Past-life regression therapy has become a common practice and many people have reported that they recalled their past lives in the course of the therapy. Whether the past-life memories recalled in this way are authentic ones or not is controversial, there being both positive and negative evidence. However, irrespective of the authenticity argument, it is undeniable that the therapy can give people an opportunity to experience "death" in a safe setting. In this exploratory study, we examine whether "death" experiences occurring under past-life regression therapy is comparable to near-death experiences by using the two established instruments for assessing the phenomenological aspects and aftereffects of the latter: The Near-Death Experience scale developed by Greyson (1983) and the Life Change Inventory-Revised developed by Greyson and Ring (2004). It is shown that the scores of the two scales in "death" experiences occurring under past-life regression therapy is consistently higher than those in spontaneously occurring near-death experiences reported in one study (Goza, et al. 2014), although the scores of the NDE Scale in the former are lower in three of the four subscales than those in spontaneously occurring near-death experiences reported in another study (Greyson, 1983). The results appear to warrant further investigation of hypnotically-induced "death" experiences by using the scales designed for near-death experiences.

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This is a study to observe the muscle contraction dynamics and morphological changes using ultrasound-imaging system by applying a product called BOLT TAPE that heats the applied area and relieves pain. As a result it has been proven that BOLT TAPE not only improves the muscle contraction dynamics but also influences the structure of pinnate muscle. We have a good reason to believe that this kind of non-chemical sports tape, which has never been available, can be used in wide range of sports and medical field.

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Laughter Yoga is an operative action not using humor, jokes, etc.; it is laughing from the bottom of the belly (Hearty Laughter, Belly Laughter), sustained for a long-lasting period (Extended Laughter) of 15 to 20 minutes. It is expected that Laughter Yoga has a preventive effect against dementia through increase of oxygen supplied to the body's cells. The author tested 15 persons (3 males, 12 females) and measured their physiological (blood pressure, muscle hardness, stress level) and psychological (TDMS-ST, POMS) indices before and after exercise of Laughter Yoga. A result promising for prevention of dementia, such as a fall of blood pressure, was detected.

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There are various kinds of cancer therapeutic approaches. In this clinic, integrative medical treatments adjusted by considering each patient’s disease status and physical conditions combined with low molecular fucoidan were applied to 210 patients and their therapeutic efficacies were evaluated.

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In the early 1990s, questionnaire surveys of the rate of anomalous experiences were conducted for 5184 medical workers and 684 students and reported in the literature. In the present paper, the author has investigated the rate of anomalous experiences for students of the 2010's, and compared them in order to examine how the rates of anomalous experiences have changed with time for students. In comparing the students' data from 2013 to 2018 (the 2010's, valid data: 1126 persons) with the data of the year 1990 (valid data: 684 persons), the experience rates changed. The reported occurrence of the déjà vu experience increased from 53% to 71%, that of the ESP experience increased from 24% to 39%, and that of the out-of-body experience increased from 6% to 11%. Furthermore, the belief of the existence of a sixth sense decreased from 71% to 56% (all p-values < 0.001). On the other hand, the occurrence rate of sleep paralysis hardly changed (from 34% to 36%) and seeing signs of ghosts also hardly changed (from 17% to 18%). It was considered that these results supported the hypothesis that anomalous experiences are experience-based, not culture-based.

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As demonstrated in Ohkado and Ikegawa (2014) and Ohkado (2015), studies on children claiming to have life-between-life, womb, and birth memories can be treated together with those with past-life memories as children claiming to have anomalous memories that cannot be accounted for by "mind-brain reductionism." One of the criticisms about these studies is a concern that, since the inception of a study typically takes place long after children started to talk about such memories, what they claim to remember might have been "contaminated" by various inputs from people around them. Taking into consideration the fact that children tend to be higher in suggestibility than adults, this concern is real and the best possible effort should be made. This study proposes a new approach to collecting data concerning children's anomalous memories to cope with the problem.

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In our previous studies, no non-contact effect was detected when the pyramidal structure (PS) alone existed and no meditator was inside. There is a possibility that the non-contact effect, periodically varying in time, may exist at the PS apex. We obtained the non-contact effect as an average value in a specific time zone. As a result, in the case of the PS alone, the non-contact effect was zero within the margin of error. There was no mistake in this result. But, there was a possibility that we had overlooked the temporal periodic fluctuation of the non-contact effect. In order to verify the periodic non-contact effect at the PS apex, we first need to understand the characteristics of gas release linked to the bio-reaction rhythm of the bio-sensor (cucumber fruit section). As a result of our new experiment, the following points were found. (1) There was periodicity between the setting time of the bio-sensor and the measured gas concentration. The periodicity of the gas concentration varied according to the season. In the summer, one cycle was 6 hours, and in winter, one cycle was 24 hours. (2) When the direction of the cucumber section was opposite to the direction of the growth axis, the average gas concentration was about 7.5 ppm (about 2%) higher than in the same direction. (p=3.8×10^-2, n=1817). As a result of calculating the ratio of the gas concentration released from each surface with different directions of the cucumber section, we found that the value of the ratio changed between day and night (p=1.5× 10^-6, n = 1292 in the day, n = 525 in the night).

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Nei Yang Gong Dong Gong Yi Jin Xing Qi Fa is a category of nourishing Qigong, through which the integration of awareness, Qi (life force energy) and physical power enables its practitioners to improve their physical and mental health, as well as attain a deep meditative condition. Therefore, Yi Jin Xing Qi Fa may be similar to yoga and Taijiquan (Tai Chi) in its regard to meditative movements (Klein, 2017). The author presented at ISLIS 2017 that a comparison of his exercises between early 2015 and July 2017 indicated how the practices changed his movements and conditions, in particular, the extent of his tinnitus and hyperacusis. For ISLIS 2018, the author analyzed his exercises from October 2017 to April 2018, in order to describe the slump period/condition he faced and the method he used to overcome the slump while acquiring the movements, using a first person’s perspective research technique. A video of a practitioner (i.e. the author) performing his exercises, his documentation and the documentation of his instructor were used for the analysis. The video showed that the durations of inhalation in the first part of the exercises were 18.59 sec in October 2017, 8.73 sec in January 2018, and 22.94 sec in April 2018. The duration in January 2018 was less than half as short as that in October 2017. As a result of the analysis of inhalation durations and the documentation, it was estimated that the author was faced with a slump from November 2017 to February 2018, while he began to overcome the slump in March 2018. In this presentation, the author will discuss the possible factors of his slump from the perspectives of respiratory control and proprioceptive sense.

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Recent near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) studies have shown frontotemporal hypofunction in depression by using a verbal fluency task, but the regions of impairment affecting respective depressive symptoms still remain unclear. We investigated the frontotemporal function during a word production task in patients with depression by multi-channel NIRS. Further, we aimed to clarify whether any depressive symptoms affect frontotemporal dysfunction. One hundred seventy-seven major depressive patients and 50 healthy control volunteers participated in this study. After we provided complete explanations to the subjects, the study was approved by the ethics committee of Nippon Medical School Chiba Hokusoh Hospital. Their cerebral activations were compared during the verbal fluency task. Significant hypoactivation in the bilateral frontotemporal regions was observed in depressed patients, compared with controls. Left lateral frontotemporal activation was significantly reduced in the group with the mandatory symptom, which is a depressed mood, or loss of interest or pleasure, compared with the patients that still had residual depressive symptoms in spite of major depressive disorder having been remitted. Our findings indicate hypofunction of the bilateral frontotemporal regions in depression during the verbal fluency task. Further, hypofunction of the left frontotemporal including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex by this task could reflect whether the subjects recovered from the depressed mood, or loss of interest or pleasure.

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Over two hundred stories of near-death experiences (NDE) were collected and published in 1986 by Miyoko Matsutani, a famous writer of children’s stories. Those NDE stories were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by text mining. The results were compared with those of previous studies including Ito and Miura (2016).

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The International Society of Life Information Science (ISLIS) is holding the 46th Symposium on Life Information Science as a camp format meeting, with the main theme "Learn from the Past and Challenges to Healing and New Science" on August 24-27, 2018 at "Yunosato" Natural Hot Springs, Hashimoto City, Wakayama, Japan. The Hashimoto City Government and the City Education Board are officially supporting this symposium. Twenty-three years of activities of the ISLIS and the promotion of "Human Potential Science&quto; are reviewed since the Society's Foundation in 1995. ISLIS has sought and continues to seek the realization of the paradigm shift from material-oriented science and technology to a new paradigm including the consciousness, spirit and mind through research based on empirical and positive scientific methodologies, and consequently, to promote the development of health, social welfare, and education, as well as social and personal peace of mind, and to contribute to the making of a peaceful world, at one with nature. Since the foundation of ISLIS, 46 Life Information Science Symposia have been held and issues of the International Society of Life Information Science (Journal of ISLIS) have been published regularly twice a year. ISLIS held the "International Conference on Human Potential Science International Forum" in Chiba, Japan in 2002, the "International Conference on Mind Body Science" in Seoul, Korea in 2004 and the "7th Psi Meeting" in Curitiba, Brazil in August 2011 co-sponsored with the Facludades Integradas 'Espirita'. ISLIS published the book Human Potential Science in 2004. ISLIS has a worldwide presence with 11 International Information Centers and about 200 members in 15 countries. The 47th Symposium will be held on March 9-10, 2019 at the Medical School, Toho University, Ohmori, Tokyo, Japan

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We have continued to conduct meditation experiments since April 2009. In a meditation experiment, the meditator meditates inside a pyramidal structure (PS). We have been studying the non-contact effects that the mediator inside the PS has without directly touching the bio-sensor (cucumber fruit section) placed at the PS apex. The detection of the non-contact effects was carried out by using an analytical method (Simultaneous Calibration Technique: SCAT) to measure the concentration of gas released from the cucumber section which we previously established. One experiment consisted of three parts, pre-experiment, meditation experiment (the meditator meditated inside the PS) and post-experiment. The parts in which the meditator was inside the PS (meditation experiment) or not (pre- and post-experiments) were compared. We found that the influences on the bio-sensor differed when the meditator was inside the PS and when he was not (p=3.13 x 10^-10). The characteristics of the non-contact effect in the post-experiment (an anomalous non-contact effect with a delay associated with the PS) were elucidated. Recent studies have also revealed the characteristics of the non-contact effect for the pre-experiment. This time, we will present our comparison of non-contact effects for the pre-experiment and the post-experiment.

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In the 36th ISLIS Symposium the author discussed the consciousness with the brain structure in the course of each stage of human evolution (J of ISLIS 31(2): 187, 2013). Besides that study, the author has considered the consciousness using EEG measurements in unusual particular states, such as those during many kinds of meditations, qigong exercises and also in hypnotic states. There are actually some suggestions that the consciousness is not only brain-originated, so discussions the broaden the field are required, but the author would like to consider that it is necessary to investigate in the beginning how the consciousness can be explained as a function of the brain, and then to expand the discussion. In this presentation, the author will focus on thinking activities as the obvious brain function. And on the basis of such awareness of the consciousness, the general consciousness in human beings will be discussed, following the development process of neural networks.

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The practice of Laughter Yoga has spread all over the world and its effects are taken into daily life in every direction. Laughter Yoga instructors are very active in Japan, and the practice of Laughter Yoga is spreading, drawing attention to its benefits from people in various fields. The author had accumulated empirical research on the effect of Laughter Yoga on the physical and mental health and acquired a doctor's degree (in mental and physical health science). From Laughter Yoga research opportunities, many Laugher Yoga practitioners and interested people have come to recognize the therapeutic utility of laughter yoga to enhance the natural healing power and vitality of laughter yoga. The &quto;Laughing Yoga Therapy Association" has been launched as a research group to support enhancing natural healing power that laugher yoga provides. The author and co-workers have provided laughter yoga therapy for a client who suffered from "laughing deficiency" aka depression and have achieved good results. As laughter yoga that brings out "power to live" through laughter, the author would like to broadly appeal to society to contribute to the support of physical and mental health that enhances good quality of life. <Laugher Yoga> Aloha laugh, 1M laugh, Milkshake laugh, Greetings laugh, Cell phone laugh Static Erotic Laugh, Calcutta Laugh, Apologize Laughter, Silent Laughter, Shy Laughter etc.

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