SAHAJYOGA AND QUALITY OF LIFE: AN EMPIRICAL ENQUIRY

ANURADHA PALTA, (Research Student)
Ranchi University. Ranchi, India

Quality of Life [QOL] aims at holistic growth of an individual i.e., physical, mental and spiritual. Yoga is an effective tool to attain total QOL. Yoga means union. In real sense it is a union of primordial energy (Kundalini) with all pervading cosmic energy. Patanjali's eight limbs or stages have to be followed to attain yoga. However samadhi or the final stage can be achieved only through kundalini. This can be easily achieved through sahajyoga meditation [SYM]. The kundalini pierces all the seven chakras such as mooladhara, swadishthana, nabhi, anahat, vishudhi, aygna and sahasrara. These chakras are interconnected through nadisoda, pingala and sushumna. They are the path of kundalini. Once the Kundalini travels to sahasrara piercing the seven chakras, the individual consciousness becomes one with cosmic consciousness and the flow of subtle cool breeze from the palms of the hand and from the top of the head is experienced. This stage is self realization or self actualization or awakening of kundalini. It is an actualization on C.N.S. and can be verified in the form of a cool breeze. Thus, higher consciousness is achieved. The present study shows effect of SYM on QOL. A sample of 148 subjects comprised of short term meditators and long term meditators. Their QOL were measured with different tools. Results were analyzed by using SPSS.10.Version. The findings supported that SYM and VM can enhance QOL.

CHANGES IN P300 EVENT RELATED POTENTIALS FOLLOWING
NOSTRIL MANIPULATING YOGA BREATHING

MEESHA JOSHI, Regd. Ph.D. Scholar
Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, Bangalore, India

Pranayama includes nostril manipulating yoga breathing practices. Previous reports have shown that nostril manipulation produces an increase in the EEG amplitude over the contralateral hemisphere. The present study is a preliminary attempt to find out the effect of two different types of pranayamas i.e. right nostril yoga breathing (surya anuloma viloma) and left nostril yoga breathing (chandra anuloma viloma) on attention based on the P300 event-related potential. The P300 was recorded over the right and left hemispheres (C3, C4) in 9 healthy male volunteers aged between 20 and 50 years. The volunteers were from a yoga centre. P300 was recorded before and after twenty minutes of pranayama practice in both the sessions that were conducted on separate days. There was a significant difference in percentage change (after a session compared to before) of the P300 peak amplitude (i) on the right side following right nostril yoga breathing the amplitude increased (group average (SD) of 41.33 ? 75.69), significantly more than the left side (group average of (SD) 16.04 ? 53.35) , (ii) following left nostril yoga breathing the amplitude increased on the right significantly (group average of 19.83 ? 6.48) more than the left, as it decreased on the left (group average of 5.42 ? 8.33). Results suggest that after twenty minutes of right nostril yoga breathing there is an ipsilateral change and after left nostril yoga breathing change there is a contralateral change. Hence both the practices result in an increase of amplitude over right hemisphere. This preliminary study hence suggests involvement of the right parietal area in attention associated with nostril manipulating yoga breathing.

STANDARDIZATION OF AYURVEDA UNMADA SCALE IN PATIENTS
WITH NON-AFFECTIVE PSYCHOSIS - A REPORT

DEVIKA, Post Graduate Student
Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, Bangalore, India

This is a report on the development and initial standardization of a scale to measure the unmada (psychosis) symptoms in patients with non-affective psychosis. Ayurveda unmada scale (AUS) consisting of 68 items was developed based on the translation of the slokas (verses in Samskrta) describing unmada and with the opinion from the experts viz., fifteen Ayurveda scholars and five each of Psychologists and Psychiatrists. The study was conducted in a private psychiatric nursing home in Bangalore city. The scale was administered to 44 patients with non-affective psychotic disorders. Ayurveda unmada scale is associated with excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's =0.8862, split-half reliability r=0.7876) and inter-rater reliability (kappa values ranged from 0.828 to 1.000). The symptoms of unmada can be measured reliably by this scale in patients with non-affective psychosis.