Revista Científica Arbitrada de la Fundación MenteClara
March 18, 2025
Oscar R. Gómez
Tantric meditation practices increase sympathetic nervous system activity, producing a state of phasic alertness, greater wakefulness, reduced propensity for sleep, and improved cognitive performance. Non-tantric practices from Vedic and Buddhist traditions, such as Yoga and Theravada or Mahayana meditation, induce a relaxation response with increased parasympathetic activity, a hypometabolic state of deep rest, tonic alertness, and physiological changes including decreased heart rate, oxygen consumption, and blood lactate, along with hormonal shifts like increased prolactin and arginine vasopressin and decreased thyroid-stimulating hormone. These neurophysiological differences align with textual descriptions: tantric practices aim to heighten alertness, while non-tantric traditions seek stillness and calm.
Revista Científica Arbitrada de la Fundación MenteClara
March 18, 2025
Oscar R. Gómez
Non-tantric meditations, such as those from Vedic traditions and Buddhism, produce a relaxation response marked by increased parasympathetic activity and inhibited sympathetic system, leading to a hypometabolic state of deep rest. Practitioners remain awake with tonic alertness, accompanied by hypotonia, decreased oxygen consumption, reduced heart rate, and lower blood lactate concentration. Endocrine changes include increased phenylalanine in advanced meditators, elevated plasma prolactin, a five-fold increase in plasma arginine vasopressin, and chronic and acute decreases in thyroid-stimulating hormone. These findings suggest potential long-term benefits and also highlight possible undesirable side effects requiring further study.
Revista Científica Arbitrada de la Fundación MenteClara
July 19, 2018
Oscar R. Gómez
Tantric meditations increase sympathetic activity, phasic alertness, and visual cognitive performance, promoting greater wakefulness and lower sleep propensity, while non-tantric meditations (Vedic, Theravada, Mahayana) enhance parasympathetic activity and relaxation, inducing a hypometabolic state with decreased oxygen consumption, heart rate, and blood lactate, plus endocrine changes including a five-fold increase in arginine vasopressin and decreased thyroid-stimulating hormone. These neurophysiological differences align with traditional texts: tantric practices aim to heighten alertness and warn against excessive calm, whereas non-tantric traditions seek stillness and calm.
Revista Científica Arbitrada de la Fundación MenteClara
July 19, 2018
Oscar R. Gómez
A qualitative systematic review comparing tantric and non-tantric meditations found that non-tantric practices produce a relaxation response with increased parasympathetic activity and sympathetic inhibition, inducing a deep hypometabolic rest state where practitioners remain awake with tonic alertness. This state involves decreased oxygen consumption, heart rate, and blood lactate, along with altered endocrine function: increased phenylalanine in advanced meditators, higher plasma prolactin, a five-fold increase in arginine vasopressin, and chronically and acutely decreased thyroid-stimulating hormone. The review opens the way for longitudinal clinical studies to confirm long-term benefits and address unwanted side effects.