About the positive effects of meditation. Dr Ramesh Manocha is here to tell us more. Good morning to you, doc.
Dr Manocha: Hi.
-Tell us about this new evidence, to begin with.
Dr Manocha: Well, for many years, scientists and ponders have been wondering whether or not there’s something special about meditation and its effect on the brain, and a lot of research has been done which has been inconclusive in looking at how meditation affects the brain. Until recently, where some new evidence has emerged, showing that certain meditation techniques and a technique in particular called Sahaja yoga, is generating a unique pattern of brain electrical activity.
-Now, what you’ve done in your experiment here, we just got a shot on the screen there now, one of your subjects has been wired up. Talk us through that. What did you do and what did you find out?
Dr Manocha: Well, this is a young lady who’s been meditating for many years and we attached a highly sophisticated EEG or brain electrical activity detector to a scalp using that cap there and then we asked her to meditate while we measured the changes that occurred in her brain activity during the meditative experience.
-Were there changes?
Dr Manocha: Yes, there were, quite remarkable. In the past, what we have found is that meditation is about the same in terms of generating changes in the brain as, say, relaxation or dozing off or listening to music but this particular technique is producing not only very profound alpha states but also a characteristic pattern of theta wave activity in the front and the top of the brain, which is not seen in other meditation techniques and is directly associated with enhanced concentration, reduced stress and feeling good inside.
-Can we bring that graphic if we can back up on the screen now just to show, we had two shots there, one on the left, one on the right. Just if you could talk us through that? Before and after, I presume, before and during.
Dr Manocha: It is what you would call a light meditation and then a deeper state of meditation and what you see there is there is a focus of activity at the front of the head, the first diagram on the left, you see the little pointy thing at the top of the circle, that’s a nose, the little things on the side are the ears and you’ll see a focus of orange activity at the front of the head and the frontal parts of the brain. As the person goes into deeper states of meditation, that activity shifts to the top of the head. That’s not been seen in any other meditation technique except for once in some Zen meditators in the mountains of Japan but it’s never been reproduced by a technique that’s commonly available in Western countries.
So, overall, we’ve proved that something is happening inside the brain. Is it a positive effect?
Dr Manocha: It seems to be positive because other studies that we’ve done here at the Royal Hospital for Women and overseas, have shown that this meditation technique is associated with improvements in blood pressure, improvements in general health, reductions in stress, it can be useful for asthma, ADD, things like that. Now, we’re seeing that there are actually changes in the brain that are associated with these benefits.
-So, meditation, I mean, it sounds so out there, it sounds like such a foreign, you know, the thing to get involved in but it’s not anymore, is it? And you’re stressing the health benefits of it.
Dr Manocha: Yes, I mean, doctors are now recommending meditation very commonly and a good quality meditation technique that focuses on the authentic state of meditation, which is a state called thoughtless awareness or mental silence, can be quite beneficial and I think that’s where this …
-So difficult to achieve though, isn’t it? I mean, you have to be really dedicated to this craft to get to that state, that mental benefit state.
Dr Manocha: Well, this is the surprising thing is that this technique called Sahaja yoga is very easy for people to use and we’ve taught it to grandmothers, we’ve taught it to children with ADD, we’ve taught it to people with cancer, well people and they all seem to pick it up very quickly and get into that state, that characteristic state of mental silence.
-Alright, it’s good to hear, the non-drug, non-herbal based remedy either, curing yourself almost.
Dr Manocha: That’s right. Using the internal healing powers that exist in all of us.
Alright. Dr Ramesh Manocha, good to see you again. Thanks for enlightening us on that one.
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