Yoga & Science

Dr. Erich Anderer identifies yoga as an important means of maintaining spinal health and avoiding surgery, and also notes that yoga can potentially provide benefits when dealing with somatic disease processes. He specializes in minimally invasive and complex spinal surgery, but is interested in self-care and yoga as both a preventive measure and effective treatment of neck and back pain.

In this installment of Yoga & Science, Dr. Stacy D. Hunter describes a study conducted to determine the effects of 12 weeks of hot yoga on vascular health.She has previously published several pioneering studies on the impact of yoga on vascular endothelial function and arterial stiffness, and with this study she aims to isolate how yoga in a heated environment effects changes in vascular function.

Dr. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa is interested in the ways yoga allows us to self-regulate multiple components of our internal well-being. He has been conducting yoga research since 2001, and his topics of study focus on the applicability of yoga in dealing with insomnia, stress, anxiety spectrum disorders, and mental health in public schools and the workplace.

In her interview, Dr. Gail Parker shares how yoga has the power to heal the wounds of racial distress. She explains how certain yoga practices are designed to alleviate the stress of racial and ethnic wounding.

Dr. Pam Jeter looks at yoga research as a necessary body of evidence that requires rigorous studies in order to judge the safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of yoga practice. She explains how she was invited to speak about how exactly the National Institute for Health (NIH) decides to fund yoga research.

Dr. Shirley Telles describes a survey asking people why they practice yoga. The top two replies were health, and a sense beyond themselves. While people are getting more and more involved in the spiritual aspect of yoga, and people feel an awareness of its benefits, researchers are still working to figure out a means for quantifying the spirituality of yoga.

Dr. Stephen Porges points out how many of the scientists who study yoga are people who have benefited from it. Dr. Stephen Porges is a rare exception, he says, in that he is not a yoga guy, but conducts research on the topic due to his interest in examining how ancient rituals improve peoples lives. He is interested in the relationship between ancient rituals and modern neuroscience.

Dr. Bethany Kok believes that lovingkindness meditation possess beneficial health effects, but she makes sure to point out that a person's physiological state when they start such meditation can affect how much a person gets those benefits. She has found an upward spiral of growth in health, an upward spiral based on human ability to connect socially to other people through yoga.