Neelam D Sukhsohale, Mrunal S Phatak Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 2012 Oct-Dec; 56(4):388–92

1. 388 Sukhsohale and Phatak Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4)
*Corresponding Author : Dr. Neelam. D. Sukhsohale; Ladies Hostel, Room No. 1, Indira Gandhi Government
Medical College, Nagpur-18. India; Ph. : 09960390868; Email id: bkdrneelam@gmail.com
SHORT COMMUNICATION
EFFECT OF SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM BRAHMAKUMARIS
RAJA YOGA MEDITATION ON PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES
NEELAM D. SUKHSOHALE*1
AND MRUNAL S. PHATAK2
Departments of 1
Preventive and Social Medicine and 2
Physiology,
Indira Gandhi Government Medical College,
Nagpur, India
( Received on November 1, 2011 )
Abstract : Effect of short-term and long-term Brahmakumaris Raja Yoga
meditation on physiological variables like heart rate (HR), respiratory rate
(RR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was
evaluated in 100 subjects practicing Raja Yoga meditation. All 100 subjects
(33 men and 67 women) were aged 30 years and above (mean age
52.06±12.76 years). Short-term meditators (STM) (n=27) practiced Raja
Yoga meditation for duration of six months to five years (mean duration
3.37±1.67 years) and long-term meditators (LTM) (n=73) practiced Raja
Yoga meditation for more than five years (mean duration 11.19±5.13 years).
The participants were asked to meditate and the physiological variables
(HR, RR, SBP and DBP) were recorded twice (15 minutes and 30 minutes)
after beginning of meditation. Also, the fasting blood sugar was estimated
by glucometer. The study subjects did not differ significantly in age and
various anthropometric characteristics such as body weight, body mass
index, waist-hip ratio and fasting blood sugar. Comparison between STM
and LTM showed that the changes from baseline values (from pre-
meditation to post-meditation at 15 and 30 minutes) in LTM were not
statistically significant with those in STM (P>0.05). However, within group
differences in LTM revealed that changes in the physiological variables
were statistically significant when compared between pre and post meditation
both at 15 and 30 minutes. The study suggests that the long-term practice
of Raja Yoga meditation improves basic cardio-respiratory functions due to
shifting of the autonomic balance in favor of parasympathetic instead of
sympathetic system.
Key words : meditation brahmakumaris raja yoga
Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4) : 388–392
INTRODUCTION
Meditation is a complex phenomenon that
involves several coordinated, cognitive
processes and autonomic nervous system
alterations. Meditation as a form of therapy
may facilitate positive effect resulting in a
sense of physical and mental well being in

2. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4) Meditation and Physiological Variables 389
and 67 women) in the age group of 30 years
and above (mean age 52.06±12.76 years)
visiting the Brahmakumaris centre and
practicing Raja Yoga meditation at least for
a period of six months. The Institutional
Ethics Committee, Directorate of Annamalai
University Madurai, approved the study. All
study subjects aged 30 years and above were
interviewed in the morning hours (between
7 am and 8.30 am) after obtaining the
informed consent from them and detailed
history regarding demographic profile, socio-
economic status, presenting complaints, if
any, past history, personal history as well
as information regarding Raja Yoga
meditation practice was obtained. Those
subjects practicing Raja Yoga meditation
from six months up to five years were
classified as short-term meditators (STM)
(mean duration 3.37±1.67 years) and those
practicing Raja Yoga meditation for more
than five years were classified as long-term
meditators (LTM) (mean duration 11.19±5.13
years). During meditation, subjects sit in a
comfortable posture with their eyes open,
and with gaze fixed on a meaningful symbol
(a light). At the same time, they actively
think positive thoughts about a universal
force pervading all over, as light and peace.
The meditators were practicing Raja Yoga
meditation for one hour every morning (6-7
am) at the Brahmakumaris centre. Complete
clinical examination, including general
and systemic examination was done.
Anthropometric measurements (height,
weight, waist circumference and hip
circumference) were recorded. High waist –
hip Ratio (WHR) is considered as > 1 for
males and > 0.85 for females (7).
Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR),
systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic
patients (1). Meditation has entered the
mainstream of health care as a method of
stress and pain reduction. In the recent years
there has been a growing interest within
the medical community to study the
physiological effects of meditation (2-5).
Raja Yoga meditation as taught in the
Brahmakumaris World Spiritual University
(also known as Prajapita Brahmakumaris
Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya) is a behavioral
intervention which is simple to practice, as
no fixed physical postures are to be adopted.
It is an art with scientific, psychological,
intellectual and spiritual process, which
enables invisible latent powers and
capabilities to emerge from the inner
recesses of heart and mind. It aims at
establishing balance in head, heart and hand.
It is the science and art of harmonizing
spiritual, mental and physical energy
through the connection with the ultimate
source of spiritual energy, the Supreme Soul
for enjoying ever healthy, ever-wealthy and
ever-happy life (6).
Regular practice of Raja yoga meditation
causes improvement in physiological
parameters. The longer the duration of
meditation, more are the changes. This study
was performed with the objective of assessing
the effect of short term and long term
Brahmakumaris Raja Yoga meditation on
physiological variables.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional study was carried out
at Brahmakumaris centre in Nagpur city.
The study period was from 1st
January 2010
to 30th
June 2010. The present study was
carried out in 100 study subjects (33 men

3. 390 Sukhsohale and Phatak Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4)
blood pressure (DBP) were recorded before
meditation practice. The purpose of
experiment was explained to them in order
to reduce unnecessary anxiety. Then, the
subjects were asked to practice meditation
for 30 minutes and again their HR, RR, SBP
and DBP were measured twice at 15 minutes
interval during the practice of meditation
i.e. after 15 and 30 minutes. HR and RR
were recorded per minute. BP was measured
by mercury sphygmomanometer in the right
arm in sitting position both before and twice
during meditation practice. During recording
due care was taken so as not to disturb the
subjects in their meditation.
In addition, fasting blood sugar
estimation was done using glucometer as per
standards recommended by American
Diabetes Association (ADA) (8). Because of
its simplicity and availability, the ADA report
recommends basing the diagnosis of
diabetes mellitus (DM) on the fasting plasma
glucose. Subject was considered as diabetic
if he/she was a known case of DM or if his/
her fasting- blood sugar was 120 mg/dl or
more (9).
Statistical analysis
Data was analyzed by statistical software
STATA version 10.1 (2009). Within group
differences in STM and LTM were analyzed
by one-way analysis of variance and multiple
comparisons were performed by Bonferroni
test. For between group differences, changes
from baseline values (from pre to post
meditation) were compared between STM and
LTM by t test for independent sample.
Statistical significance was assessed at a type
I error rate of 0.05.
RESULTS
The mean age of the study subjects in
the two groups i.e. STM and LTM was
49.37±11.95 years and 53.05±12.98 years,
respectively. The study subjects in the two
groups did not show statistically significant
difference in age and anthropometric
characteristics such as body weight, body
mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and
fasting blood sugar level (FBS) (Table I).
Physiological variables pre and post
meditation between STM and LTM are shown
in Table II. Mean HR, RR, SBP and DBP
were found to be lower during post-
meditation period (after 30 minutes) as
compared to during meditation period (after
15 minutes) and pre-meditation period.
Within group differences analysis in STM
showed that none of the physiological
variables between pre and post meditation
period were statistically significant except
RR, which was found to be significantly
lowered during post meditation after 30 min
as compared to pre-meditation period.
However in case of LTM, the changes in
TABLE I : Age and anthropometry of short-term and
long-term practitioners before practice.
Parameters Short-term Long-term P value
Age (years) 49.37±11.95 53.05±12.98 0.20
BW (kg) 60.48±14.69 55.41±11.87 0.07
BMI (kg/m2
) 23.44±4.28 22.91±4.36 0.58
WHR 0.87±0.05 0.86±0.08 0.54
FBS 108.66±33.35 112±49.56 0.74
Data are presented as mean±SD.BW: body
weight; BMI: body mass index; WHR: waist hip
ratio; FBS: fasting blood sugar. The difference
between STM and LTM not statistically
significant P>0.05 by student’s t test.

4. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4) Meditation and Physiological Variables 391
physiological variables between pre and post
meditation period at 30 minutes were found
to be statistically significant (P<0.01).
Between groups differences showed that the
changes from baseline values (from pre-
meditation to post-meditation at 15 and 30
minutes) in LTM were not found to be
statistically significant with the changes from
baseline values in STM (P>0.05).
DISCUSSION
The study emphasizes the effect of short
term and long term Brahmakumaris Raja
Yoga meditation on physiological variables
during meditation as compared to the pre-
meditation period. Significant decrease in
physiological variables observed in long term
meditators after meditation indicates a shift
in the balancing components of autonomic
nervous system towards the parasympathetic
state.
Sympathetic arousal is expected to be
reduced during Raja Yoga practice.
Hence the load on heart due to sympathetic
arousal is also minimized resulting in an
improvement in cardiovascular parameters.
Similar findings as in our study were
observed in 23 subjects by Gupta S et al
(10), attributing decline in HR, RR and BP
to the reduction in the level of sympathetic
arousal. Meditation is believed to gradually
reduce the sympathetic dominance resulting
in better balance between sympathetic and
parasympathetic. This should bring about a
hypometabolic state resulting in decreased
heart rate and blood pressure (11). The
reduction of lactic acid brought about by
meditation as observed by Patel G (11) is
supposed to be a sign of tension free and
peaceful state of mind.
Vyas R et al (12) observed that diastolic
blood pressure was significantly lower in both
short and long term meditators of Raja Yoga
meditation as compared to non-meditators.
Lipid profile showed a significant lowering
of serum cholesterol in short and long-term
meditators as compared to non-meditators.
However contradictory results have been
observed by Telles S et al (13), who conducted
study in 18 males with 5-25 years of
meditation (mean 10.1±6.2) showing that
heart rate during the meditation period was
increased when compared to the baseline
period, as well as compared to the value
during the non-meditation period of control
sessions. No significant change was observed
during meditation, for the group as a whole,
in palmar GSR, finger plethysmogram
amplitude and respiratory rate. Hence, a
single model of sympathetic activation or
overall relaxation may be inadequate to
describe the physiological effects of a
meditation technique.
TABLE II : Physiological variables Pre and Post-Meditation among Short-term and long-term meditators.
Short term Long term
Parameters P
Pre-meditation Post-15 min Post-30 min Pre-meditation Post-15 min Post-30 min value
HR 72.22±1.15 73.18±9.30 69.40±6.90 74.71±8.91 71.58±7.65 70.63±7.68***##
0.46
RR 18.96±2.19 18.11±2.47 17.22±1.86** 19±3.97 17.72±2.05** 17.41±2.07***##
0.67
SBP 122.70±14.38 118.29±15.33 114.59±11.17 124.13±15.18 118.54±13.32 117.06±13.97***##
0.41
DBP 82.29±10.44 80±8.32 78.44±7.89 83.20±10.24 80.21±9.73 78.49±9.29**##
0.98
Data are presented as mean±SD. Analysis of data was done by one-way ANOVA and post-hoc by bonferroni
test. The * depicts comparison with Group 1 and the # depicts comparison with Group 2.
**P<0.05 , ***P<0.01, ##
P>0.05. f – STM Post 30 min vs. LTM Post 30 min by student’s t test.

5. 392 Sukhsohale and Phatak Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4)
Findings of our study suggest that dual
model exist i.e. quietening of sympathetic
system and activation of parasympathetic
system during the meditation practice as
indicated by the shift from sympathetic to
parasympathetic resulting in decrease in
physiological variables like HR, RR, SBP and
DBP. Thus, Meditation by modifying the state
of anxiety reduces the stress induced
sympathetic over activity resulting in a
lowering of respiratory and cardiovascular
variables. It relaxes the subject and thereby
decreases arterial tone and peripheral
resistance. This may be another reason for
a fall in blood pressure. This implies that
Raja Yoga meditation confers significant
benefits in respiratory functions;
cardiovascular parameters which continued
to improve further with long-term meditation
(12). Moreover, the findings of our study also
show greater and significant decrease in
physiological variables among long-term
meditators, which justifies the fact that long-
term meditators have greater parasympathetic
control.
Further scientific research on effects of
Raja Yoga meditation on other physiological
variables like lipid profile, palmar GSR,
finger plethysmogram amplitude, skin
resistance is needed to assess its beneficial
effects. Hence we recommend that Raja Yoga
meditation should be incorporated as the
basis for an effective behavioral program in
the management of diseases associated with
lifestyle modification like hypertension,
diabetes, coronary heart disease and cancers.
For this, awareness needs to be created
among masses regarding the positive health
benefits of meditation.
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