Research

Yoga’s impact on the physical, emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual body is far reaching and is of growing interest to the traditional medical community, researchers, social service workers, psychologists, and others.

Its benefits are immense. Controlled breathing (or linking movement to postures), an essential part of yoga that sets it apart from many other methods of exercise, effectively reduces the body’s stress response, helps calm the mind, ease muscle tension, and helps re-regulate the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for “fight or flight” stress response system). The yoga postures themselves, depending on the sequence/style, have a litany of benefits and can improve functions of the body – including strengthening/stretching the muscular-skeletal system, aiding digestive, improving respiratory health, stimulating the endocrine system and spurring healing, calming/re-regulating the nervous system, and many others. It’s no wonder that yogis have practiced these postures for thousands of years!

On an emotional level, yoga can help with stress reduction, anger management, self-coping, acceptance, mindfulness, and more. Much of yoga’s vernacular resembles methods or frameworks used in traditional psychotherapy  (like Gestalt or dialectic behavioral therapy).

For specific scientific studies or to learn more about how other groups are utilizing yoga for treatment and healing, check out Street Yoga’s list of research here.

For more on yoga and trauma/PTSD/anxiety/depression, read:
Yoga Journal’s “Healing Life’s Traumas“
WBUR.org’s “Harvard, Brigham Study: Yoga Eases Veterans’ PTSD Symptoms“
Harvard Mental Health Letter’s “Yoga for Anxiety and Depression“

Also check out:
The Prison Yoga Project
yogaHOPE
Yoga Activist
Off the Mat and Into the World