Impact of Heartfulness Meditation on EEG Alpha Band Power across Different Meditation Experience Levels

Impact of Heartfulness Meditation on EEG Alpha Band Power across Different Meditation Experience Levels | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Impact of Heartfulness Meditation on EEG Alpha Band Power across Different Meditation Experience Levels Gyaneshwar Singh, Saleema J S, Krishna Dwevedi, Deepeshwar Singh This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6440427/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study investigated the influence of heartfulness meditation (HM) on the modulation of brain alpha power in individuals with varying levels of meditation experience. Among the 33 total participants, 12 were long-term meditators (LTMs), 11 were short-term meditators (STMs), and 10 were nonmeditators (control group, CG). Every participant experienced four experimental conditions: baseline, meditation, transmission, and post-resting. Using a 129-channel system, electroencephalographic (EEG) signals were recorded and preprocessed with a strong pipeline comprising bandpass filtering (8–12 Hz), notch filtering at 50 Hz, artifact correction via RANSAC and independent component analysis (ICA), and alpha power estimation via the Welch method. Topographic and region-specific studies revealed notable increase in alpha power in meditators; the LTM group showed the most consistent and broad improvement, especially in frontal, parietal, and temporal areas during transmission and post-meditation phases. Compared with the controls, both the LTM and STM groups presented greater alpha power during meditation and post-meditation states compared to controls; long-term practitioners presented stronger effects. These results imply that continuous HM practice increases alpha band activity linked to relaxation, attentional control, and emotional regulation. These findings support the possible use of heartfulness meditation as a nonpharmacological treatment to enhance cognitive and affective function. Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Social behaviour Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Heartfulness Meditation EEG Alpha Band Activity Mixed Effect Model Cognitive Regulation Brain Connectivity Meditation Experience Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6440427","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":452944419,"identity":"bcb06e09-d413-42cf-839c-3efc9c516c20","order_by":0,"name":"Gyaneshwar Singh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"CHRIST (Deemed To Be University)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gyaneshwar","middleName":"","lastName":"Singh","suffix":""},{"id":452944421,"identity":"36bf9e62-ccda-4304-8234-c4b088d121dd","order_by":1,"name":"Saleema J S","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"CHRIST (Deemed To Be University)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Saleema","middleName":"J","lastName":"S","suffix":""},{"id":452944422,"identity":"a0d120e3-cd00-4090-933c-05a0992f88e8","order_by":2,"name":"Krishna Dwevedi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"SVYASA University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Krishna","middleName":"","lastName":"Dwevedi","suffix":""},{"id":452944425,"identity":"15cd1103-d646-4b84-9023-2b48c7ea197e","order_by":3,"name":"Deepeshwar Singh","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Deepeshwar","middleName":"","lastName":"Singh","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-13 16:53:17","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6440427/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6440427/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":83572411,"identity":"54443439-1dec-4e22-8c3c-337dc11e117b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-28 17:23:39","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":908986,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript2.0.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6440427/v1_covered_45b533c2-e4dc-4215-ada1-fe365b4c2d05.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Impact of Heartfulness Meditation on EEG Alpha Band Power across Different Meditation Experience Levels","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Heartfulness Meditation, EEG Alpha Band Activity, Mixed Effect Model, Cognitive Regulation, Brain Connectivity, Meditation Experience","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6440427/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6440427/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study investigated the influence of heartfulness meditation (HM) on the modulation of brain alpha power in individuals with varying levels of meditation experience. Among the 33 total participants, 12 were long-term meditators (LTMs), 11 were short-term meditators (STMs), and 10 were nonmeditators (control group, CG). Every participant experienced four experimental conditions: baseline, meditation, transmission, and post-resting. Using a 129-channel system, electroencephalographic (EEG) signals were recorded and preprocessed with a strong pipeline comprising bandpass filtering (8\u0026ndash;12 Hz), notch filtering at 50 Hz, artifact correction via RANSAC and independent component analysis (ICA), and alpha power estimation via the Welch method. Topographic and region-specific studies revealed notable increase in alpha power in meditators; the LTM group showed the most consistent and broad improvement, especially in frontal, parietal, and temporal areas during transmission and post-meditation phases. 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