KY and OCD

[Guest guest]

Greetings all,

 

I know that there was a study done in California a while back examining KY

in the treatment of OCD, where it was shown that KY was effective. I've been

trying to track down the exact exercises and pranayama used in that study,

but so far haven't found anything but vague allusions to long breathing in

and out of the left nostril. Does anyone have any idea what these exercises

were or possibly could be?

 

Blessings,

Eric

[Guest guest]

Hi Eric,

For info on Ky and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) go to

http://holisticonline.com/Remedies/Anxiety/anx_OCD-alternative-therapies.htmThe

below text is from that site.

 

"Yoga can be very effective in treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. Use yoga

postures along with breathing techniques.

 

Khalsa and co-workers from the University of California, San Diego had been

studying the effectiveness of Kundalini yoga on treating OCD. They

have used Kundalini yoga system taught by Yogi Bhajan.

 

The yoga included eight primary techniques (including a yogic breathing

technique for treating OCD) and three non mandatory techniques. The

specific yogic technique for treating OCD required blocking the right nostril (a

thumb tip or secure plug can be used), with slow deep inspiration

through the left nostril, breath retention, and slow complete expiration through

the left nostril, followed by a long breath-holding out period.

This pattern is continued for a maximum of 31 minutes. The patient is instructed

to make every effort to maximize the four phases of the breath

cycle until the complete breath cycle equals 1 minute, with the four respective

phases each lasting

15 seconds, thus perfecting the technique. It required approximately 1 hour to

complete. The patients were asked to do it for 1 hour daily.

 

This yoga system was claimed to be developed specifically for OCD. It is one of

many meditation techniques in the Kundalini Yoga system taught by

Yogi Bhajan that are claimed to be useful for treating specific psychiatric

disorders. Some of the other techniques in this protocol are also

claimed to be useful for treating anxiety disorders, as well as anger and fear.

 

Yogis have long claimed that specific breathing techniques can be used to

influence a specific part of the brain. Breathing through the left

nostril is suggested to stimulate the right hemisphere of the brain. And yogis

suggested that right hemisphere controls various psychiatric

functions.

 

Modern studies evaluating subjects on the basis of electroencephalography,

magnetoencephalography (MEG), cognitive performance, and mood all

demonstrated that left-nostril breathing techniques selectively stimulate the

right hemisphere of the brain. Other studies identified right-

hemispheric abnormalities with OCD, suggesting that the efficacy of this yogic

technique may be due to a related effect and as claimed by the

ancient yogis! Other researchers (based on clinical evaluation using MEG) have

suggested that a strong effect on the frontal and prefrontal right

hemisphere may help to compensate for the OCD related defect.

 

In a 1996 article published in the International Journal of Neuroscience, Khalsa

and co-workers from the University of California, San Diego

described results from clinical trials they have conducted to determine the

efficacy of yogic techniques in the treatment of obsessive compulsive

disorder. A small uncontrolled trial was employed to demonstrate that kundalini

yoga techniques are successful in improving OCD symptoms. Five of

eight patients completed a 12-month investigation, showing a mean improvement of

54% in their OCD. In these five participants, OCD was previously

stabilized with fluoxetine for more than 3 months prior to the start of the

study. Of the five, three were completely free of medication for at

least 5 months prior to study end, and the need for medication in the remaining

two was significantly reduced. One year later, four of the five

patients had remained off medication for periods ranging between 9 and 19

months, with lasting improvement.

 

Encouraged with the results, Khalsa and coworkers devised a clinical trial to

verify the results. The results were reported in an article

published in the December 1999 issue of CNS Spectrums. They have compared the

efficacy of two meditation protocols for treating patients with OCD.

Patients were randomized to two groups-matched for sex, age, and medication

status-and blinded to the comparison protocol. The study was conducted

at Children's Hospital, San Diego, California. Group

1 included 11 adults and 1 adolescent. They performed a kundalini yoga

meditation protocol. Group

2 included 10 adults and they used the Relaxation Response plus Mindfulness

Meditation technique. Seven adults in each group completed 3 months of

therapy. At 3 months, Group 1 demonstrated greater improvements in OCD. They had

significantly improved on all six scales used by the

investigators. Group 2 had no improvements. Both groups performed Kundalini yoga

for an additional year. At 15 months, the combined group improved

from 71% to 23% depending on the scale used to measure the OCD. The researchers

concluded that kundalini yoga techniques are effective in the

treatment of OCD."

 

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Eric Stiens wrote:

 

> Greetings all,

>

> I know that there was a study done in California a while back examining KY

> in the treatment of OCD, where it was shown that KY was effective. I've been

> trying to track down the exact exercises and pranayama used in that study,

> but so far haven't found anything but vague allusions to long breathing in

> and out of the left nostril. Does anyone have any idea what these exercises

> were or possibly could be?

>

> Blessings,

> Eric