Research

Books

Papers

Exploring the Relationship Between Character Strengths and Meditation: a Cross-Sectional Study Among Long-Term Practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation

2021 / Hendriks, T... Pritikin, J., Choudhary, R,. Danyluck, C.

A growing body of research has associated the practice of meditation with the development of character strengths. Sahaja Yoga (SY) is a spiritual practice designed to help people develop a set of...

Larger whole brain grey matter associated with long-term Sahaja Yoga Meditation: A detailed area by area comparison

2020 / Sergio Elías Hernández; Roberto Dorta; José Suerol; Alfonso Barros-Loscertales; José Luis González-Mora; Katya Rubia

Our previous study showed that long-term practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) had around 7% larger grey matter volume (GMV) in the whole brain compared with healthy controls; however, when...

Gray Matter and Functional Connectivity in Anterior Cingulate Cortex are Associated with the State of Mental Silence During Sahaja Yoga Meditation

2018 / Sergio Elias Hernandez; Alfonso Barros-Loscertales; Yaqiong Xiao; Jose Luis Gonzalez-Mora; Katya Rubia

Some meditation techniques teach the practitioner to achieve the state of mental silence. The aim of this study was to investigate brain regions that are associated with their volume and functional...

A Study Carried Out at ULL Tenerife Endorses the Benefits of Meditation in the Control of Attention and Emotions

2018 / Press Release, University of La Laguna

A study conducted at the University of La Laguna on the human brain in the state of mental silence in meditation has just been published in the journal Neuroscience. The article is entitled "Grey...

Short-term Sahaja Yoga meditation training modulates brain structure and spontaneous activity in the executive control network

2018 / Alessandra Dodich, Maurizio Zollo, Chiara Crespi, Stefano F. Cappa, Daniella Laureiro Martinez, Andrea Falini, Nicola Canessa

While cross‐sectional studies have shown neural changes in long‐term meditators, they might be confounded by self‐selection and potential baseline differences between meditators and non meditators....

The effects of Sahaja Yoga meditation on mental health: a systematic review

2018 / Hendriks, T.

Objectives: To determine the efficacy of Sahaja Yoga (SY) meditation on mental health among clinical and healthy populations. Methods: All publications on SY were eligible. Databases were searched...

Increased Grey Matter Associated with Long-Term Sahaja Yoga Meditation: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

2016 / Sergio Elías Hernández; José Suero; Alfonso Barros; José Luis González-Mora; Katya Rubia

To investigate regional differences in grey matter volume associated with the practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation. Twenty three experienced practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation and twenty three...

Impact of long-term meditation practice on cardiovascular reactivity during perception and reappraisal of affective images

2015 / Sergei Pavlov; Natalia Reva; Konstantin Loktev; Vladimir Korenyok; Lyubomir Aftanas

Meditation has been found to be an efficient strategy for coping with stress in healthy individuals and in patients with psychosomatic disorders. The main objective of the present study was to...

Monitoring the Neural Activity of the State of Mental Silence While Practicing Sahaja Yoga Meditation

2015 / Sergio Hernandez; Jose Suero; Katya Rubia; Jose L. Gonzalez-Mora

To identify the neural correlates of the state of mental silence as experienced through Sahaja yoga meditation. Nineteen experienced meditators underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging...

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

2012 / Sheng-Chia Chung; Maria M. Brooks; Madhur Rai; Judith L. Balk; Sandeep Rai

Objective The present study investigates the effect of Sahaja yoga meditation on quality of life, anxiety, and blood pressure control. Design The prospective observational cohort study enrolled...

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

2012 / Dietrich Lehmann; Pascal Faber; Shisei Tei; Roberto Pascual-Marqui; Patricia Milz; Kieko Kochi

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...

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

2012 / Sheng-Chia Chung; Maria M. Brooks; Madhur Rai; Judith L. Balk; Sandeep Rai

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:...

A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Meditation for Work Stress, Anxiety and Depressed Mood in Full-Time Workers

2011 / R. Manocha; D. Black; J. Sarris; C. Stough

To assess the effect of meditation on work stress, anxiety and mood in full-time workers. 178 adult workers participated in an 8-week, 3-arm randomized controlled trial comparing a “mental silence”...

Meditation, mindfulness and mind-emptiness

2011 / Ramesh Manocha

Meditation is widely perceived as an effective method for reducing stress and enhancing wellbeing. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2002 National Health Interview Survey...

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

2011 / Kenan Yalta; Nasir Sivri; Ertan Yetkin

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...

Effect of Sahaja Yoga Meditation on the Nutritional Assessment of University Students

2010 / Rajeev Choudhary

The objective of the study was to find out the effect of Sahaja Yoga Meditation on Nutritional Assessment of University Students. (The objective of the study was to find out the significant...

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

2010 / Ramesh Manocha; Deborah Black; David Spiro; Jake Ryan; Con Stough

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...

The neurobiology of Meditation and its clinical effectiveness in psychiatric disorders

2009 / Katya Rubia

This paper reviews the evidence for changes of Meditation on body and brain physiology and for clinical effectiveness in disorders of psychiatry. The aim of meditation is to reduce or eliminate...

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

2007 / Ramesh Manocha; Barbara Semmar; Deborah Black

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...

Impact Of Regular Meditation Practice On Eeg Activity At Rest And During Evoked Negative Emotions

2007 / Ljubomir Aftanas; Semen Goloshyekin

The main objective of the present investigation was to examine how long-term meditation practice is manifested in EEG activity under conditions of nonemotional arousal (eyes-closed and eyes-open...

Effect of Sahaj Yoga on Neuro-Cognitive Functions in Patients Suffering from Major Depression

2006 / V.K. Sharma; S. Das; S. Mondal; U. Goswami; A. Gandhi

Cognitive functions are impaired in Major Depression. Studies on the effects of Yoga on cognitive functions have shown improvement in memory, vigilance and anxiety levels. 30 patients suffering...

Reconciling Western Science and Eastern Traditions of Meditation

2005 / Ramesh Manocha; John Noyce; Andrew Rohowyj; Greg Turek

Why is it that meditation is popularly perceived as uniquely beneficial and yet there is no substantive scientific proof for its effectiveness? One explanation is that scientific activity has...

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

2004 / Linda J. Harrison; Ramesh Manocha; Katya Rubia

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...

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

2004 / Linda J. Harrison; Ramesh Manocha; Katya Rubia

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...

Changes in Cortical Activity in Altered States of Consciousness: The Study of Meditation by High-Resolution EEG

2003 / L. I. Aftanas, S. A. Golosheikin

The specific features of the topology of spectral powers and coherent interregional interrelationships in the narrow, individually determined δ-, θ-, α1-, α2-, and α3-frequency bands were studied...

Non-linear dynamic complexity of the human EEG during meditation

2002 / L.I Aftanas; S.A. Golocheikine

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...

Researching Meditation: Clinical applications in healthcare

2001 / Ramesh Manocha

At the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney, a Meditation Research Program has been in progress, under Ramesh Manocha in the hospital’s Natural Therapies Unit. Using the sahaja yoga technique of...

Human anterior and frontal midline theta and lower alpha reflect emotionally positive state and internalized attention: high-resolution EEg investigation of meditation

2001 / L.I. Aftanas; S.A. Golocheikine

EEG spectral power and coherence estimates in the individually defined delta, theta, alpha-1, alpha-2, and alpha-3 bands were used to identify and characterise brain regions involved in meditative...

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

2001 / R Manocha; G B Marks; P Kenchington; C M Salome

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 therapy as an...

Effect of Sahaja Yoga Meditation on Auditory Evoked Potentials (AEP) and Visual Contrast Sensitivity (VCS) in Epileptics

2000 / U. Panjwani; W. Selvamurthy, S. H. Singh; H. L. Gupta; S. Mukhopadhyay; L. Thakur

The effect of Sahaja yoga meditation on 32 patients with primary idiopathic epilepsy on regular and maintained antiepileptic medication was studied. The patients were randomly divided into 3...

Effect of Sahaja Yoga Practice on Stress Management in Patients of Epilepsy

1995 / U. Panjwani et al.

An attempt was made to evaluate the effect of Sahaja yoga meditation in stress management in patients of epilepsy. The study was carried out on 32 patients of epilepsy who were randomly divided...