The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Experiments in India on "Voluntary" Control of the Heart and Pulse
Abstract
PROMINENT among the many claims of unusual bodily control that emanate from practitioners of Yoga is the ability to stop the heart and radial pulse.Such claims often have been authenticated by physicians, and one " experiment" employed a loud-speaker system so that a large crowd could hear the heart sounds before and after their disappearance.To our knowledge, however, only one investigator had published electrocardio- graphic results before the work now reported.In 1935 a French cardiologist, Dr. Therese Brosse, took portable apparatus to India and obtained measurements from at least one per- son who claimed the ability to stop the heart.A published excerpt from her data4 involving one electrocardiographic lead, a pneumogram, and a pulse wave recording from the radial artery, shows the heart potentials and pulse wave decreasing in magnitude approximately to zero, where they stayed for several seconds before they returned to their normal magni- tude.The data were held to support the claim that the heart was voluntarily controlled to a point of approximate cessation of contraction.During our investigations in India wve searched for persons who claimed to stop the heart or pulse, and were cordially assisted by many individuals including the Indian press.We found four.Another claimed only to slow
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“Yet studies have shown that the physical discipline of hatha yoga can teach one how to control blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory functioning, metabolism, brain-waves, and body temperature (Brosse 1946: 77 -84; Wenger et al. 1961: 1319 -1325; Benson and Wallace 1971: 795 -799; Hölzel et al. 2011: 36 -43).”
From Jesus in India? Transgressing Social and Religious Boundaries (2012) · cites this paper as Wenger et al. 1961: 1319-1325
Citations
Cites
Lindsley, D. B., & Sassaman, W. H. (1938) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1938.1.4.342 · Cited by 29
Cited by
Physiological effects of transcendental meditation
Wallace, R. K. (1970) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.167.3926.1751 · Cited by 653
Jeter, P. E., Slutsky, J., Singh, N., & Khalsa, S. B. S. (2015) · The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine · doi:10.1089/acm.2015.0057 · Cited by 443
Prime theory: An integrated view of motivation and emotion.
Buck, R. (1985) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.92.3.389 · Cited by 302
The physiology of meditation: A review. A wakeful hypometabolic integrated response
Jevning, R., Wallace, R. K., & Beidebach, M. (1992) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0149-7634(05)80210-6 · Cited by 301
Kimble, G. A., & Perlmuter, L. C. (1970) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0029782 · Cited by 276
Metadata
- Authors
- WENGER, M. A., BAGCHI, B. K., & ANAND, B. K.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Venue
- Circulation
- Published
- 1961-12
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1319-1325
- ISSN
- 0009-7322 (ISSN-L)
- 1524-4539
- OpenAlex
- W2027360799
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 4 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Circulation (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Blood Pressure and Hypertension Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Keywords
- pulse control, autonomic nervous system, heart rate regulation
- MeSH terms
- Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena, Heart, Heart Rate, Humans, India, Pulse, Yoga
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- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Experiments in India on "Voluntary" Control of the Heart and Pulse. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1161/01.cir.24.6.1319
- The paper
- WENGER, M. A., BAGCHI, B. K., & ANAND, B. K. (1961). Experiments in India on "Voluntary" Control of the Heart and Pulse. Circulation. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.cir.24.6.1319
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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