Neuroscience and the ‘Sanskrit Effect’

Science Proves the Power of Chanting

Many of us have heard the Gyuto Monks of Tibet. With their extraordinary chanting and low throaty drone of ancient sacred texts, they have kept audiences in the West spellbound with their long, careful and accurate recitations of potent Tibetan Buddhist texts. Sitting in their presence you feel a clarity, and a potent spiritual transference of energy and healing. The Buddhist tradition stems from India and the sacred language of Sanskrit. While Tibetan Buddhists have a rich chanting tradition, in India, this age-old tradition goes back even further.

Sanskrit scholars in India learn to chant ancient texts from a tender age. They chant simple mantras, Sanskrit poetry and prose, along with memorising and chanting the most ancient Sanskrit texts, including the Shukla Yajurveda, which takes six hours to chant. While those listening to these chantings receive the gift of the sacred texts they are sharing with us, the chanting of long texts does, in fact, have an amazing effect on the brain.

Neuroscience shows how rigorous memorising can help the brain. The term the ‘Sanskrit Effect’ was coined by neuroscientist James Hartzell, who studied 21 professionally qualified Sanskrit pandits( scholars). He discovered that memorising Vedic mantras increases the size of brain regions associated with cognitive function, including short and long-term memory. This finding corroborates the beliefs of the Indian tradition which holds that memorising and reciting mantras enhances memory and thinking.

An Unexpected Discovery…
Dr Hartzell, a Sanskrit devotee and postdoctoral researcher, spent many years studying and translating Sanskrit and became fascinated by its impact on the brain.

I noticed that the more Sanskrit I studied and translated, the better my verbal memory seemed to become. Fellow students and teachers often remarked on my ability to exactly repeat lecturers’ own sentences when asking them questions in class. Other translators of Sanskrit told me of similar cognitive shifts.

India’s Vedic Sanskrit pandits train for years to orally memorise and exactly recite 3,000-year old oral texts ranging from 40,000 to over 100,000 words. We wanted to find out how such intense verbal memory training affects the physical structure of their brains.

Dr Hartzell’s research is the first study to examine the brains of Sanskrit scholars. Using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at India’s National Brain Research Centre, they scanned the brains of 21 Sanskrit pandits and 21 control subjects. 

What we discovered from the structural MRI scanning was remarkable. Numerous regions in the brains of the pandits were dramatically larger than those of controls, with over 10 percent more grey matter across both cerebral hemispheres, and substantial increases in cortical thickness. Although the exact cellular underpinnings of grey matter and cortical thickness measures are still under investigation, increases in these metrics consistently correlate with enhanced cognitive function.

He reports that the right hippocampus of the scholars, a region that plays a vital role in short and long-term memory, and is specialised for patterns, such as sound, spatial and visual patterns, had more grey matter than the brains of the control subjects. The right temporal cortex, associated with speech prosody and voice identity, was also substantially thicker.

Past Studies
Dr Hartzell is not sure whether the effect relates particularly to the Sanskrit language and plans to conduct further research. The power of sound and chanting is becoming widely documented, and even short chants have an energising and healing effect on the body and mind of those who are chanting sacred mantras or verses. Interestingly, fifty years ago, a French scientist noted that Christian monks who chanted the Gregorian Chants have exceptional memories.

In 1967, Alfred Tomatis, a French physician, psychologist and ear specialist, studied the effect of chanting on Benedictine monks who had been part of a tradition with a strict schedule of daily chanting of up to eight hours a day. When a new abbott changed this schedule, cutting out the chanting, the monks became tired and lethargic, even though they were getting extra sleep. In fact, the more sleep they got, the more tired they were. Alfred Tomatis believed that the chanting was energising their brains and bodies, so he reintroduced the chanting and the monks were soon full of energy again.

Dr Hartzell’s recent study raises the question whether this kind of memorisation of ancient texts could be helpful in reducing the devastating illness of Alzheimer’s and other memory affecting diseases. Apparently, Ayurvedic doctors from India suggest it is the case and future studies will be conducted, along with more research into Sanskrit.

While we all know the benefits of mindfulness and meditation practices, the findings of Dr Hartzell are truly dramatic. In a world of shrinking attention spans, where we are flooded with information daily, and children display a range of attention deficit disorders, ancient Indian wisdom has much to teach the West. Even introducing small amounts of chanting and recitation could have an amazing effect on all of our brains.

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Simple moves, soothing chants

Yoga therapy, through asanas and chanting, helps children with special needs cope with physical and behavioural problems.

Yoga is known to alleviate worry, aggressiveness and depression that we all experience. But could it help ease these problems among intellectually or physically challenged children? And how do you get an intellectually challenged child to listen and respond to instructions and execute an asana? The answer lies in simplified yoga therapy where such children learn elementary movements, and are gradually introduced to a routine that improves body coordination and psychological wellness.

Depression, worry and behavioural problems can inhibit special children from attending school or responding to discipline. “Inducing behavioural change in them is crucial, because even just going to school is a therapy for them. Yoga can help achieve this behavioural change. However, we cannot rely on yoga therapy alone. It is useful as an added treatment. The parents have to find out what works best for their child.

Integrated approach

“An integrated approach helps,” says Dr. V. Murugan, senior consultant paediatric neurologist, adding, “While we don’t have a scientific study on the impact of yoga therapy on intellectually challenged kids, we already know it brings about a definite improvement in conditions such as depression, anxiety, behaviour and chronic pain that trouble kids with autism or ADHD.”

Special children tend to have less body perception and self-awareness. Getting them to do simple asanas goes a long way towards improving body perception, especially as they get to flex various parts of their body consciously during a yoga session. “With the help of yoga, the children hold their bodies in a particular position for a longer period, which gives time for their brain to register information,” explains Mythili Chari, autism expert and education specialist.

Toilet training can be achieved by insisting that children practise yoga only if they have emptied their bowels before a session. Children will comply, because they enjoy trying out asanas. Incidentally, a study conducted by Mythili at Delhi’s Tamana School of Hope for Exceptional Children (through drawings by the kids of themselves before and after a yoga session), found that children showed improved self-awareness and body-perception after a yoga session.

To begin with, special children are helped to do asanas with the parent or therapist moving the child’s body parts according to the instructions. “Later they begin to do the exercises on their own. Using pictorial charts helps too,” she adds. “I have found that yoga calms hyperactive kids; they become less aggressive,” says Mythili.

Manifold benefits

“Yoga improves posture, balance, flexibility of the spine, arms and legs, and mind-body co-ordination. Sounds are also used to stimulate the children’s interest so they can let out their pent-up emotions. Thus, there is release of physical tension,” says Geetha Srikanth, director, We CAN, yoga therapist and special educator at APL Global School. In addition, chanting may be used as a therapy.

Positive effects of chanting

“Some of these children are aggressive and can’t be asked to do breathing exercises. Chanting helps here as it establishes continuity. It calms their mind, their attention span and focus improves. Chanting improves breathing too, which in turn improves their mental state,” says Geetha, who has used yoga therapy on children with autism, who are non-verbal and can’t communicate or even maintain eye contact. “They can’t be asked to imitate postures. We hold their hands and help them as they learn different postures, modifying the exercises according to the child’s need and ability,” she explains.

Incidentally, challenged children need yoga more than others because they don’t have the luxury of participating in sports or any such physical activity. Finally, parents should remember that results can’t be achieved overnight. It takes time and parental support, but the rewards are well worth the effort. Parents should also insist that special kids are taught only by a trained yoga therapist.

THE PLUSES

* Children with intellectual or physical challenges can be taught to do simplified yoga.

* Special children need to be taught by a trained yoga therapist.

* Yoga improves body-perception, self-awareness, focus, impulse control and pain management.

* It reduces stress, worry, depression, aggression, and hyperactivity.

* It improves interpersonal skills like listening skills.

* The stretches help relieve physical stress.

* It improves circulation, breathing, posture, balance, flexibility of the spine, arms and legs, and mind-body co-ordination.

THE PLUSES

* Children with intellectual or physical challenges can be taught to do simplified yoga.

* Special children need to be taught by a trained yoga therapist.

* Yoga improves body-perception, self-awareness, focus, impulse control and pain management.

* It reduces stress, worry, depression, aggression, and hyperactivity.

* It improves interpersonal skills like listening skills.

* The stretches help relieve physical stress.

* It improves circulation, breathing, posture, balance, flexibility of the spine, arms and legs, and mind-body co-ordination.

ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.

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