Assessment of Chanting Effects Using EEG Signals
Kritiprasanna Das Pankaj Verma
Department of Department of
Electrical Engineering, Electrical Engineering,
IIT Indore, Indore, IIT Indore, Indore,
India, 453552. India, 453552.
Email: phd1901102016@iiti.ac.in Email: pskota89@gmail.com
Abstract—Meditation is practiced since the old days and its
popularity is growing in recent years to get better mental as
well as physical health in a natural way. A rapidly increasing
number of studies are involved in finding the biological mech-
anism underlying the beneficial impacts of meditation. Surface
electroencephalogram (EEG) is a non-invasive way to record the
electrical activity of the brain which carries important signature
about the different neural processing, going on inside the brain.
EEG signals show oscillations at different frequency bands
known as EEG rhythms which are associated with divergent
neurophysiological states. In this paper, we have analyzed the
effect of chanting ’Hare Krishna Mantra’ (HKM) on EEG
rhythms. Relative band power of different rhythms, after and
before one round (108 times) chanting HKM, are compared. A
non-stationary signal decomposition tool, Fourier-Bessel series
expansion is used to calculate the band power. After mediation,
alpha band power has increased significantly which implies the
relaxed and peaceful state of mind. This study on HKM chanting
effects on EEG rhythms may show a simple but effective path
to control stress, depression, tension, etc.
Index Terms—EEG, Fourier-Bessel series expansion, ’Hare
Krishna Mantra’, Meditation.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Tremendous development in the filed of technology, medical
science has increased the life expectancy more than 10 years
around the world [1]. Life style has changed dramatically in
past few decades which presents major challenges as byprod-
uct: increased risk of mental illness like anxiety, depression,
sleep related problems, tension, headaches, etc. Several studies
have reported a gradual decrease in both the volume and
weight of human brain from mid-twenties [2], [3]. Structural
deterioration may be a major cause of functional impairments.
In the recent years, the incidences of dementia and other
cognitive decline have markedly increased with an aging
population. A lot of researches have focused to identify the risk
factors but very less attempts are found in literature to promote
positive approaches aimed at improving cerebral health.
Meditation may be a promising candidate for such positive
approaches. There are ample evidences and claims for its
beneficial effects on both the mental and physical health.
Effects in cognitive health are including memory, attention,
verbal fluency, processing speed, executing function, conflict
monitoring, overall cognitive flexibility, and even creativity
[4], [5], [6]. Meditation may be helpful to manage symptoms
Ram Bilas Pachori
Department of
Electrical Engineering,
IIT Indore, Indore,
India, 453552.
Email: pachori@iiti.ac.in
like asthma, cancer, chronic pain, heart diseases, high blood
pressure, irritable bowl syndrome etc. [7].
Nevertheless, studies exploring the effects of meditation on
human brain are still sparse though the concept is several
thousands years old. Under the umbrella term - ’meditation’,
many different ways are exist. Few of them are guided medita-
tion, mantra meditation [8], [9], Kritan Kriya [4], mindfulness
meditation, Qi gang, Tai chi, yoga [7], Quran recitation [10]
etc. Lazar et al. [11] showed significant difference in cortical
thickness in right insula and right frontal cortex of meditator
and control subjects. Studies, conducted by Pagnoni et al.
[12], and Luders et al. [13] focused on whole brain and white
matter connectivity, respectively. Harne et al. [8] perform an
experiment to study the effect of ’Om’ mantra meditation
on EEG signals. Another study on ’Om’ mantra meditation
performed by Anand [9] reported significant increase in alpha
EEG activity which is an indication of psychphysiological
relaxation and decrease in stress level. Khalsa [14] published
the beneficial effects of Kirtan Kriya for reduction of neu-
rodegenration, anxiety, Alzheimer’s disease, improve sleep,
decrease depression as well as improve insulin and glucose
recovery genes etc.
Another well known technique of mantra meditation in
which ’Hare Krishna Mantra’ (HKM) is chanted loudly. HKM
consists of the following words: ”Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama
Rama Hare Hare”. A large population from many countries
including India, Bangladesh, USA, Canada etc. from all over
the world have been practicing HKM meditation from old
days.
Most of the studies based on EEG signals used Fourier
transform for spectral band power computation [8], [9]. Any
biological signal is nonlinear and nonstationary in nature,
so Fourier analysis is not well suitable for these kind of
signals. Fourier-Bessel series expansion (FBSE) is useful for
nonstationary signal analysis and several studies showed the
effectiveness [15]. We have analyzed the band power in
different EEG bands based on FBSE.
The main purpose of the paper is to study the effects of
chanting HKM. We have conducted a pilot study to find the
effects of HKM meditation on oscillatory behavior of EEG
signals.
 (a) (b)

(c) (d)
Fig. 1: (a). Electrode montage corresponding to 10-20 international standard for EEG electrode placement, (b). Organization
during recording of EEG, (c) Organization during chanting of HKM, and (d) Japamala.

II. E XPERIMENTAL SETUP rate of 1 kHz. During signal acquisition a high-pass filter with
cut-off frequencies at 0.1 Hz and a notch filter with 50 dB re-
In this study, a database of EEG signal from 37 subjects
duction at 50 Hz were employed to eliminate trend and power-
were recorded before and after chanting of HKM for 108
line-interface. Amplifier gain was set to 20,000. The sampling
times, to study the effects on EEG signals.
frequency is reduced to 250 Hz by downsampling operation.
EEG signals before chanting were recorded for the duration
Signal corresponding to initial 60 s are used for further study.
of 90 s while the subjects were asked to relax, close eyes,
A total of 37 subjects (17 males and 20 females, age group 18-
and lie down in supine position as shown in Fig. 1b. Then
40 years) among students, staff, and faculty members with no
subjects were instructed to chant HKM for 108 times loudly
history of neurological disorder were voluntarily participated
while sitting with erect spine as shown in Fig. 1c. A special
in the experiment. EEG signal were acquired using 10 different
’Japamala’ with beats were used as counter and is shown in
bipolar channels. Ag/AgCl electrodes were placed according
Fig. 1d. After successfully completion of chanting, again EEG
to 10-20 international standard for EEG electrode position,
signals were recorded in similar way as previously mentioned
shown in Fig. 1a. The bipolar EEG montage were formed as
in supine position.
follows: Ch01 (Fp1-Fp2), Ch02 (F3-F4), Ch03 (C3-C4), Ch04
A researcher explains the whole experimental procedure to
(P3-P4), Ch05 (O1-O2), Ch06 (F7-F8), Ch07 (T3-T4), Ch08
all the subjects and a consent form was signed from all of
(T5-T6), Ch09 (FpZ-Cz), Ch10 (Fz-Pz), and electrodes A1
the participants before the experiment starts. Human ethics
and A2 are combinedly used as ground (gnd) electrode. Both
committee of Indian Institute of Technology Indore, India have
the transverse and longitudinal montage arrangements were
reviewed and approved the study protocol.
randomly selected for different channels.
EEG data were recorded using Biopac MP150 (data acqui-
sition system) and EEG 100C (EEG amplifier) at a sampling
 (a) (b)
Fig. 2: EEG signals (a) before, and (b) after chanting of HKM.

III. M ETHODOLOGY B. EEG Rhythms Separation

Most of the natural signals are non-stationary in nature, this EEG signal generally lies in the frequency range of 0.1-100
is true for EEG signal also. Fourier Bessel series expansion Hz and can be further classified into five different rhythms
(FBSE) [16] is advantageous for non-stationary signal analysis depending on the frequency content [19], [18]. Different fre-
because Bessel functions, which are its basis, have non- quency bands corresponding to different EEG rhythms can be
stationary property. separated by choosing appropriate Fourier-Bessel coefficients.
Based on selected coefficients corresponding to different EEG
A. Fourier-Bessel Series Expansion (FBSE)
rhythms (delta (δ: 0.5-4 Hz), theta (θ: 4-8 Hz), alpha (α: 8-13
The zero-order FBSE of signal x(n) is defined as follows Hz), beta (β: 13-30 Hz), and gamma (γ: 30-100 Hz)). Eq. 1
[17], [18]: can be rewritten as follows [18]:
U  
X βi n δB   X θB   X αB  
x(n) = Ci J0 (1) X βi n βi n βi n
U x(n) = Ci + Ci + Ci
i=1 U U i=αA
U
i=δA i=θA
where, Ci is computed as, βB   X γB  
X βi n βi n
U −1   + Ci + Ci (5)
2 X βi n U U
Ci = 2 nx(n)J0 (2) i=βA i=γ A
U 2 (J1 (βi )) n=0
U
where, [δA , δB ], [θA , θB ], [αA , αB ], [βA , βB ],[γA , γB ], are in
where, J0 (·) and J1 (·) denote zero and first order Bessel
the order range of frequency bands corresponding to δ, θ, α,
functions, respectively. βi with i = 1,2,...,U are the positive
β, γ rhythms, respectively. These order range for particular
roots of the zero-order Bessel function (J0 (β) = 0) arranged
rhythm are computed using Eq. 4. The rest of the FBSE
in ascending order. It can be noted that, order i of the Fourier
coefficients, lies outside the order range, are replaced with zero
Bessel series coefficients is related to the continuous time
in order to get the time-domain representation of rhythms.
frequencies fi (Hz) by the following equation:
Relative band powers of the EEG rhythms are calculated
2πfi U for studying the alternation in band power due to meditation.
βi ≈ , where βi ≈ βi−1 + π ≈ iπ (3)
fs Following equation is used to compute the relative band-power
where fs is the sampling frequency. The above equation can of the rhythms [20]:
be expressed as. 1
PN
2fi U N n=1 |xR (n)|2
i= (4) PR = (6)
fs P
Hence, it can be noticed that, in order to cover the entire where, PR is relative band power of rhythms xR (n), R ∈
frequency range or bandwidth, i should be varied from 1 to [δ, θ, α, β, γ], P is the total power of the EEG signals x(n),
U (sample length of the signal). and N is the length of the signal.
Fig. 3: (a) EEG rhythms separated using FBSE, and (b) Magnitude of the FBSE coefficients corresponding to different EEG
rhythms.
Fig. 4: Relative power in different EEG rhythms after and
before chanting HKM.
IV. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSIONS
In this present study, the bandpower of different EEG
rhythms was studied in order to find the effect of HKM
chanting. A total 37 naive meditators were participated in this
experiment.
The EEG signals after and before HKM chanting are shown
in Fig. 2. Different rhythms, separated using FBSE and their
corresponding FBSE coefficients’ magnitude for signal from
Ch03, shown in Fig. 2a, are shown in Fig. 3. Mean relative
power, averaged over all ten channels and 37 subjects, are
shown in Fig. 4. The alpha band power clearly shows a
tendency to increase which may be a manifestation of relax,
calm, and peaceful state of mind [21]. Beta band powers are
slightly decreased after meditation.
A previous study conducted by Surangsrirat et al. [21] also
reported an increase in alpha band power activity during med-
itation. They performed the analysis on EEG signal collected
from two experienced Buddhist monk practicing meditation
for at least 10 years. Our study has shown similar results
which implies that from the day of starting meditation, a
naive meditator also can experience the beneficial effects.
Long-term persistence practice may intensify the benefits from
meditation.
We have analyzed the relative power changes of the EEG
rhythms based on the average over all channels in the current
work which can be further extended to analyses the band
power changes for individual channel. In future, more detail
study using different EEG montages can be carried. The effects
of mantra meditation are studied for single time chanting
on naive subjects. The long-term effects of chanting will be
done in future studies. It would be of interest to consider
more general experimental framework which includes effect
of sitting with straight back with and without HKM chanting
activity, also repeating any other phrase which is not part of
HKM.
V. C ONCLUSION
The effects of HKM chanting on EEG signal appears to be
in favor of human brain. EEG oscillatory changes including the
increase in the alpha band power and decrease in the beta band
power are probable indication of reduced stress, anxiety and
elicit the relaxing and calm state of mind. This presents a basic
study for improving mental health through HKM meditation.
Th present study try to reveal the effect of 108 time (one
round) of HKM chanting on EEG signal. Further studies need
to carried out to find the long-term meditation effects not only
on EEG signal but also other biomedical signal like elec-
trocardiogram, respiratory rate, heart rate, body temperature
etc. This is a novel direction for scientific research and may
significantly improve the quality of human life.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank all the participants for
voluntarily taking part in the experiment.
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