theta-2 and alpha-1 power in the eyes-open period and alpha-1 power while viewing the neutral clip remained still higher in the SYM. During eyes-closed and eyes-open periods the controls were marked by larger right than left hemisphere power, indexing relatively more active left hemisphere parieto-temporal cortex whereas meditators manifested no hemisphere asymmetry. When contrasted with the neutral, the aversive movie clip yielded significant alpha desynchronization in both groups, reflecting arousing nature of emotional induction. In the control group along with alpha desynchronization affective movie clip synchronized gamma power over anterior cortical sites. This was not seen in the SYM. Overall, the presented report emphasizes that the revealed changes in the electrical brain activity associated with regular meditation practice are dynamical by nature and depend on arousal level. The EEG power findings also provide the first empirical proof of a theoretical assumption that meditators have better capabilities to moderate intensity of emotional arousal.

Sahaja Yoga Meditation as a Family Treatment Programme for Children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as a treatment for children diagnosed with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is widespread, but little is known on the effectiveness of many such therapies. This study investigated meditation as a family treatment method for children with ADHD, using the techniques of Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM). Parents and children participated in a 6-week programme of twice-weekly clinic sessions and regular meditation at home. Pre- and post-treatment assessments included parent ratings of children’s ADHD symptoms, self-esteem and child–parent relationship quality. Perceptions of the programme were collected via parent questionnaires and child interviews. Results showed improvements in children’s ADHD behaviour, self-esteem and relationship quality. Children described benefits at home (better sleep patterns, less anxiety) and at school (more able to concentrate, less conflict). Parents reported feeling happier, less stressed and more able to manage their child’s behaviour. Indications from this preliminary investigation are that SYM may offer families an effective management tool for family-oriented treatment of childhood ADHD.

Sahaja yoga has limited effects in the management of asthma

Sahaja yoga has limited effects in the management of asthma

Non-linear dynamic complexity of the human EEG during meditation

We used non-linear analysis to investigate the dynamical properties underlying the EEG in the model of Sahaja Yoga meditation. Non-linear dimensional complexity (DCx) estimates, indicating complexity of neuronal computations, were analyzed in 20 experienced meditators during rest and meditation using 62-channel EEG. When compared to rest, the meditation was accompanied by a focused decrease of DCx estimates over midline frontal and central regions. By contrast, additionally computed linear measures exhibited the opposite direction of changes: power in the theta-1 (4–6 Hz), theta-2 (6–8 Hz) and alpha-1 (8–10 Hz) frequency bands was increased over these regions. The DCx estimates negatively correlated with theta-2 and alpha-1 and positively with beta-3 (22–30 Hz) band power. It is suggested that meditative experience, characterized by less complex dynamics of the EEG, involves ‘switching off’ irrelevant networks for the maintenance of focused internalized attention and inhibition of inappropriate information. Overall, the results point to the idea that dynamically changing inner experience during meditation is better indexed by a combination of non-linear and linear EEG variables.

Sahaja yoga in the management of moderate to severe asthma: a randomised controlled trial

Background: Sahaja Yoga is a traditional system of meditation based on yogic principles which may be used for therapeutic purposes. A study was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of this...

Encountering England: Patterns of conflict and accommodation in two non‐christian religions

Abstract In responding to friction with mainstream society, minority groups follow a number of strategies ranging from accommodation to confrontation. This article examines the interaction between contemporary British society and two non‐Christian religions, the Anglo‐Jewish community and Sahaja Yoga. It notes that while these two groups are utterly different in most other respects, they pursue a similar strategy of adopting a low profile in relation to the larger culture. This strategy has the advantage of engendering the minimum amount of controversy and ensuring the greatest freedom of action possible, yet allowing them to maintain their distinctive religious identities. The article concludes with a discussion of the reasons why both groups adopt low, rather than high, profiles and of the ways in which such strategies may change over time.

‘Belonging to a global religion’: The sociological dimensions of international elements in Sahaja Yoga

Abstract The paper introduces a contemporary Hindu‐based sect, Sahaja Yoga, and outlines the extent to which the beliefs and rituals of the group foster its internal perception of itself as a global movement. The network of contacts maintained between British members and the international ‘collective’ of disciples which also go towards supporting this view are highlighted. The paper then describes the extent to which there is international cultural conformity within Sahaja Yoga. The final section draws on Rajneeshism for a comparative discussion of issues raised. It explores the factors behind the differing global configurations of religious groups, the advantages and disadvantages of having a global ethos and some of the ways in which New Religious Movements mirror aspects of the contemporary process of globalisation.