Sahaja Yoga catching on

The essence of Sahaja Yoga, described as mental silence, is much more than mere tranquillity, having several dimensions, including medically beneficial ones, Ramesh Manocha, senior lecturer of psychiatry at the University of Sydney Medical School, told IANS from Australia.

"We found that the health and well-being profile of people who had meditated for at least two years was significantly higher in the majority of health and well-being categories when compared to the (general) population," says Manocha.

Manocha was referring to his latest study on Sahaja Yoga, which focussed on meditation as mental silence, involving more than 348 people, conducted with colleagues Deborah Black and Leigh Wilson at the Sydney Medical School.

Fifty-two per cent of the volunteers experienced mental silence "several times per day or more" while 32 per cent were experiencing it "once or twice per day", according to Manocha, who is at the forefront of research into meditative disciplines.