Psycho-Electro-Physiological Analysis of Biological Feedback Effects for Realized and NonRealized 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 biocontrol 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 alpharhythms 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 BFBtraining 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).