Neurophysiological Changes in Meditation Correlated with Descriptions from the Ancient Texts

Abstract

Meditation is currently considered to be associated with increased awareness. In ancient yoga texts, two separate meditative states have been described. These are meditative focusing (dharana) and a state of mental expansiveness (dhyana). Two more mental states are described in another yoga text. These are random thinking (cancalata) and focusing while not in meditation (ekagrata). The physiological effects of these states have been assessed using autonomic variables, evoked potentials, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and performance in a cancellation task. The findings suggest that dhyana is associated with reduced sympathetic activity and increased vagal tone, whereas dharana does indeed improve performance in an attention task. Hence, correlating findings from ancient texts with contemporary science can be useful.