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Body temperature changes during the practice of g Tum-mo yoga

Nature volume 295, pages 234–236 (1982)Cite this article

Abstract

Since meditative practices are associated with changes that are consistent with decreased activity of the sympathetic nervous system1–7, it is conceivable that measurable body temperature changes accompany advanced meditative states. With the help of H.H. the Dalai Lama, we have investigated such a possibility on three practitioners of the advanced Tibetan Buddhist meditational practice known as g Tum-mo (heat) yoga living in Upper Dharamsala, India. We report here that in a study performed there in February 1981, we found that these subjects exhibited the capacity to increase the temperature of their fingers and toes by as much as 8.3°C.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Charles A. Dana Research Institute, Harvard Thorndike Laboratory, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, USA

    Herbert Benson & John W. Lehmann

  2. Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala, 147001, India

    M. S. Malhotra

  3. US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, Massachusetts, 01760, USA

    Ralph F. Goldman

  4. Center for South Asian Studies, Cocke Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22903, USA

    Jeffrey Hopkins

  5. Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA

    Mark D. Epstein

Authors
  1. Herbert Benson
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  2. John W. Lehmann
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  3. M. S. Malhotra
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  4. Ralph F. Goldman
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Benson, H., Lehmann, J., Malhotra, M. et al. Body temperature changes during the practice of g Tum-mo yoga. Nature 295, 234–236 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/295234a0

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