Psycho-Electro-Physiological Analysis of Biological Feedback Effects for Realized and Non-Realized People*
L.A. Eliseeva, Dr. of biology, Institute of Medical and Biological Kibernetics, Siberian Department, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
It is already in 65 countries were Sahaja Yoga is developed. It gives one simple methods for awakening of energies which were initially put in one by the nature. Current estimates of the tremendous possibilities which Sahaja Yoga gives one for the spiritual and physical improvement have mainly a subjective character, which does not agree with the high intellectual level of the modern man. The wider and deeper Sahaja Yoga is spread the more necessary it becomes to objectively reflect the mechanisms which connect the spiritual with the material. For the science this opens a vast area on new knowledge and a unique set of methods, as well as a possibility to see for yourself and to demonstrate to others that the realization, received in Sahaja Yoga, is not a myth, nor a self-suggestion or an en-mass hypnosis but a reality which is not only given to us in our feelings but can also be fixed by objective methods.
Below we will describe experiments performed in the Institute of Medical and Biological Kibernetics, where the bio-control theory and the ways of its practical applications are being developed. In these investigations, a person included in a computer feedback loop can realize an adaptive control of functions which should be corrected.
1. TOPOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF THE CORTICAL ACTIVITY FOR REALIZED AND NON-REALIZED PEOPLE IN THE COURSE OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF THE LOCAL THERMOGENESIS.
In the first series of experiments, using topographic mapping, dynamic registration of the spatial distribution of the brain electrical activity was performed in the course of the bio-control during formation of skills for free regulation of physiological functions for realized (Sahaja yogis) and non-realized people who were solving the same problem: reaching a maximal possible increase in the skin temperature on the leading-hand finger. Results of training the temperature biological feedback (BFB) were plotted on the computer screen. Experiments were made in a dark noiseproof chamber. During 20 minutes the electroencephalogram of the people being tested was recorded every 40 seconds in 16 channels from areas considered in the 10-20 International System. Activity in theta-1, theta-2, alpha- and beta- spectral regions was compared.
General analysis of topographic maps has demonstrated total dominance of the cortical activity for realized people during the whole period of observation in all frequency ranges.
The differential approach, which characterizes the electric activity in narrow frequency bands by the number of bonds, appeared to be the most productive. Estimate of the functional activity of the brain during the increase of temperature and during its stabilization at the maximum level has shown that non-realized people did not have any differences in mechanisms of approaching the states being compared. On the contrary, for realized people the process of temperature increase was accompanied by a substantial enhancement of alpha-rhythms in the front area of the right hemisphere and theta-rhythms in the sincipital-temporal and sincipital-occipital areas of the left hemisphere (see fig. 1 and 2).
Fig. 1. Specific alpha-activation in forehead regions of the right hemisphere for realized people (a) and its absence for non-realized (b).
Fig. 2. Specific theta-activity in sincipital-temporal and sincipital-occipital regions of the left hemisphere for realized people (a) and its absence for non-realized (b).
Localization of the zones of increased activity demonstrated, regarding the alpha-range, that diencephalic structures which determine dynamics of the long-term thermogenesis were involved. Regarding the theta-range, it demonstrated activation of cortical-subcortical mechanisms of perceiving sonic motivation irritants, occurring in the way of auditory subcortical dominant which is formed as a result of reciting appropriate mantras in the mind.
Therefore, unlike non-realized people, who exhibit a chaotic character of intra-cortical interactions which appear when solving a problem, realized people demonstrated a high regularity of such interactions which results in activity of particular, specific structures of the brain. This, possibly, constitutes the main value of the results described above.
It should be noticed that, along with the described differences in the electrical activity of the brain and with the observed advantages of realized people in this sense, the absolute parameters which characterize the achieved state for representatives of both compared groups were found to be similar. This seems to be quite reasonable since the above-mentioned parameters fall within the physiological allowance which should be the same for everybody. Moreover, crossing normal limits for realized people would be incompatible with the state of meditation which is related to the energy of the central channel (Kundalini), which brings all physiological functions of the body to the normal state.
2. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PHYCOLOGICAL STATE FOR REALIZED AND NON-REALIZED PEOPLE BEFORE AND AFTER TRAINING IN THE FRAME OF A BIOLOGICAL COMPUTER FEEDBACK
In the second series of experiments two groups of patients (realized and non-realized) have passed a BFB-training by temperature and miogram.
Realized people used Sahaja-Yoga meditation during the BFB-training.
In general, realized people have much more effective results than non-realized. A testing using a many-factor personal survey has revealed that the average profile of non-realized people is characterized by an increased level of alarm and by an essential increase on the scales of impulsiveness and hypochondria. The average profile of realized people corresponded to the one of a well balanced personality. Performing the Lucher test allowed us to see that the Wolneffer stress coefficient of realized people was much lower before the BFB training than for non-realized. As a result of seven sessions, realized people have reached a much higher degree of decrease of this parameter (see fig. 3 and 4).
Fig. 3. Wolneffer coefficient (psychological stress) by Lucher. Realized people.
Fig. 4. Wolneffer coefficient (psychological stress) by Lucher. Non-realized people.
In general, during almost the whole period of observations, as one can see from the plots, realized people were in the normal state or in the state of psychological relaxation both before and after the BFB-training with meditation, unlike non-realized ones. Performing the Zondi projective test has shown that the factor of the tendency stress, which characterizes the degree of psychological stress and behavioral dis-adaptation, was much lower for Sahaja yogis than for non-realized people.
Thus, the success of performing the temperature BFB training for Sahaja yogis, confirmed by the psychological testing, demonstrates a more developed self-regulation ability, differentiation of internal signals, and modulation of the emotional background for realized people than for non-realized.
Besides the results described above, another principal difference was noted between realized and non-realized people. It consists in the following. A necessary condition for non-realized people to reach a local relaxation of muscles and a local skin heating was a possibility of a permanent visual control of their parameters displayed on the computer monitor. Unlike them, realized people could reach the same results by either of two ways: either due to the BFB-training or due to the Sahaja-Yoga meditation. In conclusion, the results obtained demonstrate that the realization and meditation activate the functions of physiological regulatory systems and make the ways of achieving desired states more concrete.
Proceedings of the International Conference "Moral. Health. Peace: East-West", St. Petersburg, 19-20 September 1995, p. 131 (Novgorod, Print Center of the Economics Colledge, 1996).