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WORLD  Mantras, Rosary May Help The Heart FROM REUTERS USA, Dec 24 (VNN) — Mantras, Rosary May Help the Heart, Study Shows By Charnicia E. Huggins NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The rhythmic chanting used when saying the rosary prayer or performing a yoga mantra seems to have a calming effect on the heart, study findings suggest. ''The rosary might be viewed as a health practice as well as a religious practice,'' according to study lead author Dr. Luciano Bernardi, of the University of Pavia in Italy and his colleagues.
When the participants breathed spontaneously, their respiratory rate was about 14 breaths per minute, which slowed down to almost 8 breaths per minute when they engaged in regular conversation, the investigators report in the December 22-29th issue of the British Medical Journal. During recitation of the Ave Maria or the yoga mantra, however, their respiratory rate was about 6 breaths per minute. A slow respiration rate of 6 breaths per minute ''has generally favourable effects on cardiovascular and respiratory function,'' the researchers note. Furthermore, breathing rate was irregularly reduced during free talking, but was significantly more regular during recitation of the Ave Maria and the yoga mantra, similar to during the 6 minutes of controlled respiration, Bernardi's team reports. This indicates ''that these methods could stabilize the respiratory rate as effectively as precisely timed control,'' the authors write. What's more, recitation of both the Ave Maria and the yoga mantra similarly synchronized all the heart rhythms, the investigators found. The similar effects produced by the two seemingly different cultural practices may not be merely coincidental. In fact, Bernardi and colleagues suggest, the two practices may have similar origins. It is known that the rosary is related to the Christian religion, but it was actually introduced by the crusaders ''who learnt a similar technique from the Arabs who in turn learned it from the Indian and Tibetan masters of yoga,'' Bernardi told Reuters Health. ''So it may be that recitation of Mantras, which originally was conceived as a health practice, and the Rosary, which is essentially a religious practice in Europe, could have the same background,'' he explained. SOURCE: British Medical Journal 2001.  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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