A selective review of dharana and dhyana in healthy participants.
Author: Telles S1, Singh N2, Gupta RK2, Balkrishna A2
Affiliation:
1Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India. Electronic address: officeprfms@gmail.com.
2Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India.
Conference/Journal: J Ayurveda Integr Med.
Date published: 2016 Nov 23
Other:
Pages: S0975-9476(16)30240-6 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.jaim.2016.09.004. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 155
Attention is an important part of the process of meditation. Traditional Yoga texts describe two stages of meditation which follow each other in sequence. These are meditative focusing (dharana in Sanskrit) and effortless meditation (dhyana in Sanskrit). This review evaluated eight experimental studies conducted on participants in normal health, who practiced dharana and dhyana. The studies included evaluation of autonomic and respiratory variables, eLORETA and sLORETA assessments of the EEG, evoked potentials, functional magnetic resonance imaging, cancellation task performance and emotional intelligence. The studies differed in their sample size, design and the method of practicing dharana and dhyana. These factors have been detailed. The results revealed differences between dharana and dhyana, which would have been missed if the two stages of meditation had not been studied separately.
Copyright © 2016 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS: Dharana–dhyana; Electrophysiology; Meditation; Neuroimaging; Yoga texts
PMID: 27889426 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaim.2016.09.004
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