S17. An Ancient Path to Modern Mental Health

— Sahaja Yoga in a Clinical Study at the University of Plymouth

In any major city, people on the subway stare at their phones, but their minds are somewhere else.Thoughts race ahead: the next contract, the children’s schooling, parents’ health, economic uncertainty… like an endless ticker tape of worries.

Over the past two decades, “anxiety” and “depression” have moved out of the clinic and into everyday conversation.Poor sleep, a racing heart, low energy, a constant sense of being on edge: many people live somewhere between “still coping” and “on the brink of burnout”.

Against this backdrop, a doctoral thesis from the University of Plymouth in the UK raises a fascinating question:

Can an ancient Eastern meditation practice—Sahaja Yoga—actually help reduce anxiety and depression in a modern clinical setting,and become an ancient path to modern mental health?

A Question Emerging from Clinical Reality

The thesis, titled “Sahaja Yoga: An Ancient Path to Modern Mental Health?”, was written by clinical psychology doctoral candidate Adam Morgan at the University of Plymouth.Importantly, this was not a small informal survey inside a spiritual group. It was:

• Conducted within the UK National Health Service (NHS) environment

• Run in collaboration between the Department of Psychology, University of Plymouth, and Exeter and District Community Health Services plus Exeter County Council Social Services

In other words, it brought an “ancient meditation method” into the world of modern health and social care.

The study asked two core questions:

1. If people with anxiety and depression attend Sahaja Yoga meditation classes, do their symptoms actually improve?

2. If we compare Sahaja Yoga with a cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)–based stress management course, and with “doing nothing different”, what happens?

Mini-summary (linking to the theme):The point here is not to promote a spiritual group, but to see whether a university, using clinical psychology methods, can show that an ancient contemplative practice truly opens a new pathway to mental health in today’s world.

What Exactly Is This “Ancient Path” in Sahaja Yoga?

Sahaja Yoga was founded by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi and has roots in multiple religious and philosophical traditions.Its starting point is distinctly Eastern:

• The human being is said to have a “subtle body” consisting of:

  • Three energy channels (left, center, right)

  • Seven energy centres or chakras, arranged from the base of the spine upwards

• At the base of the spine resides a dormant spiritual energy called Kundalini, described as a nurturing, motherly force.

Within this framework, modern psychological problems are interpreted in a “subtle body” language:

• Being stuck in past emotions, sadness, and lethargy is linked to imbalance in the left channel and related centres

• Being chronically overdriven, stressed, competitive, or controlling is linked to overuse of the right channel

• True balance lies in the central channel, associated with presence, moderation, and inner contentment, and with a key experiential state:

  Thoughtless awareness, also called mental silence.

This is not drowsiness, nor forced “thinking nothing”.It is a state where you remain fully conscious and present, but the usual stream of automatic thoughts temporarily quietens down.

Sahaja Yoga teaches that when Kundalini awakens and rises through the central channel, it becomes easier to enter this state of mental silence naturally, which in turn softens anxiety, depression, and fear.

Mini-summary:In ancient language, this is “energy rising” and “purification of the subtle system”.In modern psychological terms, we might say it is “detaching from habitual thought patterns and cultivating a clear, non-reactive awareness”.

How Did the Study Bring an Ancient Practice into a Modern Experiment?

1. Who Took Part?

The participants were not psychology students volunteering for a study.They were adult clients referred from local psychological and social services, people experiencing significant anxiety and/or depression in real life.

• They were allocated to different groups

• Around two dozen participants completed both pre- and post-treatment assessments across six weeks

For an applied clinical project within the NHS, this is a modest but meaningful real-world sample.

2. Three Groups: Ancient Method vs. Modern Course vs. Waiting List

The study followed participants over six weeks in three different conditions:

1. Sahaja Yoga Meditation Group

   • One group session per week, about two hours each, for six weeks

   • Sessions included:

     • A brief introduction to the Sahaja Yoga model of the subtle system

     • Guided meditations aiming to help participants experience mental silence and inner stillness

   • Participants were encouraged to practice at home for around 10–15 minutes a day

2. CBT-Based Stress Management Group

   • Also weekly two-hour sessions for six weeks

   • Based on cognitive-behavioural principles, covering:

     • Understanding stress and its effects

     • Identifying negative automatic thoughts

     • Practising alternative perspectives and relaxation strategies

   • In style, it resembled an introductory CBT-style psychoeducation and skills group

3. Waiting-List Control Group

   • Continued their usual lives without any added intervention over the six weeks

   • Only completed psychological questionnaires at the beginning and end

   • Were offered the possibility of intervention afterwards, in line with ethical practice

3. How Was “Improvement” Measured?

The study used two standard, widely accepted measures:

• HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale)

  • Provides separate scores for anxiety and for depression

  • Higher scores indicate more severe symptoms

• GHQ-12 (General Health Questionnaire–12)

  • A 12-item screening tool for general psychological distress

  • Covers mood, sleep, coping with daily activities, and perceived strain

All three groups completed these scales before and after the six-week period.If this ancient practice truly works, the Sahaja Yoga group should show an obvious drop in scores over time—ideally more than the waiting-list group, and at least comparable to the CBT-based group.

Mini-summary:The strength of this design lies in using established clinical scales and comparison groups, rather than relying only on subjective “I feel better” reports. This is how an ancient path is tested by modern science.

What Did the Numbers Say? Three Paths After Six Weeks

The researcher used multivariate analysis (MANOVA) and repeated-measures ANOVA to compare the three groups over time.We can translate the results into plain language:

1. Sahaja Yoga Group: Clear Improvement Across All Key Measures

In the Sahaja Yoga group:

• HADS Anxiety scores

  • Showed a clear and statistically significant reduction from pre- to post-treatment

  • Many participants shifted from clearly “clinical” levels towards milder or borderline levels of anxiety

• HADS Depression scores

  • Also decreased significantly, though the author notes there may have been a “floor effect” because some baseline depression scores were not extremely high

• GHQ-12 scores

  • Overall psychological distress dropped significantly, suggesting better mood, less stress, and improved day-to-day functioning

In his summary, the author cautiously concludes that the findings support the idea that Sahaja Yoga can be a promising intervention for anxiety and depression—at least in this preliminary clinical sample.

2. Waiting-List Group: Time Alone Didn’t Change Much

In the waiting-list control group:

• HADS and GHQ-12 scores showed little meaningful change over the same six-week period

• Some individuals fluctuated slightly, but there was no significant overall improvement

This is important: it suggests that simply letting time pass is not enough to produce notable recovery in this kind of clinical population.The contrast with the Sahaja Yoga group highlights that the changes seen there are much more likely due to the actual practice, not just the passage of time.

3. CBT Stress Management Group: Surprisingly Modest Results

Unexpectedly, in this particular study, the CBT-based stress management group did not show statistically significant improvement on these measures.

This does not mean that CBT is ineffective as a whole.The author proposes several possible reasons:

• The group may have functioned more like a “stress education course” than full-strength CBT therapy

• The small sample size reduces statistical power

• Participants’ expectations and preferences might have favoured meditation, influencing engagement and outcomes

Still, within this specific trial, Sahaja Yoga outperformed both the waiting list and the CBT-based group on the measured outcomes.

Mini-summary:Across these three paths, the waiting group mostly stood still, the CBT group made only modest steps, while the Sahaja Yoga group travelled a clearly measurable distance in psychological improvement within six weeks. That doesn’t overturn modern therapy, but it strongly suggests this ancient path belongs on the modern mental health map.

From Data Back to Experience: Mental Silence as a Bridge

If we had to capture the spirit of the study in one sentence, it might be:

When the mind truly becomes quiet, anxiety and depression can begin to loosen their grip.

The mental silence / thoughtless awareness emphasized in Sahaja Yoga resonates with several modern concepts:

• The “non-judgmental awareness” emphasized in mindfulness

• The shift in CBT from “being fused with thoughts” to “seeing thoughts as mental events, not absolute truths”

• The Eastern notion of becoming a “witness” to experience rather than being entangled in it

The difference is that Sahaja Yoga situates this in a symbolic and spiritual framework—the subtle system, Kundalini, and chakras.For some individuals, this richer symbolic map can provide extra meaning, motivation, and a sense of direction that purely technical interventions may lack.

From the perspective of the Plymouth study, the key point is this:

• When this ancient framework is introduced gently and without dogma into a clinical setting,

• It does not clash with modern psychology,

• And in fact, it appears to produce tangible clinical benefits in a small but rigorous trial.

Mini-summary:This may be where the “ancient path” truly touches modern life: it doesn’t ask us to abandon medical science, but offers a new inner space—where, in moments of genuine mental silence, we can see more clearly which thoughts are worth following and which are just noisy replays.

What Does This Ancient Path Mean for Us Today?

From this University of Plymouth study, a few practical insights emerge for everyday life:

• Six weeks, one session a week, already made a measurable difference

  • No need for years of retreat or drastic lifestyle changes

  • The intervention was “modern-life friendly”: group sessions plus short daily practice at home

• The core is not thinking harder, but letting thinking soften

  • You don’t have to analyse every problem in detail during the practice

  • The essential shift is to give the nervous system a real pause, through a state of quiet, present awareness

• Sahaja Yoga can complement, not replace, modern care

  • For people already receiving medication or psychotherapy, an evidence-informed meditation practice like Sahaja Yoga can potentially serve as a low-cost, low-risk adjunct

  • Any change to medical or psychological treatment plans should still be discussed with healthcare professionals

Picture two scenes:

In a university office, clinical psychologists review graphs, F-values and p-values, checking whether symptom scores truly went down.In a modest room in Exeter, a group of ordinary people sit quietly, following a simple guided meditation, learning to step into mental silence for the first time.

When those two scenes overlap, we begin to understand what “an ancient path to modern mental health” can really mean.It is not about going back in time, nor rejecting modern science.It is about translating ancient practices of inner stillness into forms that can be measured, tested, and meaningfully used by people living in the 21st century.

Further Reading:

• Research Articles: Original Articles and Research Papers