The Evaluation of Physical Stillness with Wearable Chest and Arm Accelerometer during Chan Ding Practice

Abstract

Chan Ding training is beneficial to health and emotional wellbeing. More and more people have taken up this practice over the past few years. A major training method of Chan Ding is to focus on the ten Mailuns, i.e., energy points, and to maintain physical stillness. In this article, wireless wearable accelerometers were used to detect physical stillness, and the created physical stillness index (PSI) was also shown. Ninety college students participated in this study. Primarily, accelerometers used on the arms and chest were examined. The results showed that the PSI values on the arms were higher than that of the chest, when participants moved their bodies in three different ways, left-right, anterior-posterior, and hand, movements with natural breathing. Then, they were divided into three groups to practice Chan Ding for approximately thirty minutes. Participants without any Chan Ding experience were in Group I. Participants with one year of Chan Ding experience were in Group II, and participants with over three year of experience were in Group III. The Chinese Happiness Inventory (CHI) was also conducted. Results showed that the PSI of the three groups measured during 20–30 min were 0.123 ± 0.155, 0.012 ± 0.013, and 0.001 ± 0.0003, respectively (p < 0.001 ***). The averaged CHI scores of the three groups were 10.13, 17.17, and 25.53, respectively (p < 0.001 ***). Correlation coefficients between PSI and CHI of the three groups were −0.440, −0.369, and −0.537, respectively (p < 0.01 **). PSI value and the wearable accelerometer that are presently available on the market could be used to evaluate the quality of the physical stillness of the participants during Chan Ding practice.

Meditation Practice Improves Short-Term Changes in Heart Rate Variability

“…The practice method includes concentration, adjusted breathing, and perceiving inner peace, and advanced practitioners can resonate with the energy of the Chan master's blessings. These activities are nonintensive, and practitioners are required to keep their bodies still [14]. Therefore, LF% and HF% did not change significantly after 2 h. However, after 1 month, HF% increased significantly, which is consistent with the results of a previous study [16]; this indicates that Heart Chan meditation may be effective for improving HF% in the long term.…”

“…Many studies have discussed the benefits of Heart Chan meditation on physical and mental health as well as its practical principles [13]. These studies have mostly analyzed Heart Chan meditation with respect to its resultant physiological signals, finding that this meditation approach improves happiness [14], anxiety [15], the regulation of heartbeat and breath [16], brain harmony [17], in addition to enabling practitioners to perceive an inner light [18]. Most Chan practitioners learn meditation through video classes; they gather in a meditation center at regular times to watch teaching videos.…”

Wearable Sensors for Measuring Movement in Short Sessions of Mindfulness Sitting Meditation: A Pilot Study

“…Both a mean motion index and a maximum motion index were derived from the square summation of three axes. In a posterior study [ 31 ], they used the mean motion index that was extracted from accelerometers placed on the arm and on the chest in controlled wide amplitude movement experiments. It was determined that the arm was a more sensitive location.…”

“…Chang et al [ 30 ] secured the measurement system using a belt between the abdomen and chest or on the arm [ 31 ]. Nevertheless, other authors describe other body locations (head, sternum, lumbar or sacral region, wrist, etc.)…”

Analysis of a Smartphone-Based Architecture with Multiple Mobility Sensors for Fall Detection

“…In [26] authors employ three accelerometers in the arms and chest of a set of volunteers to compare their estimation of the corporal physical stillness during meditation.…”