Decoding Om: The Engineering of Meditation and the Science of Inner Peace
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As an Associate Professor of Biomedical Signal Processing with interest in exploring the interface between engineering and the study of human consciousness, I have recently published an article in Q3 journal titled “Bridging Science and Spirituality: Investigating the Effects of ‘OM’ Chanting on Brain Waves.” The need for this research was simple to answer a question “Can a traditional spiritual practice of OM chanting have any effect on brain waves? And can we quantify it using modern biomedical signal processing techniques? The ‘OM’ Sound, considered as the primordial sound of creation, originates from the ancient Vedic scriptures of India, first appeared in the Rigveda and was explored in the Upanishads around 1000 BCE. More than a spiritual practice; it is a physiological process that involves controlled breathing, vocalization, vibration, and focus
Our study was conducted in the Electronics & Telecommunications (E&TC) Department of Marathawada Mitra Mandals College of Engineering, one of the best engineering colleges in Pune. For our study the EEG activity was recorded in healthy adult subjects under three conditions: pre-chanting, active OM chanting, and post-chanting. The study used a standard 24-channel EEG machine. Acquiring the signals due to vocalization caused artifacts such as muscle activity and jaw movement, the preprocessing was necessary
The signal pre-processing consisted of band-pass filtering, removal of power-line noise (50Hz), band pass filtering to remove ocular and muscular artifacts. Due to the non-stationary characteristics of EEG signals, both Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and wavelet-based time-frequency analysis were used to derive spectral features within the traditional frequency bands of delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma waves.
The findings showed a significant increase in alpha band power (8-13 Hz) during ‘OM’ chanting, particularly in the frontal and central parts of the brain. This is typically linked to relaxation, decreased cortical hyperactivity, and internalized attention, which are often found in meditation studies. Moreover, changes in theta band power were also found, which indicated the involvement of emotional and limbic-cortical networks. These findings provide evidence for the hypothesis that ‘OM’ chanting induces systematic neurophysiological changes rather than being a mere passive vocal practice.
This study shows that spiritual practices can be investigated using scientific paradigms without losing their subjective richness. This study provides new possibilities for the combination of EEG analysis and artificial intelligence, connectivity analysis, and multi-modal physiological signal recording, such as ECG and breathing.
In the end, this study confirms a crucial viewpoint: Science and Spirituality are not mutually exclusive but complementary methods for exploring Human Consciousness.
Dr Archana Bajirao Kanwade
Associate Dean ISO
Secretary, IEEE SPS Society, Pune Section
Associate Professor, E&TC Engineering.
Marathawada Mitra Mandal’s College of Engineering,
Karve Nagar, Pune 411052,