Journal of Religion and Health
December 2024
Sushma Pal, Shirley Telles, Acharya Balkrishna
Previously, the electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded while listening to repetition of a Sanskrit monosyllable (i.e., OM) was not significantly different from the EEG recorded during control periods. In the present study, fifteen adult volunteers from northern India (all male, average age 25.0 ± 4.9 years) were assessed using monopolar scalp EEG recordings before, during and after (i) silent...
International Journal of Yoga Therapy
December 1, 2024
Shirley Telles, Sachin Kumar Sharma, Kumar Gandharva et al.
Abstract Changes in breathing during pranayama (yoga breathwork) are usually inferred from practice guidelines in traditional texts or contemporary writings. These changes point to understanding the effects of pranayama and indicate applications of pranayama in health. Previously, a pilot study on a single participant suggested that each pranayama changes breathing uniquely. To extend this...
International Journal of Yoga Therapy
2022
Dipak Chetry, Shirley Telles, Jayaraman Mahadevan et al.
Volitional yoga breathing techniques influence several physiological functions depending on the changes made in depth of breathing, relative duration of exhalation to inhalation, and breath frequency. The practice guidelines for three routinely practiced and researched yoga breathing practices (bhastrika pranayama [bellows breath], bhramari pranayama [bee breath], and kapalabhati pranayama...
Clinical EEG and Neuroscience
May 1, 2019
Shirley Telles, Deepeshwar Singh, Kv Naveen et al.
Sympathetic activation is required for attention. Separate studies have shown that meditation ( a) improves attention and ( b) reduces sympathetic activity. The present study assessed attention with the P300 and sympathetic activity with heart rate variability (HRV). Forty-seven male subjects (group mean age ± SD, 21.6 ± 3.4 years) were assessed in 4 mental states: ( a) random thinking, ( b)...
Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine
October 1, 2016
Shirley Telles, Nilkamal Singh, Ram Kumar Gupta et al.
24 citations
Attention is an important part of the process of meditation. Traditional Yoga texts describe two stages of meditation which follow each other in sequence. These are meditative focusing (dharana in Sanskrit) and effortless meditation (dhyana in Sanskrit). This review evaluated eight experimental studies conducted on participants in normal health, who practiced dharana and dhyana. The studies...
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
October 8, 2015
Shirley Telles, Nilkamal Singh, Acharya Balkrishna
These findings showed that different meditations are associated with distinct neural activity during sustained attention and processing emotions. Hence, meditation causes changes in parts of the brain and modifies brain activity, in distinct ways based on the meditation technique. To our knowledge no study has checked whether detachment and empathy can co-exist as a result of meditation; and...
Clinical EEG and Neuroscience
October 1, 2015
Shirley Telles, Singh Deepeshwar, Kalkuni Visweswaraiah Naveen et al.
The auditory sensory pathway has been studied in meditators, using midlatency and short latency auditory evoked potentials. The present study evaluated long latency auditory evoked potentials (LLAEPs) during meditation. Sixty male participants, aged between 18 and 31 years (group mean ± SD, 20.5 ± 3.8 years), were assessed in 4 mental states based on descriptions in the traditional texts. They...
BioMed Research International
June 7, 2015
Nilkamal Singh, Shirley Telles
Evoked potentials (EPs) are a relatively noninvasive method to assess the integrity of sensory pathways. As the neural generators for most of the components are relatively well worked out, EPs have been used to understand the changes occurring during meditation. Event-related potentials (ERPs) yield useful information about the response to tasks, usually assessing attention. A brief review of...
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
November 15, 2014
Anupama Tyagi, Marc Cohen, John Reece et al.
Background: Stress places a metabolic burden on homeostasis and is linked to heightened sympathetic activity, increased energy expenditure and pathology. The yogic state is a hypometabolic state that corresponds with mind-body coherence and reduced stress. This study aimed to investigate metabolic responses to stress and different yoga practices in regular yoga practitioners (YP), non-yoga...
2014
Shirley Telles, Nilkamal Singh, Kv Naveen et al.
Objectives: Meditation is described in traditional yoga texts as three stages, which follow each other in sequence: (i) Focused attention (FA), (ii) Focused attention on the object of meditation (MF), and (iii) Meditation with one-pointed focused attention without effort (ME). When not in meditation the mind is considered to be in a state of normal consciousness characterized by random thinking...
International Journal of Psychophysiology
November 1, 2013
Luis Carlos Delgado-Pastor, Pandelis Perakakis, Pailoor Subramanya et al.
The concept of mindfulness is based on Vipassana, a Buddhist meditation technique. The present study examines the physiological indices of attention and autonomic regulation in experienced Vipassana meditators to test the claim that mindfulness is an effective therapeutic tool due to its effects on increasing awareness of present experience and emotional self-regulation. Ten male experienced...
Temas em Psicologia
2013
Carolina Baptista Menezes, Lisiane Bizarro, Shirley Telles
3 citations
Techniques such as yoga postures, regulated breathing, relaxation, and meditation have increasingly become investigated in mainstream science.Many of these studies are carried out in India, where most of the practices originated.Here is a report of a professional experience concerning a research internship in the Yoga Research Department from Patanjali University, India, where some of these...
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
September 4, 2012
Shirley Telles, Bhat Ramachandra Raghavendra, Kalkuni Visweswaraiah Naveen et al.
Objectives: In ancient yoga texts there are two meditative states described. One is dharana, which requires focusing, the second is dhyana, during which there is no focusing, but an expansive mental state is reached. While an earlier study did show improved performance in an attention task after dharana, the autonomic changes during these two states have not been studied. Methods: Autonomic and...
Clinical EEG and Neuroscience
April 1, 2012
Shirley Telles, Bhat Ramachandra Raghavendra, Kalkuni Visweswaraiah Naveen et al.
Mid-latency auditory evoked potentials (MLAEPs) were assessed in 60 participants during 4 mental states described in traditional yoga texts. These 4 mental states are random thinking, nonmeditative-focused thinking, meditative focusing, and meditation. Assessments were made before (5 minutes), during (20 minutes), and after (5 minutes) each of the 4 states, on 4 separate days. There were...
Perceptual and Motor Skills
June 2011
Shirley Telles, Kanchan Maharana, Budhi Balrana et al.
Prior research has shown that methods of meditation, breath control, and different kinds of yoga breathing affect attention and visual perception, including decreasing the size of certain optical illusions. Evaluating relationships sheds light on the perceptual and cognitive changes induced by yoga and related methods, and the locus of the effects. In the present study, the degree of optical...
International Journal of Yoga
July 1, 2010
Sanjay Kumar, Hr Nagendra, Kv Naveen et al.
Practicing mental repetition of "OM" has been shown to cause significant changes in the middle latency auditory-evoked potentials, which suggests that it facilitates the neural activity at the mesencephalic or diencephalic levels. The aim of the study was to study the brainstem auditory-evoked potentials (BAEP) in two meditation states based on consciousness, viz. dharana, and dhyana. Thirty...
Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback
June 1, 2010
Sanjib K. Patra, Shirley Telles
Day time activities are known to influence the sleep on the following night. Cyclic meditation (CM) has recurring cycles. Previously, the low frequency (LF) power and the ratio between low frequency and high frequency (LF/HF ratio) of the heart rate variability (HRV) decreased during and after CM but not after a comparable period of supine rest (SR). In the present study, on thirty male...
International Journal of Yoga
2010
Sanjay Kumar, Hr Nagendra, Nk Manjunath et al.
In Indian scriptures the sacred syllable Om is the primordial sound from which all other sounds and creation emerge which signifies the Supreme Power. To explore the significance of the syllable OM from ancient texts and effects of OM meditation in contemporary science. DESCRIPTIONS FROM ANCIENT TEXTS: The descriptions of Om have been taken from four Upanisads (Mundaka, Mandukya, Svetasvatara,...
BioPsychoSocial Medicine
August 13, 2009
Pailoor Subramanya, Shirley Telles
BackgroundA yoga practice involving cycles of yoga postures and supine rest (called cyclic meditation) was previously shown to improve performance in attention tasks more than relaxation in the corpse posture (shavasana). This was ascribed to reduced anxiety, though this was not assessed.MethodsIn fifty-seven male volunteers (group average age ± S.D., 26.6 ± 4.5 years) the immediate effect of...
Clinical EEG and Neuroscience
July 2009
Pailoor Subramanya, Shirley Telles
Practicing meditation while focusing on a sound or a symbol influenced midlatency auditory evoked potentials (MLAEPs). Cyclic meditation (CM) is a technique combining yoga postures with meditation while supine, which has influenced the P300 event-related potential. The effects of CM on MLAEPs have not been previously studied. The MLAEPs were studied before and after the practice of CM compared...
International Journal of Neuroscience
December 2006
S P Sarang, Shirley Telles
Cyclic meditation (CM) is a technique that combines "stimulating" and "calming" practices, based on a statement in ancient yoga texts suggesting that such a combination may be especially helpful to reach a state of mental equilibrium. The changes in the peak latency and peak amplitude of P300 auditory event-related potentials were studied before and after the practice of cyclic meditation...
International Journal of Neuroscience
May 1994
Shirley Telles, R Nagarathna, Hr Nagendra et al.
Middle latency auditory evoked potentials were recorded in 18 male volunteers with ages between 25 and 45 years, 9 of whom had more than 10 years of experience in "Om" meditation (senior subjects), whereas the other 9 had no meditation experience (naive subjects). Both groups were studied in two types of sessions. (1) Before, during, and after 20 minutes of mentally repeating "one" (control...
International Journal of Psychophysiology
September 1993
Shirley Telles, T Desiraju
This report presents the changes in various autonomic and respiratory variables during the practice of Brahmakumaris Raja yoga meditation. This practice requires considerable commitment and involves concentrated thinking. 18 males in the age range of 20 to 52 years (mean 34.1 +/- 8.1), with 5-25 years experience in mediation (mean 10.1 +/- 6.2), participated in the study. Each subject was...