title: Reaction time following yoga bellows-type breathing and breath awareness.
abstract: The reaction time (RT) was assessed in two groups of healthy males, yoga group (M age = 29.0 yr.) and non-yoga or control group (M age = 29.0 yr.), with 35 participants each. The yoga group had an average experience of 6 months, while the control group was yoga-naïve. The yoga group was assessed in two sessions, (i) bhastrika pranayama or bellows breathing and (ii) breath awareness, while the control group had a single control session. The two experimental sessions, one with each type of breathing, and the control session consisted of pre- (5 min.), during (18 min.), and post-session epochs (5 min.). Assessments were made in the pre- and post-session epochs using a Multi-Operational Apparatus for Reaction Time. Following 18 min. of bhastrika pranayama there was a statistically significant reduction in number of anticipatory responses compared to before the practice. This suggests that the immediate effect of bhastrika pranayama is to inhibit unnecessary responding to stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India. shirleytelles@gmail.com
authors.forename: Shirley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Telles
authors.affiliation: Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India.
authors.forename: Arti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.affiliation: Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India.
authors.forename: Ram Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India.
authors.forename: Acharya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balkrishna
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D003118:Color Perception; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012119:Respiration; D015013:Yoga / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult