Background: Bhramari pranayama, a yogic technique comprises a selfvocalized humming sound emulating a female bumblebee. Attention to this sound leads to a meditative state. The component of its stimuli, the sustained self-evoked humming sound with breath control, is overt unlike the stimuli of most of the meditations. These observable and measurable components of Bhramari pranayama offer a rare...
Many aspects of spiritual experience are similar in form and content to symptoms of psychosis. Both spiritually advanced people and patients suffering from psychopathology experience alterations in their sense of 'self.' Psychotic experiences originate from derangement of the personality, whereas spiritual experiences involve systematic thinning out of the selfish ego, allowing individual...
Byline: T. Srinivasan Instability in body-mind gives rise to self-discovery and an altered state of consciousness. This is the experience of most people. Especially, when the instability portends facing bodily death, one's inner search is intense, and one may go through depression, despair and denial. In such extreme cases, a model for the human existence is important. It has been said that...