Abstract
Thanks to a possibility of affecting basic functions of the organism in health and disease in a relatively cheap manner compared with classical pharmacological interventions. The starting point is an adaptation of an ancient technique of meditation (shamatha) into the environment of the western civilization in the form of MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction).
If the patient meets with success in adhering to the discipline of the daily exercise, structures of the conscious alertness are changed after shorter or longer periods in the sense of its stabilization in the course of performing everyday activities. Thereafter, as side effects, corrections of hypertension, psychological problems, insomnia and further disorders, which belong to the field of systemic or civilization diseases, can be manifested.
Technique of training of the conscious alertness is particularly suitable in people of the middle age (high working load), in elderly persons (problem of spending free time, conciliation with the disease) or possibly in children, where suitable methods of applications are still being searched for. The scientific research of the technique of training the conscious alertness is aimed at two regions a) modern imaging techniques for the CNS (magnetic resonance, computerized tomography, functional magnetic resonance and positron emission spectrophotometry) with the help of which volumes of selected parts of the brain cortex are measured or the flow rate of the blood in cortex regions of the brain is monitored in people practising for short or long periods the technique of training the conscious alertness b) EEG with high resolving power change in or adjustment of the EEG is particularlyobserved in frontal and parietal lobes of the brain.
The affective condition and its dynamics in man are associated with the hypo/hyper activation of the frontal lobe in the positive sense on the left side and in negative sense on the right side. After long-term training of the conscious alertness, in frontal lobe of the brain, one can observe a more rapid return of the EEG activity to the rest level in people regularly practising the training compared with controls