Effects of QiGong on brain function

QiGong is an ancient and widely practiced Chinese meditation exercise. We s tudied the effects of QiGong on brain function with modern neuromonitoring tools in two subjects. In a male QiGong master (extremely trained practitio ner), the technique induced reproducible changes in transcranial Doppler so nography, EEG, stimulus-induced 40 Hz oscillations, and near-infrared spect roscopy findings. Similar effects were seen after the application of multim odal stimuli and when the master concentrated on intense imagined stimuli ( e.g. 22.2% increase in mean blood flow velocity (v(m)) in the posterior cer ebral artery, and a simultaneous 23.1% decrease of v(m) in the middle cereb ral artery). Similar effects were seen in the female subject. Neuromonitori ng during QiGong appears able to objectify accompanied cerebral modulations surrounding this old Chinese meditation exercise.