Zazen and cardiac variability

P Lehrer1, Y Sasaki, Y Saito

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway 08854-5635, USA.

Psychosomatic Medicine
|December 11, 1999
PubMed
Summary

Zen practitioners' tanden breathing, a slow abdominal respiration technique, significantly increases low-frequency heart rate variability. This practice shifts respiratory sinus arrhythmia to slower rhythms, with variations observed between Rinzai and Soto practitioners.

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