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Dr. King
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Abstract: The ancient practice of Yoga enunciated by Patanjali way back in B.C.200 is
neurologically well founded. This paper discusses the brain mechanisms that are
behind the working of various Yoga processes. It also briefly indicates the role of each
step of Yoga in neurological terms.
Before we delve into how Yoga actually How do various functional regions of the
works, let us first look into some recent brain exchange information even when they
scientific findings in the area of neuroscience are not directly connected?
that are relevant to explaining the working of
various Yoga processes. Global workspace theory:
Sometime in late 1980s Bernard Baars came
Compartmentalized view of mental up with a theory called Global workspace theory
processing: (11) (12) (13) to explain how this complex
Recent advances in neuroscience is gradually interaction between various components of
shifting the way we understand the working of the brain takes place. He used a theatre
the mind – from a totally philosophical view metaphor to explain his theory.
of some abstract unexplainable phenomena,
to a more or less objectively verifiable He compared the brain to a theatre with
working of the brain with neurons as its basic audiences sitting and watching the play, and
workhorses. the actors who enact the play. The special
feature of this theatre is that there is no fixed
Initial lesion based guesses on the working of stage or gallery, but sometimes some audience
the brain was in terms of a collection of become the actors and vice versa. A spot light
specialized functional units or regions as focused on the actors and audience indicated
shown in Figure 1 who are currently active. The entire play takes
place in the setting of pre stored context.
But this view is being largely refined by recent Figure 2 Bernard Baars' mind theatre
research findings (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) Our brain is the place where the action takes
(9) (10). It is now generally accepted that any place. Different components of this mental
complex mental processing involves various drama are as follows.
brain regions not necessarily located in few
adjacent regions but could span the entire 1. A set of neural networks that produce
cerebral cortex. In essence, any complex information (actors in the metaphor)
mental activity is the coordinated effort of
2. A set of neural networks that receive Figure 3 Global workspace setup
this information (audience in the
metaphor) Either the attention system selects the
3. A mental context in which the functional units that interact through the
processing takes place (the setting in connection mechanism or alternatively,
the metaphor) various functional units compete among
4. An attention mechanism (the spot themselves for the attention of the attention
light in the metaphor) system and whoever wins in this competition
5. A mechanism to support the
succeeds in getting into the final setup.
interaction between them. (audio
system in the metaphor) Some scientists term the process involving
competition, selection and succeeding of the
Viewed from the functional level, the
fittest in a global workspace as Neural
actor/audience could be sense input
Darwinism (14) (15) striking an analogy with
processors, speech production networks,
the Darwin’s theory of biological evolution.
motor region, memory, thoughts, various
evaluators and so on. These disjoint Global workspace theory is of late gaining
functional units are dynamically connected acceptance and some research results seem to
among themselves, as needed, through a show evidence for such a mechanism in our
network of connections setup by the attention brain.
system.
Possible brain mechanisms supporting the
The attention system does the following workspace theory
The structures we are looking for are the
1. Selects the functional units to be
functional units that use the global workspace
connected
setup, the attention system, and the
2. Enhances the activities in these
interconnecting mechanism. Some of the
chosen units
possible candidates are the following.
3. Sets up the connections between them
appropriately 1. Users of the Global workspace: Various
functional units spread all over the cerebral
The entire arrangement could be as shown in
cortex that can potentially produce or
Figure 3.
consume information.
Though most people rarely go beyond these Figure 6 Patanjali's 8 step Yoga process
goals, Yoga has vast potential to take one to
new mental and spiritual levels. The way Yoga works:
Each step of Yoga is a step in refining the
With this brief discussion on neurological mental processes in such a way that the
mechanisms, let us next move on to the Yoga mental activity is gradually reduced and the
system and see how Yoga achieves various final calm state is reached. How this process
results using these neural mechanisms. actually works and the neurological
underpinnings of each step are described in
Ashtänga Yoga of Patanjali:
great detail in (19). (click for preview)
Patanjali does not talk in neurological terms
but he definitely describes several abstract Here we will briefly look at what happens at
mental states through which a Yoga each step in neurological terms.
practitioner gradually moves as he progresses.
More on these states can be found in (20) Step 1. Yama: In this step, the source of
(19).(click for preview) negative thoughts is gradually blocked.
Step 5: Pratyähära: This is actually a state In a nut shell, each step of Yoga can be
where most of the cortical activity related to verified based on our current neurological
sense input processing stops. The main cause understanding of the mind, using the gadgets
of this stoppage is the deprival of attention to available at our disposal.
these processes since the mind is diverted to
some other meditative object.
Works Cited
Step 6: Dhärana: This is the act of focusing
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David Poeppel, Karen Emmorey, Gregory
Step 7: Dhyäna: Continuously keeping the
Hickok, and Liina Pylkka¨nen. 32, October
focus on the chosen target is called dhyäna or
2012, The Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 41.
meditation. During this process the thoughts
get further reduced and the mind moves 2. Understanding the Dorsal and Ventral Systems of
towards a completely calm state. How this the Human Cerebral Cortex : Beyond Dichotomies.
happens in a step by step fashion is explained Gre´goire Borst,William L. Thompson,
in (20) and (19).(click for preview)
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