Context: Practicing mental repetition of "OM" has been shown to cause significant changes in the middle latency auditory-evoked potentials, which suggests that it facilitates the neural activity at the mesencephalic or diencephalic levels. Aims: The aim of the study was to study the brainstem auditory-evoked potentials (BAEP) in two meditation states based on consciousness, viz. dharana, and dhyana. Materials and Methods: Thirty subjects were selected, with ages ranging from 20 to 55 years (M=29.1; ±SD=6.5 years) who had a minimum of 6 months experience in meditating "OM". Each subject was assessed in four sessions, i.e. two meditation and two control sessions. The two control sessions were: (i) ekagrata, i.e. single-topic lecture on meditation and (ii) cancalata, i.e. non-targeted thinking. The two meditation sessions were: (i) dharana, i.e. focusing on the symbol "OM" and (ii) dhyana, i.e. effortless single-thought state "OM". All four sessions were recorded on four different days and consisted of three states, i.e. pre, during and post. Results: The present results showed that the wave V peak latency significantly increased in cancalata, ekagrata and dharana, but no change occurred during the dhyana session. Conclusions: These results suggested that information transmission along the auditory pathway is delayed during cancalata, ekagrata and dharana, but there is no change during dhyana. It may be said that auditory information transmission was delayed at the inferior collicular level as the wave V corresponds to the tectum.

Context: In the aftermath of the Second Lebanon War, a project was initiated and designed to reduce tension in the children living in the area under bombardment. Aims: To assess the impact of yoga intervention in a group of Israeli school children residing in the region affected by the Second Lebanon War. Settings and Design: The study population included 122 school children aged 8-12 years in two elementary schools in Safed (n=55 and n=67, respectively) and their teachers (n=6). The children attended the third grade (n=28), fourth grade (n=42) and sixth grade (n=52). Inclusion in the study was based on the school principal's consent to participate in the program. Materials and Methods: Assessment was conducted using three questionnaires that have been previously validated in international studies and translated to Hebrew. Statistical Analysis Used: Statistical analysis of the results included Wilcoxon Signed Ranked Tests for pre- and post-intervention comparisons and the Kruskall-Wallis test for teacher and child cross-comparisons. Results: Based on the questionnaires completed by the children and their teachers, we found that the teachers reported many statistically significant improvements in the children's concentration, mood and ability to function under pressure, although the children themselves were unaware of any change in their behavior. Enjoyment was reported by all participants, and almost all expressed an interest in continuing to practice yoga during school hours. We conclude that participation in yoga classes may be both enjoyable and beneficial to children living in stressful conditions. Conclusions: The study indicates that yoga may be beneficial as an intervention for children in postwar stress situations.

Background/Aims: To assess the body, mind and spirit differences between yoga students compared with college students. Materials and Methods: Mind, body and spirit survey instruments administered to the two groups. Results: Five indicators to measure mental wellness were significantly different between yoga practitioners and college students. On three of these five measures, college students reported more mental wellness than yoga practitioners - in other words, the relationship was the inverse of what was expected. College students reported maintaining stability in their life more often than yoga practitioners as well as more often experiencing satisfying interpersonal relationships. College students were also more likely than yoga practitioners to report being tolerant of others, whether or not they approved of their behavior or beliefs. Yoga practitioners were more likely than college students to report having strong morals and healthy values as well as the ability to express their feelings and consider the feelings of others. We found differences between yoga practitioners and college students on more than half of our spirit items (five of nine). Yoga practitioners were more likely than college students to report expressing their spirituality appropriately and in healthy ways, recognizing the positive contribution faith could make to the quality of life (significant at the 0.07 level), routinely undertaking new experiences to enhance spiritual health and having a positive outlook on life. Further, we found support for the proposition that yoga practitioners were more likely to report experiencing happiness within. Conclusions: Significant differences between yoga and college students were found on the body, mind and spirit measurement instrument. Further work needs to address the complexities of these relationships.

Background: Organizational performance can be attributed to a number of factors. However, there are certain organizational factors, the presence or absence of which can determine the success or failure of the organization. There are different ways in which organizations try to improve their performance by working on such factors. In the research presented in this article, an attempt is made to find out whether adoption of the Yoga Way of Life by managers can have a positive impact on such organizational performance indicators. Aims: To measure effect of yoga way of life on five different indicators through an empirical study. Materials and Methods: The five indicators are job satisfaction, job involvement, goal orientation, affective organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. Statistics Analysis: Pre- and post-data was measured using self-reported questionnaire. Independent T-test (Paired) and Pearson's correlation test were conducted using SPSS. Results and Conclusion: The results of the study show that Yoga has a significant positive impact on four out of five of these indicators. Only job involvement does not show significant improvement. The construct used for measuring job involvement had a Chronbach alpha of 0.613, which is an indicator of moderate reliability, which could be the main reason for not getting positive result.

Aims: To investigate the effect of two yoga-based relaxation techniques, namely, cyclic meditation (CM) and supine rest (SR), using the six letter cancellation task (SLCT). Materials and Methods: The subjects consisted of 208 school students, (132 boys, 76 girls) in the age range of 13 - 16 years. The subjects were assessed on SLCT before and immediately after both yoga-based relaxation techniques. Results: After both practices, the total and net scores were significantly increased, although the magnitude of change was more after CM than after SR in the net scores (14.5 versus 11.31%). The net score change in the CM session was significantly larger than the change in the SR, whereas, there was no significant change in the wrong cancellation score. After either practice, the total and net scores were significantly increased, irrespective of gender and age. Conclusions: Both CM and SR led to improvement in performance, as assessed by SLCT, but the change caused by CM was larger than SR.