High Theta–Low Alpha Modulation of Brain Electric Activity During Eyes-Open Brahma Kumaris Rajyoga Meditation

Summary

During Brahma Kumaris Rajyoga meditation—a practice done with open eyes—long-term meditators show reduced delta and increased low alpha brain activity compared to resting. Source localization of EEG from 52 experienced meditators reveals that the meditation alters activation in the central executive, mirroring, task-positive, and task-negative networks. These changes correspond to attention modulation, self-related processing, visual imagery, and an extra-corporeal sense of being a soul in communion with a Supreme Soul. The findings suggest that seed-stage meditation involves distinct cognitive and affective processes, and future work should differentiate its stages.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Objectives The objective was to analyze EEG recorded during Brahma Kumaris Rajyoga meditation (BKRYM) using eLORETA applied in the frequency domain for localizing sources during meditation vis-à-vis baseline condition. Unlike many other popular meditation practices, BKRYM is practiced with open eyes. To our knowledge, there has been no study of the changes in the brain’s activity during the practice of BKRYM using source localization. Furthermore, this seed-stage meditation goes through specific stages, and the corresponding changes in the brain activity, including the different brain networks, were explored. Method EEG recorded during Brahma Kumaris seed-stage meditation was studied in 52 long-term meditators. The meditation comprised three stages, namely focusing on peace, imagining being a soul, and communion with the Supreme Soul. Brain electric source localization in the frequency domain was used on multichannel EEG recordings to establish activation differences between meditation and open-eyed, task-free resting. Additional exploratory analyses were performed for the differences between initial rest, meditation, and final rest. Results After 5000 randomized statistical tests of significance ( p < 0.05), meditation showed reduced activity in delta and increased activity in low alpha frequencies. The brain networks altered in their activation during meditation are the following: central executive network, mirroring network, and task-positive and task-negative networks. Conclusions The observed changes in activity reflect the main cognitive-affective and behavioral specifics of seed-stage meditation: attention modulation, self-related processing, visual imagery, extra corporeal experience. Future studies need to distinctly differentiate between the stages of the meditation.