IMPACT OF VARIOUS STYLES OF MANTRA CHANTING IN NOVICES BASED ON PHYSIOLOGICAL AND COGNITIVE VARIABLES
Date
2021-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SVYASA
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Recitation of Mantra (repetition of sacred words or phrase) has been a universal practice
and considered as a method to slow down the thoughts, attain one-pointed concentration
and bring about various psycho-physiological changes. However, there were no studies
reported to study the various styles of mantra recitation on physiological and cognitive
variables.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The present study is aimed at assessing the autonomic, respiratory and cognitive functions
following Mantra recitation.
METHODS
Participants
In this study, there are two parts viz., physiological and cognitive variables. In the study with
physiological variables, forty novices male, age group of 20 to 25 years participated in this
trial. Likewise there were 35 participants including men and women in the age group of 20 to
45 years.
Design
In design with physiological variables, all participants in the study were assessed on four
separate sessions in the laboratory and all of them were assessed before, during and after
Loud Chanting (LC), Lips Movement (LM), Silent Chanting (SC) and No Chanting (NC).
Similarly, in the study with cognitive variables, all participants were given orientation for
chanting of ‘Mahämrutyunjaya Mantra’ (MM) for 10 days. There were six sessions
including baseline. All the participants were recorded for their Baseline Recording (BL) on
day 1 following an orientation of ten days and a wash out period of seven days and the post
recording in every seven days subsequently viz., Loud Chanting (LC), Lips Movement
(LM), Silent Chanting (SC), Audio Listening (AL) and Silent Sitting (SS). For the post
assessment, recordings were done after 20 minutes of the intervention as each session lasted
for 20 minutes.
Assessments
Physiological Variables
Heart rate variability (frequency and time domain measures)
Heart Rate (bpm)
Respiratory Rate (cpm)
Cognitive Variables
Six letter cancellation test (SLCT),
Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) and
Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS).
Intervention
Five varieties of intervention that were introduced in this trial were Mänasika Japa, where
the subjects were asked to recite the Mahämrutyunjaya Mantra (MMM) mentally for
twenty minutes, Vaiûäri Japa (verbal repetition) or loud chanting (LC), Audio listening
(AL), and silent sitting (SS) to watch the spontaneous thoughts for twenty minutes. But AL
was given only to the participants of cognitive variables only. During the chanting they
were asked to sit comfortably with closed eyes and also, they were asked to chant with full
of devotion. This particular Mantra was given during orientation and various styles of
recitation as it is said to be beneficial for mental, emotional and physical health and
bestows longevity and immortality.
Results
Results of this study showed that LF was higher (p<0.001) and HF was lower (p<0.001)
during LC in frequency domain measures and NN50 was higher (p<0.001) during all the
sessions across all the four groups in the statistical measures. But pNN50 was lower during
LC (p<0.001) compared to NC. In addition to this, the mean HR was significantly higher
during LM and LC (p<0.001).
Likewise, the Mindfulness following Mantra recitation was significantly higher during loud
chanting (LC) (p<0.05) compared to the silent chanting (SC) and the baseline. Also, the
scores of digits backward (DB) was significantly higher in LC (p<0.01), LM (p<0.05), SC
(p<0.001) and AL (p<0.01), compared to baseline.
Conclusions
It can be suggested that during the practice of LC and LM, attention is likely to be more
with an increase in sympathetic activity in the background of relaxation and due to this
increased trend of attention, mindfulness sustains following the practice of LC and short term memory following SC suggestive of more information processing in amygdale,
hippocampus and pre central cortex.