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Abstract

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 groups: group I practiced Sahaja Yoga meditation twice daily for 6 months under proper guidance; group II practiced postural exercises mimicking the meditation for the same duration; and group III was the control group. Visual Contrast Sensitivity (VCS), Auditory Evoked Potentials (AEP), Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials (BAEP), and Mid Latency Responses (MLR) were recorded initially (0 month) and at 3 and 6 months for each group. There was a significant improvement in VCS following meditation practice in group I participants. Na, the first prominent negative peak of MLR and Pa, the positive peak following Na did not register changes in latency. The Na-Pa amplitude of MLR also showed a significant increase. There were no significant changes in the absolute and interpeak latencies of BAEP. The reduced level of stress following meditation practice may make patients more responsive to specific stimuli. Sahaja Yoga meditation appears to bring about changes in some of the electrophysiological responses studied in epileptic patients.

Neurophysiological Effects of Meditation Based on Evoked and Event Related Potential Recordings

“…In five other papers [ 15 – 19 ] the approach taken was to have separate groups of participants. In only one trial [ 17 ] the participants were randomized as three groups. The advantage of the separate groups design over the self-as-control is that nonmeditators would not get inadvertently into meditation which is a disadvantage of the self-as-control design, where experienced meditators may get into the meditative state automatically, even during a control session.…”

“…This suggested that Qigong meditation activates areas in the brainstem. There was no change in short latency auditory evoked potentials in patients with epilepsy who practiced Sahaja yoga possibly because they were novices to meditation [ 17 ]. In the other study which reported changes in short latency auditory evoked potentials the peak latency of wave V increased during random thinking, focusing and meditative focusing, but not during meditation [ 11 ].…”

“…Out of the four studies which evaluated short latency auditory evoked potentials changes occurred in brainstem evoked potentials only in Qigong [ 15 ], not in transcendental meditation [ 14 ], in Sahaja yoga [ 17 ], or in “OM” meditation [ 11 ]. With respect to mid latency auditory evoked potentials assessed in four meditations changes were seen in all four meditations [ 5 , 12 , 15 , 17 – 19 ], that is, Qigong, Sahaja yoga, meditation on “OM,” and cyclic meditation. This suggests that meditation modifies neural generators at the level of specific thalamic nuclei, thalamic radiation, and primary sensory cortices irrespective of the meditation techniques.…”

Finger dexterity and visual discrimination following two yoga breathing practices

“…[14] Apart from meditation alone, a combination of yoga practices was shown to improve the sensitivity to a flickering light stimulus,[15] to reduce visual geometric illusions,[16] as well as to improve visual contrast sensitivity. [17]…”

The therapeutic value of yoga in neurological disorders

“…Additionally, patients usually report stress as a factor that increases the likelihood of auras or a seizure episode. [18] Panjwani[19] demonstrated that patients with epilepsy responded to Sahaja Yoga in reducing stress, in a randomized controlled study. This provides hope to patients with refractory epilepsy that non-pharmaceutical techniques may be successful in reducing seizure frequency.…”