Put your mind and body together, you can make changes via yoga Pic Courtesy: yoga-reach.org
Dr. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute along with Char Grossman, owner and founder of YogaReach (yoga-reach.org) a Therapeutic Yoga Specialist and a Nationally Certified School Psychologist share some interesting insight into yoga therapy and practice in the first Cure Panel Talk Show on YOGA which had Dashama and Micheline Toussaint too on the panel.
Listen in here:
Char Grossman’s tryst with yoga happened many years ago, when she suffered from intracranial hemorrhage. After the removal of the hemorrhage, the requisite traditional therapy did not seem to be working for Char. It was at this point of time she came across Yoga. The renewal post this debilitating hemorrhage has been 150% as per Char. She says,
If you put your mind and body together, you can make changes.
While Char has benefitted immensely from Yoga practice, she sees that there is not too much research happening with yoga vis-à-vis stroke survivors. Char asked Dr. Khalsa how young stroke survivors could benefit from yoga therapy. In response Dr. Khalsa says that what Char is asking about is research design.
Research design as per Dr. Khalsa is specific and a randomized control trial. Depending on what the scientific query is, the specific research has to be designed that way. One could be looking for short/long term effects, etc., so depending on the query there is a specific research design. Dr. Khalsa agrees that in the field of strokes not much research has happened, except a small clinical trial which has been published. Dr. Khalsa says,
So there is a lot of scope here, to evaluate the benefits of yoga via research.
Regarding Char’s amazing recovery post a stroke Dr. Khalsa says,
In working the mind-body connection, this is almost a miracle. It tells us how powerful yoga is. It is just so simple, that it feels like some kind of trick. But, there is no trick; just an integration of mind and body.
Yoga amazingly has shown benefit even for patients suffering from schizophrenia.
Char has worked with stroke patients and those with Parkinson’s. She says she is stunned by the progress the patients make when they are able to do this mind body connect with yoga. She believes if she can do it, so can the others.
Another important query that Char made was the extent of research happening involving high school kids. Dr.Khalsa said, that that the center for research in his lab was conducting a research for the last 3/ 4 years. He says,
Qualitative, as well as quantitative research studies show that high school kids do benefit from yoga. They become calmer and less anxious, which directly reflects, not just in their everyday behavior but also in their academics; both are inter-related after all.
Emotional regulation as per Dr. Khalsa is a very important aspect in the physical and mental growth of kids. He says,
Our school system is very focused on the academic achievement, and not on emotional regulation. It is a field that deserves a lot of research.
