Mapping the brains activity after Kriya Yoga Meditation

 

Meditation

Mapping the brains activity after Kriya Yoga

We wanted to study the effects of Kriya Yoga on the brain’s activity (EEG). In the scientific litterature there are often reports of an increase in alpha and theta waves during and after various forms of meditation. The ancient Tantric Kriya Yoga is a powerful method for awakening and expanding consciousness, as well as for strengthening the vital and psychic energy. We therefore anticipated that the EEG measurements before and after a single Kriya Yoga session would show significant changes. Furthermore, we wanted to map the brain’s activity on coloured brainmaps  before and after one session of Kriya Yoga Meditation.

 

Results

Yoga teachers from the Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School in Copenhagen - all with many years of experience of Kriya Yoga - participated in the study. EEG measurements were taken immediately before and after two hours of Kriya Yoga from eight electrodes on the scalp, four over the left side of the brain and four over the right. The amplified EEG signals were transmitted to a computer, displayed on the screen and simultaneously stored on the hard disk. Subsequently the EEG data were analysed by the proper software for distribution of delta, theta, alpha and beta rhythms in the EEG.

 

Following the meditation, a significant rise of alpha and theta rhythms in the brain was observed in ten out of eleven subjects. For some, the alpha waves more than doubled. The increase of these rhythms was greatest in the rear part of the brain (parietal regions), where both alpha and theta rhythms rose by an average of 40%. There was a general tendency for these rhythms to spread from the rear part of the brain forwards. In ten of the eleven right handed people, the alpha increased more on the right than on the left side of the temporal regions. All the above mentioned results are statistically significant and can therefore not be ascribed to coincidence.

 

Kriya Yoga improves access to feelings and the unconscious
The considerable increases of alpha activity in most regions of the brain after meditation indicate that the brain is deeply relaxed and focused following Kriya Yoga. It also shows that through the meditation, the subjects had gained better access to their subconscious and their feelings.

 

The great increase of alpha in the right temporal lobe, and thus the increase of the alpha Right/Left- ratio, is an interesting finding. Recent research in the US has shown that depressed, introvert people have more alpha in the left fronto-temporal region, while optimistic, extrovert people have more alpha on the right side. Thus, an increase of alpha on the right side, as found in the present study, may counteract stress and depression.

The results also showed that theta activity increased in most parts of the brain after Kriya Yoga. Since theta waves reflect feelings and unconscious processes, the results indicate that the subjects were more in touch with the deepest parts of themselves during and following meditation.

Studies indicate that a person in the high alpha/theta state is able to confront and integrate unconscious processes. Thus, the theta state may have a release function, cleansing the unconscious of unwanted, psychological material. Or, in other words, the theta state may have a carthartic function.

These research results support the experience that yogis have had from Kriya Yoga over thousands of years, namely that the meditative state, characterised by high alpha/theta activity, can bring about a release or "cleansing" of unconscious material in a person. This study demonstrates that Kriya Yoga is an effective technique for increasing both EEG alpha and theta activity and for enhancing the associated positive effects such as better relaxation and access to feelings.

  

 

Sjá: http://www.newbrainnewworld.com/?Altered_States%26nbsp%3B:Meditation 

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