Two phases of Transcendental Meditation (TM)-transcending and undirected mentationwere compared to each other and to task-free resting using multichannel EEG recorded from 20 TM practitioners. An EEG microstate analysis identified four classes of microstates which were labeled A, B, C and D, based on their similarity to previously published classes. For each class of microstates, mean duration, coverage and occurrence were computed. Resting and transcending differed from undirected mentation with decreased prominence of Class A and increased prominence of Class D microstates. In addition, transcending showed decreased prominence of Class C microstates compared to undirected mentation. Based on previous findings on the functional significance of the microstate classes, the results indicate an increased reference to reality and decreased visualization during resting and transcending compared to undirected mentation. Also, our results indicate decreased saliency of internally generated mentations during transcending compared to undirected mentation reflecting a more detached and less evaluative processing. It is proposed that the continuous cycling through these two phases of meditation during a TM session might facilitate and train the flexible modulation of the parameters of these microstates of these particular classes which are known to be altered in psychiatric disorders. This might promote beneficial stabilizing effects for the practitioner of TM.

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1) Background and Objectives: Position in space and passage of time are encoded in the firing of thalamic, hippocampal and entorhinal cortices in rodents. Head direction cells have been reported in freely moving monkeys, and differential brain patterns have been observed in humans while playing a navigation video game and in response to changes in electromagnetic fields. The sensitivity of organisms to environmental and electromagnetic cues could explain recommendations from a traditional system of architecture, Vastu architecture, which recommends aligning homes to the cardinal directions. 2) Hypothesis: Vastu architecture predicts that facing east and north are more advantageous than facing west and south. If facing east and north are more advantageous, then subjects should show distinct EEG patterns and improved performance when facing east and north compared to west or south. 3) Materials and Methods: EEG coherence patterns from 32-channel EEG and time-to-complete jigsaw puzzles were compared while subjects faced the four cardinal directions. 4) Results: When facing east and north, subjects’ frontal beta2 and gamma EEG coherence were significantly higher, and they assembled jigsaw puzzles significantly faster than when facing west or south. 5) Discussion: The brain findings fit the performance data. Better focus, which would reasonably be related with faster performance, is associated with higher levels of beta2 and gamma coherence. 6) Conclusion: These data support the possibility that the human brain may be sensitive to cardinal directions. This highlights how intimately we are connected to the environment and suggests a factor that may be important in orienting work spaces and designing class rooms.

Travis et al. Does MRI Confound Meditation Results? generally between sitting and simMRI, with some significant exceptions. In conclusion, these data indicate that the fMRI procedure itself (high dB noise; lying down) strongly influences subjective and neurophysiological responses during meditation practice, and may therefore confound the interpretation of results from fMRI studies.

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