Tale of Self Discovery Part 7

Alpha Feedback Training May Be Closer To Zen Than To Yoga

Part 7 - continued from part 6
[Published in Megabrain Reports, May, 1994, edited for the web]
James V. Hardt, Ph.D.
The Biocybernaut Institute

Any comparison of Alpha feedback training to meditation results, must take note of the differences between Zen and Yoga meditation. Yoga meditation has long been known to increase Alpha activity (Wenger & Bagchi, 1961; Anand, Chhina, & Singh, 1961). The same is true of Zen meditation (Kasamatsu & Hirai, 1966; Hardt, Timmons, Yeager, & Kamiya, 1976).

In the Zen studies, beginners showed increases of Alpha activity, primarily at the back of the head. Intermediate meditators showed the beginners' changes plus increases of slow Alpha and a forward spreading of Alpha from the Alpha origin at the back of the head. Advanced meditators showed the patterns of beginners and intermediate meditators but also showed a third pattern, which appeared in the deepest portion of their meditations: the emergence of rhythmic Theta waves, unlike the Theta of drowsiness. These rhythmic Theta waves alternated with slowed down Alpha waves. It was as though the slow Alpha had slowed in frequency sufficiently be considered Theta activity (which is 4-7 Hz), because the rhythmic Theta waves had the morphology of Alpha waves: they occurred in spindles of successive waves and waxed and waned in amplitude just like the spindles or wave packets of Alpha waves. These are referred to as mystical Theta in the Biocybernaut Process training sessions to distinguish them from the wicket-shaped Theta waves of drowsiness.

One important insight into differences between Zen and Yoga meditation is what happens to the Alpha waves in the brain of the meditator when you disturb the meditator. In a non meditator with Alpha present, a disturbance causes the Alpha to "block" or to disappear. After a short while the Alpha comes back. If you make the same disturbance (say a click sound) again and again, eventually the Alpha of the non-meditator does not block any more. It has habituated to that particular disturbance.

There are substantial differences between Zen and Yoga in the Alpha blocking response to stimulation, which have been known for a long time (Anand, et al. 1961, and Kasamatsu & Hirai 1966). These EEG differences (no blocking in Yogic Samadhi, and continued blocking without habituation in zazen) suggest comparisons with differences in Zen and Yoga philosophies. Yoga philosophy is more likely to deny or devalue external reality in favor of the "real" or superior reality within. When absorbed in the Samadhi of Yoga meditation, external stimulation was ineffective in blocking Alpha. The external world had little or no effect on the Yogi's EEG. This is consistent with the beliefs of Yogic philosophy, in which the external world is held to be mere illusion, or maya in Sanskrit.

Zen philosophy, on the other hand, seeks to bridge the inner and outer worlds, neither denying nor asserting the reality of either the inner or outer worlds. Yoga meditation is done eyes closed in most traditions, and the mind is fully absorbed with inner events, to the exclusion of the outer world of the senses. On the other hand, Zen is typically done with the eyes half open, downcast, with soft focus (ie. blurred or defocused vision). This visual strategy could help Zen bridge the gulf between inner and outer worlds.

These are important clues in determining which of these two meditation traditions is more like Alpha feedback training. The Yogic absorption into inner experience would tend to ignore stimuli from the world of the senses, including even feedback sounds (and scores) which are used to signal or give feedback about presence of Alpha waves. On the other hand, the Zen acceptance of sensory input (even distractions), and their integration into a steady inner awareness, would seem more compatible with the sensory processing requirements of the Alpha feedback setting. Indeed, the requirement of the Alpha trainee to open his or her eyes for several seconds every 2 minutes to view the digital feedback scores may be more similar to and compatible with Zen than with Yoga practice. It would therefore seem more suitable to compare the Alpha feedback changes to those seen in Zen mediation.

When taken together, the studies of Kasamatsu and Hirai (1966) and Hardt, et al. (1976), show Four Significant Features of Zen EEG changes: [ 1 ] Control subjects show no Alpha increases, [ 2 ] Beginner Zen subjects show increased Alpha amplitude mainly at the back of the head (Occipitals), [ 3 ] Intermediate Zen subjects show increased Alpha amplitudes which spread forward on the head, and which slow in frequency, [ 4 ] Advanced Zen subjects show the above changes, but in addition also show rhythmic trains of Theta EEG, which are morphologically different from the individual wicket shaped Theta waves seen in drowsiness. The Theta wave criterion is a stringent one for Alpha feedback to meet, since only advanced Zen with 21-40 years of meditation practice showed these Theta waves.

To obtain an Alpha feedback group for comparison with the Zen meditators, the records of 17 Alpha feedback subjects were selected at random from my University data base of EEG Alpha feedback training. Selection criteria included right handedness and at least 7 days of Alpha feedback training. Both men and women were represented. All subjects were volunteers, who did not have any prior meditative practice, Zen, Yoga, or otherwise. Their group results are shown in the following figure, which shows all eight head sites and the eight EEG filters employed at each site.

All 8 head sites (O₁, O₂, C₃, C₄, T₃, T₄, F₃, F₄) showed significant [p<.05] increases of both broad band Alpha and slow Alpha. In addition, there were significant increases of both fast Theta and slow Theta at the two Frontal sites (F₃ & F₄), and the levels of significance of the Theta increases were all higher than p<.01, with the highest levels of significance (p<.0025) seen in the fast Theta, which is closer to the Alpha frequencies.

It is quite remarkable that all 8 head sites showed significant increases of both broad band Alpha and of slow Alpha activity. Remarkable for two reasons:

1. Only 4 of the 8 sites were feedback sites (O₁, O₂, C₃, C₄), so only half of the head sites provided feedback signals to the subjects, suggesting extensive generalization of the feedback increases of Alpha, and showing that the use of four channel feedback was preventing the development of localization-of-control to those head sites near the feedback sites. This is a predicted result of using multiple simultaneous feedback sites (Hardt, 1974, 1990).

2. In Zen meditation it took 6-20 years of practice to reach the stage of increases in slow Alpha and of the Alpha spreading forward toward the Frontals. Zen Beginners with 0-5 years of experience did not show either the slowing or anterior spreading Alpha activity.

Technology speeds things up, and EEG feedback may accelerate the processes of intense concentration, inner focus, and self control seen in Zen meditation. EEG feedback amplifies the subtle internal signals to make it easier to master the subtleties of one's own brain activity. Amplifying the tiny signals of the brain so that they can be easily perceived (seen, hear, or felt) makes it so much easier to learn the implications of our brain waves in every area of our lives.

There is yet one further consideration: the Frontal Theta increases. Only those advanced Zen meditators with 21-40 years of experience showed Theta activity in their meditation records (this Theta alternated with their slowed Alpha activity), and yet the 7 day Alpha feedback trainees showed this same result. The Alpha trainees had highly significant increases of both fast Theta and slow Theta activity at both the left and right Frontal sites (F₃ & F₄). It is especially interesting to see that Alpha feedback training, done according to the guidelines of the Biocybernaut Process produces also increases of Theta EEG activity, and that it does so in the patterns seen only among the most advanced Zen meditators, those with 21-40 years of practice.

Future Alpha and Theta feedback studies may well see benefits in design, execution, interpretation, and application from greater understanding of Zen philosophy, Zen practice, and the Zen progression of mind states from Beginner's mind, through kensho, culminating in satori.

There are many practical applications of such skillful control of one's mind. For example, Allman (1992) has shown how peak performance in sports is preceded by an increase in Alpha brain waves, especially in the left hemisphere. Learning to extend one's moments of peak performance (what athletes call staying in the "Zone") through properly designed programs of EEG feedback training is now a realistic goal of Alpha feedback training. Slightly more difficult, is the goal of learning how to enter the "Zone" whenever peak performance is required. Attainment of these goals promises the rewards of peak performance for athletics, business, science, education, the arts, and perhaps in every area of human endeavor where people are in search of excellence and are striving for mastery.

Self discovery continues - Part 8