According to research by Italian scientists, reciting the rosary has a similar effect to the Eastern practice of yoga.
Espoused by celebrities such as Madonna and Geri Halliwell, the practice
of yoga slows breathing and induces a favourable effect on the heart’s
rhythm.
Luciano Bernardi, associate professor of internal medicine at Pavia
University, recorded breathing rates in 23 healthy adults during normal
talking, recitation of the rosary, yoga mantras, and six minutes of
controlled breathing.
Breathing was markedly more regular during the rosary and the mantra and
was slowed to about six breaths a minute.
The results mean yoga enhances ‘aspects’ of heart and lung function and
might be viewed as a health practice as well as a religious practice, he
said.
The benefits of breathing exercises in yoga have long been reported, and
mantras may have evolved as a simple device to slow respiration,
improve concentration, and induce calm, Professor Bernardi says in this
week’s British Medical Journal.
Similarly, the rosary may have partly evolved because it synchronised
with the body’s natural heart rhythms, and thus gave a feeling of
well-being, and perhaps an increased responsiveness to the religious
message, he said.
A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland was not surprised
by the findings of the therapeutic benefits of saying the rosary. He
said: ‘It’s good to know that spiritual health and physical health are
linked. This proves what people thought long ago — that a healthy mind
is linked to a healthy body.’
Prof Bernardi also notes the historic and cultural links between yoga
mantras and Catholic chants. He said: ‘It’s what the Church has been
offering for centuries.
‘Saying these prayers can lead to a calming and enhanced feeling of
well-being.’