Meditation and Epilepsy

The R. Madhavan Nayar Center for Comprehensive Epilepsy Care at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in Kerala, India, assessed the efficacy of a yoga meditation protocol (YMP) as an adjunctive treatment in patients with drug-resistant chronic epilepsy. The yoga intervention consisted of a YMP 20 minutes twice daily (mornings and evenings) at home, and supervised sessions of a YMP every week for 3 months. Continuation of the YMP beyond 3 months was optional.

The non-randomized, open-label, add-on trial with 20 patients suffering from epilepsy with at least 4 CPS (14 males and six females, ages 15-47) began with a 12-week period to get baseline measures, followed by a 12-week supervised YMP phase. The frequency of complex partial seizures (CPS) was assessed at 3, 6, and 12 months during the treatment period.

Subjects with 50% or more reduction in the monthly seizure rate from baseline were classified as responders, and subjects with less than 50% seizure reduction were categorized as nonresponders.

At 3 months, a reduction in seizure frequency was noted in all except 1 patient, six of whom had 50% or greater seizure reduction. Of 16 patients who continued the YMP beyond 3 months, 14 patients responded at 6 months; 6 of them were seizure-free for 3 months. All eight patients who continued the YMP beyond 6 months responded; three of them were seizure-free for 6 months.

The study concludes that, if confirmed through randomized trials involving a larger number of patients, this YMP intervention may become a cost-effective adjunctive treatment, with no adverse effects, in patients with drug-resistant epilepsies.

Citation: Rajesh B, Jayachandran D, Mohandas G, Radhakrishnan K. A pilot study of a yoga meditation protocol for patients with medically refractory epilepsy. J Altern Complement Med. 2006 May;12 (4): pages 367-71.