Context: Nada Yoga is a branch of yoga philosophy that means "union through sound." The practice involves the resonance of energy centers in the body through specific sound frequencies. These subtle effects of yogic sound resonance on the subtle energy systems of the body have not been assessed before.
Objective: To investigate the immediate effect of Nada Yoga meditation on the energy levels and alignment of the seven chakras in healthy volunteers.
Design: Randomized controlled crossover design.
Setting: Department of Integrative Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, India.
Participants: 15 healthy volunteers (5 males and 10 females) with a mean age of 28.40 ± 5.63 were randomized to one of the two groups: group A (n = 8) and group B (n = 7).
Intervention: On day 1, group A performed 45 minutes of Nada Yoga meditation (NYM) and group B performed 45 minutes of supine rest (SR). On day 2, the interventions were interchanged for the group.
Outcome measures: The assessment was done using the electro-photonic imaging (EPI) technique just before and immediately after each session on both days.
Results: There was a significant increase in muladhara chakra energy (P = .012), manipura chakra energy (P = .008), anahata chakra energy (P = .011), vishuddha chakra energy (P = .001), and index energy (average chakra energy) (P = .001) after a 45-minute Nada Yoga meditation session as compared to the supine rest session.