B. Division of Yoga and Life Sciences

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This Division offers short-term courses and elective courses (to be chosen by MSc and PhD students). The Department of Health Sciences is attached with a 160 beds yoga therapy Health Home (Arogyadhama) meant to not only treat the yoga therapy participants (we do not call them patients) suffering from various modern ailments but also draw normal persons for prevention of possible illness and promotion of positive health by the Integrated Approach of Yoga Therapy (IAYT). The students will not only acquire theoretical knowledge and practical experience by their own yoga practices but also get the rich experience of working with doctors, senior yoga therapists and with the yoga therapy participants. Handling them under severe conditions of the diseases immensely help them to become confident of their learning and usefulness of IAYT. The research section with modern gadgets helps them to measure the changes in these participants to assess the improvements. The Department of Bio-Sciences includes the following laboratories: the psychophysiology, Neuro-psychology, sleep lab, metabolic analyzer lab, immune lab, bio-chemistry and psychology labs. It is here that the students get the necessary training to do research of international standards. The modern scientific research is applied to esoteric dimensions of tradition as well as investigations into the paranormal. Essentially this department is meant for the basic research to understand the effects of various yoga practices on human systems. The Department of Natural Sciences has 8 sections encompassing a large spectrum of living systems and their changes due to interactions with human beings. The effect of Agnihotra, Sound, Music, Vedic chanting etc. on plants and animals is studied in great detail in this department. The department includes agricultural farms, gardens, forests, horticultural plants and a GoSala with more than 100 cows. The usefulness of cowdung, Gomutra or urine of cows as possible medicines is also studied.

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Start date: 1990End date: 1999

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    yoga- chair breathing for acute episodes of bronchial asthma
    (Vivekananda kendra yoga Research Fourdation, 1991-10) Nagarathna R.; Nagendra H.R.; Seethalakshmi R.
    The Possibility of reversing the smooth muscle spasm without resorting to drugs in acute episodes of bronchial asthma has always interested several investigators.
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    Yoga based relaxation versus supine rest: a study of oxygen consumption, breath rate and volume & autonomic measures
    (Journal of Indian Psychology, 1999) Vempati, R.P.; Telles, Shirley
    Forty male volunteers with ages ranging from 16 to 46 yrs ware studied in two sessions, yoga based isometric relaxation technique (IRT) and supine rest (SR). Assessments of autonomic parameters were made in 15 subjects, before and after the practices, whereas oxygen consumption, breath rate and breath volume were recorded in 25 subjects, before and after IRT and SR. A significant decrease in breath rate after IRT and in linger Plethysmogram was recorded after SR. The results suggest possibilities for IRT in reducing some physiological signs of anxiety.
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    Yoga training and motor speed based on a finger tapping task.
    (Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 1999-06-03) Dash, Manoj; Telles, Shirley
    A finger tapping task was used to assess motor speed (MS) of both hands in 53 adults and, 152 children before and after yoga training and in 38 adults of a non-yoga (control) group. All subjects were right hand dominant. The 30 second tapping speed (TS) test was considered as three time intervals, i.e. 0-10 second (TSI), 10-20 seconds (TS2) and 20- 30 seconds (TS3). There was a significant (Student's t-test) increase in all three TS values following 10 days of yoga in children and 30 days of yoga in adults. However for both groups at baseline and final assessments, TS2 and TS3 were significantly lower than TS1. Hence the TS was increased after yoga training during the first 10 seconds of the test but not during the next 20 seconds. These results suggest an increase in motor speed for repetitive finger movements following yoga training, but not in strength or endurance, as the increase was not sustained over 30 sec.
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    Sudomotor sympathetic hypofunction in Down’s syndrome
    (Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 1999-06-28) Naveen, K.V.; Telles, Shirley
    General sympathetic dysfunction has been proposed as an explanation for the inability to reach normal heightened attention in Down's syndrome (DS). The present study on 15 DS subjects (group average age ± SD, 14.3 ± 3.6 years; 11 males) and in an equal number of age - and gender - matched normal subjects (NS), evaluated activity in different subdivisions of the sympathetic nervous system. DS subjects had (i) lower skin conductance levels (i.e., lower sudomotor sympathetic activity) and (ii) higher heart rates than NS. In response to auditory stimuli, DS subjects showed abnormal SSR responses (also indicating sudomotor sympathetic activity) but normal cutaneous vasoconstriction. Hence the results suggest that sympathetic dysfunction in DS is restricted to the sudomotor subdivision, activity of which has been associated with attention and recognition.
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    Transcranial Doppler studies of middle cerebral artery blood flow following different test conditions.
    (Neurology India, 1999) Naveen, K.V.; Nagendra H.R.; Telles, Shirley; Garner, C.
    Transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) is a noninvasive method of studying cerebral haemodynamics, allowing the measurement of blood velocity in the major intracranial vessels using ultrasound signals transmitted through bone.[1] Cerebral circulation is controlled mainly by auto regulation and fluctuations in blood CO2 and O2, with scarcely any changes when arterial pressure is constant between 50 and 140mmHg.[2] We recorded the blood velocity in both right and left middle cerebral arteries (MCA) in a 26 year old male volunteer with TCD (DWL Ultrasonic Doppler System, Sipplingen, Germany).
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    Progressive increase in critical flicker fusion frequency following yoga training.
    (Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 1996-08-01) Vani, P.R.; Nagarathna R.; Nagendra H.R.; Telles, Shirley
    The critical flicker fusion frequency (CFF) is the frequency at which a flickering stimulus is perceived to be steady, with higher values suggesting greater perceptual accuracy. The CFF was measured in two agematched groups of healthy male volunteers whose ages ranged from 25 to 39 years, with 18 subjects in each group. After baseline assessments one group (yoga group) received yoga training, while the other group (control group) carried on with their routine activities. Yoga practices included asanas, pranayamas, kriyas, meditation, devotional sessions and lectures on the theory of yoga. After 10 days neither group showed a change in CFF. However, at 20 and at 30 days the yoga group showed significant increases in CFF by 11.1% and 14.9%, respectively (two factor ANOVA, Tukey multiple comparison test). The control group showed no change at the day 20 and day 30 followup
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    Physiological measures during right nostril breathing.
    (Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 1996) Telles, Shirley; Nagarathna R.; Nagendra H.R.
    This study was conducted to assess the physiological effects of a yoga breathing practice that involves breathing exclusively through the right nostril. This practice is called surya anuloma viloma pranayama (SAV). Twelve volunteers (average age 27.2 years ± 3.3 years, four males) were assessed before and after test sessions conducted on two consecutive days. On one day the test session involved practicing SAV pranayama for 45 minutes (SAV session). During the test period of the other day, subjects were asked to breathe normally for 45 minutes (NB session). For half the patients (randomly chosen) the SAV session was on the first day and the NB session on the next day. For the remaining six patients, the order of the two sessions was reversed. After the SAV session (but not after the NB) there was a significant (P < .05, paired t test) increase in oxygen consumption (17%) and in systolic blood pressure (mean increase 9.4mm Hg) and a significant decrease in digit pulse volume (45.7%). The latter two changes are interpreted to be the result of increased cutaneous vasoconstriction. After both SAV and NB sessions, there was a significant decrease in skin resistance (two factor ANOVA, Tukey test). These findings show that SAV has a sympathetic stimulating effect. This technique and other variations of unilateral forced nostril breathing deserve further study regarding therapeutic merits in a wide range of disorders.
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    Plasticity of motor control systems demonstrated by yoga training.
    (Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology,, 1994-05-05) Telles, Shirley; Hanumanthaiah, B.H.; Nagarathna R.; Nagendra H.R.
    The static motor performance was tested in two groups with 20 subjects in each (age range 17 to 22 years, and 5 females in each group). Tests were carried out at the beginning and end of a 10 day period. The test required being able to insert and hold a metal stylus within holes of varying sizes for 15 sec. Accidental contacts between the stylus and the sides of the holes, were registered on a counter as errors. During the 10 days one group (the yoga group) practised asanas (physical postures), pranayama (voluntary regulation of breathing), meditation, devotional sessions, and tratakas (visual focussing exercises). The control group followed their usual routine. At the end of 10 days the yoga group showed a significant reduction in number of errors (Wilcoxon paired signed ranks test), while the control group did not change. Our earlier study showed a similar improvement in children (9 - 13 years). It was interesting to note the same degree of plasticity in motor control systems in young adults. The implications for rehabilitation programmes have been discussed.
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    Physiological changes in sports teachers following 3 months of training in Yoga
    (Indian Journal of Medical Sciences, 1993) Telles, Shirley; Nagarathna R.; Nagendra H.R.; Desiraju, T.
    Three months of training in the ancient Indian science of Yoga, which included different asanas (physical postures) and Pranayamas (voluntary regulation of the breathing) has following effects in normal, hea1thy subjects, viz a significant reduction in heart rate, BP and an increase in mean skin temperature, and alpha index of EEG, reduction in blood glucose, plasma cholesterol, dopamine B hydroxylase and monoamine oxidase, and increased levels of urinary 17-keto steroids. These changes were interpreted as a shift in autonomic equilibrium towards parasympathetic dominance. The present study was conducted to assess whether yogic training of the same duration (3 months) would cause physiological changes in 40 male physical education teachers whose ages were between 25 and 48 years (34.7 + 5.9), and who had already been actively engaged in diverse physical activities for 8.9 + 5.8 years.
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    Recording of auditory middle latency evoked potentials during the practice of meditation with the syllable ‘OM’
    (Indian Journal of Medical Research,, 1993-08-03) Telles, Shirley; Desiraju, T.
    Middle latency auditory evoked potentials were examined in 7 proficient subjects during the practice of meditation on the syllable "Om", to determine whether these potentials would differ significantly from those recorded during the baseline state without practicing meditation. Similar records were also obtained in 7 "naive" subjects, matched for age, before and during a control period which involved sitting with eyes closed, and with no special instructions for focusing their thoughts. There was considerable inter-subject variability in the different components. However, during meditation there was a small but significant reduction in the peak latency of the Nb wave (the maximum negativity occurring between 35 and 65 msec). This reduction was observed consistently during the 3 repeat sessions of each subject, while the "naive" subjects did not show this change. These results suggest that the inter-subject variability of middle latency auditory evoked potentials precludes using them as the method of choice for assessing the effects of meditation. The small but consistent decrease in the Nb wave peak latency, indicates that the middle latency auditory evoked potentials do change with meditation. However, the variability of the potentials may mask subtle changes.
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