Frontiers in Psychiatry
January 1, 2021
Raghuram Nagarathna, Akshay Anand, Manjari Rain et al.
31 citations
During the COVID-19 lockdown in India, people who practiced yoga reported less anxiety, stress, and fear, and had better coping strategies compared to those who did not practice yoga. Yoga practitioners also showed better physical ability, endurance, and sleep quality, while being less likely to use substances or eat unhealthy food. Among yoga practitioners, those who meditated had relatively better mental health. The findings suggest that incorporating yoga into daily routines may help reduce stress and improve immunity, potentially lowering COVID-19 risk if specific protocols are implemented through a global public health initiative.
International Journal of Yoga - Philosophy Psychology and Parapsychology
July 1, 2020
B. Ushamohan, A. Rajasekaran, Y. Belur et al.
7 citations
Bhramari Pranayama, a yogic technique involving breath control and attention to a self-produced sound mimicking a bumblebee, is traditionally described as an aid to attain Samadhi, or contemplative absorption. This review examines ancient texts including Saivagama texts, Yoga Upanishads, Gheranda Samhita, and Hatha Yoga Pradeepika to understand how the sound vibrations from this practice may enhance consciousness. The authors detail the technique's features and discuss its suitability for spiritual practice, research, and potential therapeutic use.
Indian Journal of Science and Technology
June 27, 2022
Division Of Yoga And Physical Sciences, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (svyasa), Bengaluru 560019, Karnataka, India, Raji Venkatesan, Judu Ilavarasu
3 citations
Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY) meditation can influence specific brain wave states, including meditation state, low alpha, high gamma, and mid gamma bands, as measured by an EEG device. In a study of 86 technical college students aged 18–19, both a yoga group and a sports group showed significant differences within sessions in EEG meditation state and low alpha state. The sports group showed a significant difference at the end of the session, while the yoga group showed it at the beginning. Between groups, there were baseline differences in high gamma and within-session differences in mid gamma. No significant differences were found for other variables. The authors suggest both meditation and sports can promote positive health in technical educational institutes.
Indian Journal of Science and Technology
January 29, 2023
Division Of Yoga And Physical Sciences, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (svyasa), Bengaluru, India, B P Ushamohan, Yamini Belur et al.
2 citations
Bhramari pranayama, a yogic technique involving a self-vocalized humming sound that mimics a female bumblebee, can be broken down into sub-components: pranayama (breath control), the sound-producing phase, and Shanmukhi practice. Its overt, measurable features—such as fundamental frequency, resonant vibrations, and articulation—offer a unique opportunity to study how meditation is caused. Concepts like efference copy, corollary discharge, and sense of agency are observable in electrophysiological investigations. The framework explains how breath and self-vocalized acoustics produce synchrony among multisensory systems, leading to a meditative state, and suggests therapeutic benefits from self-evoked resonant vibrations, sensory entrainment, and gamma waves.
Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies
July 1, 2024
A. Shivaram, Judu Ilavarasu, Raghavendra Bhat
Meditation research can be enriched by integrating neuroscientific findings with classical philosophical frameworks. This review examines the hierarchical meditative states described in Patañjali's Yoga darśana, using an information flow model from Sāṅkhya and Yoga philosophy. It focuses on sense perception as a path to higher meditative states, detailing how practitioners use gross sense objects (sound, touch, form, smell, taste) to enter the Vitarka state, then progress to the Vicāra state by replacing them with subtle sense objects. The review also discusses sense transduction—how sensory stimulation converts to neuro-electrical signals—and summarizes ayurvedic, classical, and contemporary yogic practices related to each sense pathway.