Tantra or Yoga. Clinical Studies, Part 2: Tantra

Several clinical studies show how exercises in Vedic traditions, such as Yoga, or Theravada or Mahayana Buddhism, as well as tantric practices, have a significant psychobiological impact. This study seeks the neurophysiological correlate of practices called tantric and non-tantric meditations through a qualitative systematic review of the data collected. Tantric practices were shown to increase sympathetic activity, "phasic alertness," and performance in cognitive-visual tasks. They promote greater wakefulness, decreased propensity to sleep, increased cognitive activity, and metabolic changes contrasting with those resulting from non-tantric practices due to the relaxation induced by such practices. Tantric practices create calmness and mental clarity, with enough energy and excitement to function effectively in the environment, managing irritability, stress, fatigue, fear, and anxiety. The spiritual experience of "awakening" and "self-realization" has a neurofunctional and anatomical correlate of neuroplastic modifications that create new levels of sensitivity, perception, and self-perception.