Medical Research

LETA supports ongoing medical research programs into the use of meditation as a form of stress management. The nature of that LETA support is the provision of volunteer Sahaja Yoga practitioners and their expertise to support the clinical trails organised as part of the meditation research program.

These studies have recently demonstrated that Sahaja Yoga meditation is clinically beneficial and psychologically safe in the case of stress

LETA does not pay for any of the research performed on Sahaja Yoga meditation and does not receive any payment in return for supporting the research.

With regard to the scientific research evidence, there is no other meditation technique available in Australia that has been subject to the same level of scientific scrutiny. Many of these clinical evaluations have been conducted using gold-standard scientific rigour and the fact that mainstream journals have accepted this information for publication is testament to this. This and other evidence evaluations indicate that SY can be effective in dealing with depressive mood, stress and other aspects of psychological dysfunction but can also be beneficial in the mitigation of physical diseases, particularly chronic disease.

Scientific Research Journals about Sahaja Yoga

Below is a list of peer-reviewed scientific journal publications describing the benefits of Sahaja Yoga meditation.

Australian Research

  1. Manocha, R., Marks, G. B., Kenchington, P., Peters, D., & Salome, C. M. (2002). Sahaja yoga in the management of moderate to severe asthma: a randomised controlled trial. Thorax, 57(2), 110–115.
  2. Harrison, L. J., Manocha, R., & Rubia, K. (2004). Sahaja Yoga Meditation as a Family Treatment Programme for Children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2004; 9(4):479–497.
  3. Manocha, R., Black, D., Sarris, J., & Stough, C. (2011). A randomized, controlled trial of meditation for work stress, anxiety and depressed mood in full-time workers. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med, 2011, 960583.
  4. Manocha, R., Black, D., Wilson L (2012). Functional Health and Quality of Life of Long Term Meditators. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med IN PRESS
  5. Manocha R, Semmar B, Black D. A pilot study of a mental silence form of meditation for perimenopausal women. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings. 2007; 14(3):266–273.
  6. Manocha R, Gordon A , Black D, Malhi G, Seidler R, Using Meditation for Less Stress and Better Wellbeing-Evaluation of a Seminar for GPs, Australian Family Physician, Vol 38, (6) 369 – 464, 2009
  7. Manocha R, Black D, Ryan J, Stough C, Spiro D, Changing Definitions of Meditation: Physiological Corollorary, Journal of the International Society of Life Sciences, Vol 28 (1), Mar 2010

 

Sahaja Yoga and the Brain

  1. Aftanas, L., & Golosheykin, S. Human anterior and frontal midline theta and lower alpha reflect emotionally positive state and internalized attention: high-resolution EEG investigation of meditation. Neurosci Lett. 2001 Sep 7;310(1):57-60.
  2. Aftanas, L. I., & Golocheikine, S. A. (2002). Non-linear dynamic complexity of the human EEG during meditation. Neurosci Lett, 330(2), 143–146.
  3. Aftanas, L., & Golosheykin, S. (2005). Impact of Regular Meditation Practice on EEG Activity at Rest and During Evoked Negative Emotions. Int J Neurosci. 2005 Jun;115(6):893-909.

 

Research Done in India

  1. Gupta HL, Dudani U, Singh SH, Surange SG, Selvamurthy W. Sahaja yoga in the management of intractable epileptics. J Assoc Physicians India. 1991 Aug;39(8):649.
  2. Panjwani, U., Gupta, H. L., Singh, S. H., Selvamurthy, W., & Rai, U. C. (1995). Effect of Sahaja yoga practice on stress management in patients of epilepsy. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol, 39(2), 111–116.
  3. Panjwani, U., Selvamurthy, W., Singh, S. H., Gupta, H. L., Mukhopadhyay, S., & Thakur, L. (2000). Effect of Sahaja yoga meditation on auditory evoked potentials (AEP) and visual contrast sensitivity (VCS) in epileptics Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2000 Mar;25(1):1-12.
  4. Panjwani, U., Selvamurthy, W., Singh, S. H., Gupta, H. L., Thakur, L., & Rai, U. C. (1996). Effect of Sahaja yoga practice on seizure control & EEG changes in patients of epilepsy. Indian J Med Res, 103, 165–172.

 

Research done in Europe and the UK

  1. Morgan D. Sahaja Yoga: An ancient path to modern mental health? Transpersonal Psychology Review. 2000;4(4):41-49.
  2. Susan Schneider, Maurizio Zollo, Ramesh Manocha, Developing Socially Responsible Behaviour in Managers: Experimental Evaluation of Traditional Vs Innovative (Meditation) Learning Approaches, Journal of Corporate Citizenship
  3. Chrilli, Schneider, Zollo The psychological antecedents to socially responsible behaviour. European Management Review., 2008.

 

Other Interesting Articles

  1. Manocha R. Why meditation? Aust Fam Physician. 2000 Dec;29(12):1135-8.
  2. Rubia K. The neurobiology of Meditation and its clinical effectiveness in psychiatric disorders. Biol Psychol. 2009 Sep;82(1):1-11. Epub 2009 Apr 23.
  3. Neki JS. Sahaja: an Indian ideal of mental health. 1975 Feb;38(1):1-10.
  4. Manocha R, Intervention Insights: Meditation, Mindfulness and Mind-emptiness, Acta Neuropsychiatrica