Roger Eischens
I studied yoga with Roger Eischens ("High Energy Yoga") at Mound Street Yoga in Madison, Wisconsin from 1999-2003. In the summer of 2002 I asked his guidance of topics for further study. Below is an annotated transcript of my notes: [material in brackets] represents my annotations, unbracketed material is what I wrote down during our conversation. Following the transcript are links to all of Roger's published works that I know about. If you know of additional published work, please email me at jcreardon "at" wisc.edu.
Roger:
Basmajian--researcher (McGill?) electromyography. Muscles cannot be understood as levers, torques, forces, agonists, antagonists, etc. Wrote book. Findings ignored.
[I think the book Roger referred to was probably "Muscles Alive: Their Functions Revealed by Electromyography", https://www.amazon.com/Muscles-Alive-Functions-Revealed-Electromyography/dp/068300414X , by John Basmajian.]
K.U. Smith. Industrial psychologist. RE worked with him at UW. The presence of high-frequency noise destroys body's ability to perform highly integrated tasks. "surfing the wave". Feedback as learning method. Basis of RE's yoga teaching technique.
[Karl Ulrich Smith was a well-known figure in behavioral cybernetics. See http://behavioral.cybernetics.cc/index.php/karl-ulrich-smith (link functional as of 4/18/25). RE co-authored a scientific paper with KUS; see below. This paper does not appear to me to support the contention I recorded Roger as making about high-frequency noise. I don't know what RE meant by "surfing the wave".]RE also did research in memory. "You remember what's important." Emotionally intense states cause brain to unload memories. Russian research followed different path than American research.
[I have not been able to find any publications by RE on memory.]John Griest. Several studies with RE: blood lithium levels during Lake Mendota 20k (RE on Lithium for two weeks prior, to participate as subject.) Running and depression: call JG's secretary at Dean Foundation and ask for bibliography of running research. RE states (as open question): do endorphins cause happiness or does happiness cause endorphins? RE mentions that runners often run themselves out and get depression.
[JG was comparatively recently at the Dean Foundation; once at UW as a psychologist. I know of four papers and one book on which RE collaborated with JG; see below. As far as I know the paper on the effect of exercise on Lithium levels in man remains authoritative as no one has attempted to replicate this research. ]
(Tangential) Recommended reading: "The Brain has a Mind of its Own" [Richard Restak]; also the first few chapters of Deepak Chopra's "The Search for God" (don't buy, just read in bookstore). "Study done at Harvard showed that ill people get healthier if random people are assigned to pray for them."
Roger proposes topic for study:
Have people come in, who have flat feet. I know I can give them a simple exercise which will cause their arches to raise in ~20 seconds. (How many orthopedists would believe me?) Take MRI before and after. Has change in body state caused change in brain state?
Davidson: Tibetan monks. Study of how cognitive changes (meditation/prayer) change brain state. Roger's proposal (above) describes a course of parallel research: how changes in body state cause changes in brain state (cf running or movement is therapy for depression).
RE says the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has a Ph.D. in Physics.
[Several internet sources say MMY earned a degree in Physics at Allahabad University in 1942.]RE says "trace the history of ideas".
Roger Eischens Publications
K.U. Smith, G. Lingh, R. Eischens, "Effects of Sound on Postural Control", J. Appl. Psych. 54 (3) 223-227 (1970).
Run to Reality, R. Eischens, J. Greist, T. McInavaille, Madison Running Press, Bulfin/Milwaukee, WI, 1977.
J.H. Greist, M.H. Klein, R.R. Eischens, J.T. Faris, "Running Out of Depression", The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 6 (12) 49-56 (1978).
J.H. Greist, M.H. Klein, R.R. Eischens, J. Faris, A.S. Gurman, W.P. Morgan, "Running Through Your Mind", J. Psychosomatic Res. 22, 259-294 (1978).
J.H. Greist, M.H. Klein, R.R. Eischens, J. Faris, A.S. Gurman, W.P. Morgan, "Running as Treatment for Depression", Compr. Psychiatry 20 (1) 41-54 (1979).
J.W. Jefferson, J.H. Greist, P.J. Clagnaz, R.R. Eischens, W.C. Marten, M.A. Evenson, "Effect of Strenuous Exercise on Serum Lithium Level in Man", Am. J. Psychiatry 139 (12) 1593-1595 (1982).