Shaolin dan tian breathing fosters relaxed and attentive mind: a randomized controlled neuro-electrophysiological study

Abstract

Neuro-electrophysiological studies on meditative breathing revealed its association with either a relaxed or an attentive state. The present study aimed to investigate whether the Shaolin Dan Tian Breathing (DTB) technique, which consists of the Passive and Active subtypes and can be considered as a relaxation exercise and Qigong, would induce both relaxed and attentive states. Twenty-two adults and 22 age-, gender- and education-matched controls received training on the Shaolin DTB (experimental group) and the progressive muscle relaxation respectively for one month. Eyes-closed resting EEG data before and immediately after each type of breathing were obtained individually at baseline and after one-month training. At baseline, the EEG changes after the Shaolin DTB between both groups were comparable. After one-month training, participants in the experimental, but not the control, group showed enhanced temporal alpha asymmetry (an index of relaxation and positive mood) after performing the Passive DTB for five minutes, and enhanced intra- and inter-hemispheric theta coherence (an index of attention and alertness) after performing the Active DTB. The present findings suggested a positive effect of the Shaolin DTB technique on enhancing human neural activity and connectivity, which may possibly enhance mood state and cognitive functions.

Figure 1

Schematic representation of the effect of Shaolin Dan Tian Breathing (DTB) on the states of the mind.

Figure 2

Comparison of the temporal alpha asymmetry between the experimental and control groups. Each bar represents the difference between baseline and posttraining values, where positive values indicate increased breathing-induced temporal alpha asymmetry and negative values indicate a reduction in asymmetry. *Paired sample t statistics with P < .05.

Figure 3

Topographic maps demonstrating the change indices of theta coherence at baseline and after one-month training for the experimental and control groups. Straight lines linking the electrode pairs signify significant breathing-induced coherence increments analyzed with paired t tests, P < .05.

Figure 4

Difference in (a) intra-hemispheric and (b) inter-hemispheric theta coherence change indices at baseline and after one-month training for the experimental and control groups. Positive values indicate increased breathing-induced theta coherence changes after one-month training; negative values indicate a reduction in theta coherence. Paired sample t-tests with *P ≤ .05; **P < .01.