Khecarī Mudrā (Sanskrit, खेचरी मुद्रा) is an ancient hatha yoga practice performed by placing the tongue above the soft palate and into the nasal cavity. For this purpose the tongue is elongated by gradually cutting through the lingual frenulum, thereby sytematically stretching the tongue on a daily basis for several months. It would be interesting to investigate its effects on unconscious subvocalisations (e.g., via electromyography/EMG) recordings) in the context of the biological evolution of language modules in relation to cognition and consciousness (viz., Baddely’s tripartite working memory model and specifically its verbal component – the “phonological loop”). Interestingly, a link between subvocalization and schizophrenic hallucinations has been hypothesised.
References
Stephane, M., Barton, S., & Boutros, N. .. (2001). Auditory verbal hallucinations and dysfunction of the neural substrates of speech. Schizophrenia Research, 50(1–2), 61–78.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1016/S0920-9964(00)00150-X
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“Objective: to evaluate the neural substrate of auditory verbal hallucinations (avh), the correlation between avh and subvocal speech (hereafter svs), and the relationship between speech and avh. method: we reviewed the papers found by an electronic literature search on hallucinations and speech. the review was extended to the papers cited in these publications and to classical works. results: there is no conclusive evidence of structural abnormality of the speech perception area in hallucinating schizophrenic patients. however there is evidence of electrophysiological abnormalities of the auditory and speech perception cortices. functional imaging data are inconsistent, yet point to the left superior temporal gyrus as one of the neural substrates for avh. there is also evidence that svs could accompany the experience of avh. conclusion: there is evidence that dysfunction of brain areas responsible for speech generation is a fundamental mechanism for generating avh in schizophrenia. it results in a secondary activation of wernicke’s area (speech perception) and broca’s area (speech expression). the first leading to the experience of hallucinations, and the second, eventually, gives rise to a variable degree of vocal muscle activity detectable by emg, and/or faint vocalizations detectable by sensitive microphones placed at proximity of the larynx. direct stimulation or disease of wernicke’s area produces avh without svs. © 2001 elsevier science b.v.”
Shergill, S. S., Brammer, M. J., Williams, S. C. R., Murray, R. M., & McGuire, P. K.. (2000). Mapping Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57(11), 1033.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.57.11.1033
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“BACKGROUND: perceptions of speech in the absence of an auditory stimulus (auditory verbal hallucinations) are a cardinal feature of schizophrenia. functional neuroimaging provides a powerful means of measuring neural activity during auditory hallucinations, but the results from previous studies have been inconsistent. this may reflect the acquisition of small numbers of images in each subject and the confounding effects of patients actively signaling when hallucinations occur. methods: we examined 6 patients with schizophrenia who were experiencing frequent auditory hallucinations, using a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging method that permitted the measurement of spontaneous neural activity without requiring subjects to signal when hallucinations occurred. approximately 50 individual scans were acquired at unpredictable intervals in each subject while they were intermittently hallucinating. immediately after each scan, subjects reported whether they had been hallucinating at that instant. neural activity when patients were and were not experiencing hallucinations was compared in each subject and the group as a whole. results: auditory hallucinations were associated with activation in the inferior frontal/insular, anterior cingulate, and temporal cortex bilaterally (with greater responses on the right), the right thalamus and inferior colliculus, and the left hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex (p<.0001). conclusions: auditory hallucinations may be mediated by a distributed network of cortical and subcortical areas. previous neuroimaging studies of auditory hallucinations may have identified different components of this network.”
Green, M. F., & Kinsbourne, M.. (1990). Subvocal Activity and Auditory Hallucinations: Clues for Behavioral Treatments?. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 16(4), 617–625.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1093/schbul/16.4.617
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“Several investigators have suggested that schizophrenic patients may show an increase in subvocal speech (as measured by electromyographic [emg] activity) during auditory hallucinations (ah), and that the subvocal activity might be antecedent to the hallucinatory experience. the possible relationship between ah and subvocal activity guided the present approach to studying behavioral interventions for ah. duration of ah and emg activity were recorded from 20 frequently hallucinating schizophrenic patients under baseline and experimental conditions. three conditions were designed to interfere with activity of the speech musculature and two were imposed as controls. the data concerning the temporal relationship between emg activity and self-report of hallucinations were inconclusive. however, one of the experimental conditions (humming a single note softly) reduced the self-report of hallucinations by 59 percent. this condition also increased emg amplitude over baseline levels. possible explanations for the effect of humming on hallucinations are discussed.”
Atkinson, J. R.. (2005). The Perceptual Characteristics of Voice-Hallucinations in Deaf People: Insights into the Nature of Subvocal Thought and Sensory Feedback Loops. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 32(4), 701–708.
Plain numerical DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbj063
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“The study of voice-hallucinations in deaf individuals, who exploit the visuomotor rather than auditory modality for communication, provides rare insight into the relationship between sensory experience and how ‘voices’ are perceived. relatively little is known about the perceptual characteristics of voice-hallucinations in congenitally deaf people who use lip-reading or sign language as their preferred means of communication. the existing literature on hallucinations in deaf people is reviewed, alongside consideration of how such phenomena may fit into explanatory subvocal articulation hypotheses proposed for auditory verbal hallucinations in hearing people. it is suggested that a failure in subvocal articulation processes may account for voice-hallucinations in both hearing and deaf people but that the distinct way in which hallucinations are experienced may be due to differences in a sensory feedback component, which is influenced by both auditory deprivation and language modality. this article highlights how the study of deaf people may inform wider understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations and subvocal processes generally.”
Sovatsky, S.. (2009). KUNDALINI AND THE COMPLETE MATURATION OF THE ENSOULED BODY. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology
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“In utero and infantile developmental manifestations of kundalini, the ‘“ultimate maturational force”’ according to yogic traditions, are traced to numerous advanced yogic processes, including urdhva-retas (lifelong neuroendocrine maturation), khecari mudra (puberty-like maturation of the tongue, hypothalamus and pineal) and sahaja asanas (spontaneously arising yoga asanas) and their cross-cultural cognates that, altogether, form the somatic basis for all manner of spiritual aspirations and complete maturation of the ensouled body. at the collective level and according to the centermost vedic maxim, vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family), a vast majority of successful fifty-year marriages interspersed with sannyasins (fulltime yogis) indicates a spiritually matured society. thus, along with developing spiritual emergence counseling techniques for individuals in spiritual crises, transpersonal clinicians might draw from ashrama and tantric mappings of lifelong developmental stages to support marriages, families and communities and thus, over future centuries, reverse current familial/global brokenness and foster the emergence of mature, enlightened, whole cultures.”