Short‐term Sahaja Yoga meditation training modulates brain structure and spontaneous activity in the executive control network

Abstract

IntroductionWhile cross‐sectional studies have shown neural changes in long‐term meditators, they might be confounded by self‐selection and potential baseline differences between meditators and non meditators. Prospective longitudinal studies of the effects of meditation in naïve subjects are more conclusive with respect to causal inferences, but related evidence is so far limited.MethodsHere, we assessed the effects of a 4‐week Sahaja Yoga meditation training on gray matter density and spontaneous resting‐state brain activity in a group of 12 meditation‐naïve healthy adults.ResultsCompared with 30 control subjects, the participants to meditation training showed increased gray matter density and changes in the coherence of intrinsic brain activity in two adjacent regions of the right inferior frontal gyrus encompassing the anterior component of the executive control network. Both these measures correlated with self‐reported well‐being scores in the meditation group.ConclusionsThe significant impact of a brief meditation training on brain regions associated with attention, self‐control, and self‐awareness may reflect the engagement of cognitive control skills in searching for a state of mental silence, a distinctive feature of Sahaja Yoga meditation. The manifold implications of these findings involve both managerial and rehabilitative settings concerned with well‐being and emotional state in normal and pathological conditions.

Regular Doses of Nature: The Efficacy of Green Exercise Interventions for Mental Wellbeing

“…Like with research that has focused on single bouts of GE, wellbeing was measured at the start and end of the interventions. Research into mindfulness training and arts and crafts indicates that engaging with regular doses of these activity types can lead to positive neurological changes such as cortical volume as soon as 4 weeks into engagement, and that these changes correlate with self-reported improvements in feelings and wellbeing [39,40]. As participation in the doses of nature activities of the current study occurred over 12 weeks and participants reported improvements in wellbeing, it is plausible to suggest that positive neurological changes may have occurred.…”

What Has Neuroimaging Taught Us on the Neurobiology of Yoga? A Review

“…In experienced Sahaja yoga meditation participants ( n = 23) compared to controls ( n = 23), significantly larger GM density was found in the insula, ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex, and medial inferior temporal gyrus ( Hernández et al, 2016 ). In subjects practicing the same yoga style, Dodich et al (2019) investigated the modulation of a short-term yoga meditation training (four 1-hour sessions per week over four consecutive weeks), by randomly assigning 42 healthy meditation-naïve adults to either a control group (wait-list; n = 30) or a yoga group ( n = 12). Compared to the controls, the yoga group showed increased GM density in the inferior frontal gyrus (pars orbitalis), correlated with general well-being after yoga training.…”

“…Both whole-brain and ROI analyses are included, represented by circles without or with a white border, respectively. Size of the circles are a representation of group sizes: light blue ( Hernández et al, 2016 ), dark blue ( Froeliger et al, 2012b ), orange ( Villemure et al, 2014 ), red ( Villemure et al, 2015 ), yellow ( Dodich et al, 2019 ), dark yellow ( Afonso et al, 2017 ), pink ( Gotink et al, 2018 ), dark green ( Gothe et al, 2018 ), light green ( Hariprasad et al, 2013 ), purple ( Hölzel et al, 2009 ), not in this figure ( Yang et al, 2016 ). (B) Neuronal resting-state function: red ( Herzog et al, 1991 ), blue ( Khalsa et al, 2009 ), not in this figure ( Lou et al, 1999 ; Cohen et al, 2009 ; Wang et al, 2011 ).…”

“…(C) Neural activation: red ( Engström et al, 2010 ), purple ( Kalyani et al, 2011 ), green ( Froeliger et al, 2012c ), pink ( Hernández et al, 2015 ), orange ( Mishra et al, 2017 ), yellow ( Wadden et al, 2018 ), dark blue ( Gothe et al, 2018 ), and light blue ( Lin et al, 2015 ). (D) Functional connectivity, seed regions (circles with a white border) connected (full lines) with brain regions (circles), representing higher functional connectivity: red ( Gard et al, 2015 ); higher degree centrality for caudate nuclei, blue ( Hernández et al, 2018 ), green ( Sevinc et al, 2018 ), pink ( Eyre et al, 2016 ), purple ( Santaella et al, 2019 ), light blue represents a network with a change in power spectrum ( Dodich et al, 2019 ), not in this figure ( Froeliger et al, 2012a ). (E) Neurotransmitters and metabolites: yellow , increased dopamine signaling ( Kjaer et al, 2002 ); red , increased GABA without exact location ( Streeter et al, 2007 ); dark blue (GABA levels) ( Streeter et al, 2010 ); green , increased N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) and decrease myoinositol (MI) ( Nagothu et al, 2015 ); purple , no change in MI or NAA ( Santhakumari et al, 2016 ); white , no change in metabolite levels in hippocampus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex ( Yang et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Additionally, a significant negative correlation between changes in functional connectivity and changes in long-term visuospatial memory performance was observed in a cluster within the superior parietal network in both groups ( Eyre et al, 2016 ). Applying an ICA as well, in addition to the VBM analysis, Dodich et al (2019) also performed rsfMRI in the same subjects. A significant interaction effect (group × time) was observed in the frontal sector of the fronto-parietal network.…”