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Regular yoga practice was connected to higher levels of psychological well-being in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. However, the psychological mechanisms of this connection are still unexplained. In the present cross-sectional questionnaire study, hypothesised mediating effects of body awareness, satisfaction with body image, and mindfulness were investigated. 203 healthy adults (183 females, mean age: 36.8 ± 10.03 years) practicing yoga at an advanced level were involved in the study. Participants completed online questionnaires assessing body awareness (BAQ), dissatisfaction with body image (BIQ), mindfulness (MAAS) and well-being (WHO-5). Body awareness, body image dissatisfaction and mindfulness showed significant correlations with the weekly frequency of yoga practice as well as with psychological well-being. Body awareness, body image and mindfulness mediated the connection between yoga practice and well-being. In the regression analysis, body image dissatisfaction and body awareness remained connected to well-being even after controlling for practice frequency, mindfulness, gender and age. According to these results, body awareness, body image satisfaction and mindfulness are mediators of the connection between yoga practice and well-being.

Cortical electrical activity during non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep is dominated by slow wave activity (SWA). At larger spatial scales (~2–30 cm) - investigated by scalp EEG recordings - SWA was shown to propagate globally over wide cortical regions as traveling waves, proposed to serve as a temporal framework for neural plasticity. However, whether SWA dynamics at finer spatial scales also reflects the orderly propagation was not yet investigated in humans. In order to reveal the local, finer spatial scale (~1–6 cm) patterns of SWA propagation during non-REM sleep, electrocorticographic (ECoG) recordings were conducted from subdurally implanted electrode grids and a non-linear correlation technique (mutual information, MI) was implemented. MI analysis revealed spatial maps of correlations between cortical areas demonstrating SWA propagation directions, speed and association strength. Highest correlations indicating significant coupling were detected during the initial positive-going deflection of slow waves. SWA propagated predominantly between adjacent cortical areas, albeit spatial non-continuities were also frequently observed. MI analysis further uncovered significant convergence and divergence patterns. Areas receiving the most convergent activity were similar to those with high divergence rate, while reciprocal and circular propagation of SWA was also frequent. We hypothesize that SWA is characterized by distinct attributes depending on the spatial scale it is observed. While at larger spatial scales the orderly SWA propagation dominates, at the finer scale of the ECoG recordings, non-REM sleep is characterized by complex SWA propagation patterns.

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