Processing of proprioceptive and vestibular body signals and self-transcendence in Ashtanga yoga practitioners

Abstract

In the rod and frame test (RFT), participants are asked to set a tilted visual linear marker (i.e., a rod), embedded in a square, to the subjective vertical, irrespective of the surrounding frame. People not influenced by the frame tilt are defined as field-independent, while people biased in their rod verticality perception are field-dependent. Performing RFT requires the integration of proprioceptive, vestibular and visual signals with the latter accounting for field-dependency. Studies indicate that motor experts in body-related, balance-improving disciplines tend to be field-independent, i.e., better at verticality perception, suggesting that proprioceptive and vestibular expertise acquired by such exercise may weaken the influence of irrelevant visual signals. What remains unknown is whether the effect of body-related expertise in weighting perceptual information might also be mediated by personality traits, in particular those indexing self-focusing abilities. To explore this issue, we tested field-dependency in a class of body experts, namely yoga practitioners and in non-expert participants. Moreover we explored any link between performance on RFT and self-transcendence (ST), a complex personality construct, which refers to tendency to experience spiritual feelings and ideas. As expected, yoga practitioners (i) were more accurate in assessing the rod's verticality on the RFT, and (ii) expressed significantly higher ST. Interestingly, the performance in these two tests was negatively correlated. More specifically, when asked to provide verticality judgments, highly self-transcendent yoga practitioners were significantly less influenced by a misleading visual context. Our results suggest that being highly self-transcendent may enable yoga practitioners to optimize verticality judgment tasks by relying more on internal (vestibular and proprioceptive) signals coming from their own body, rather than on exteroceptive, visual cues.

Meditation has stronger relationships with mindfulness, kundalini, and mystical experiences than yoga or prayer

“…In other studies where yoga is taught and treated as a mindfulness skill first and only secondarily as a fitness method, the associations of yoga and meditation with mindfulness are comparable in magnitude (Carmody & Baer, 2008;Gard, Taquet, et al, 2014;Soler et al, 2014). In addition, when yoga is taught as a contemplative practice it is associated with mystical experiences (Prakash & Caponigro, 2009) and increased self-transcendence, Fiori, David, & Aglioti, 2014). Hence, the prior research outcomes may reflect the emphasis on mindfulness while the present outcome might reflect an emphasis on fitness.…”

“…Meditation has been shown to increase auditory (Srinivasan & Baijal, 2007) and visual sensitivity (Panjwani et al, 2000) and yoga breath awareness practices improve visual shape and size discriminations (Telles, Singh, & Balkrishna, 2012). Also, it appears that meditators are more sensitive to respiratory interoceptive sensations (Daubenmier, Sze, Kerr, Kemeny, & Mehling, 2013) and yoga practitioners have enhanced proprioceptive and vestibular body signals, Fiori et al, 2014). Hence, it appears that contemplative practices are associated with enhanced sensory and perceptual inputs to awareness.…”

Enhancing Holistic Identity through Yoga: Investigating Body-Mind-Spirit Interventions on Mental Illness Stigma across Culture–A Case Study

“…Although this meta-analysis posits that the "body" aspect of yoga can be an effective supplement to traditional psychotherapy, other research supports the significance of yoga's role in embodiment and symbolic processes [12] [13]. Broadly speaking, the physical aspects of yoga help to improve proprioception, a body awareness that also improves awareness of non-physical queues [14]. Reference [12] suggests that yoga increases awareness of physical sensations, and that this process of embodiment could explain the link between yoga and psychological health.…”

First-person experience and yoga research: studying neural correlates of an intentional practice

“…In hatha yoga, such as Ashtanga yoga (Jois, 2010 ), practice is often structured around focused attention on breathing ( pranayama ) and postures ( asana ), while a non-judgmental attitude and acceptance of one's current psycho-physical state can be characterized, in part, as open monitoring. Furthermore, Ashtanga yoga has been linked to the trait of self-transcendence (Fiori et al, 2014 ), suggesting that at least one, possibly all (focused attention, open monitoring, and self-transcendence), and perhaps other yet unidentified experiential categories can be applied to neurophenomenological yoga research.…”