[MUSIC] So what is Yoga? Yoga is often seen as exercise and stretching, but it is a contemplative practice. It's often described as a moving meditation. Yoga shares many of the benefits with general exercise, relaxation, and meditation practices. Traditionally, yoga is a lifestyle consisting of eight limbs which include ethical rules for living and even advice on diet. The postures themselves, called asanas, are only one of those limbs. The last five limbs are dedicated to levels of meditation. From pranayama, focus on the breath, to deeper levels of concentration and meditation leading to samadhi. Samadhi is a state of alertness and being fully conscious in the world. These limbs are not separate or sequential, but they're inter-connected. And the purpose is to still the fluctuations of the mind. Now yoga originated in India and has a documented history dating back 2,000 years with, for example, the yoga sutras of Patanjali. In the 20th century, B.K.S. Iyengar, one of many yogis to come to the west, published Light on Yoga, documenting selected postures with instructions, benefits, and cautions. Today the choice of yoga schools and websites abound. From aerobic exercise for adults, to those with meditative focus, to specialized classes for children, pregnant women, or even medical conditions like multiple sclerosis. In the 1970s a psychiatrist, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, demonstrated reproducible treatment for intractable back pain with a combination of yoga and meditation. Dr. Kabat-Zinn then went on to develop MBSR, mindfulness-based stress reduction. Backed by research evidence for mental illness as well as for general well-being. In the last decade, there has been an exponential growth in scientific research in the benefits of yoga for physical and mental health. As well as in its psychophysiological modes of action with the publication of numerous meta-analyses of the research literature. Yoga therapy as a profession has grown. Offering dedicated international conferences and established accreditation bodies to ensure quality and duty of care are maintained. In 2016, the Principles and Practice of Yoga in Healthcare was published. Edited by Khalsa et al, a Harvard professor of neuroscience, two medical researchers from the USA and India, and a yoga therapist. This textbook helped bridge the gap between traditional knowledge and current scientific evidence for yoga and health. So the evidence exists for medical conditions, especially for back injuries, pain, musculoskeletal problems. Showing improvements in range of movement, pain, disability, and sleep. In cancer, where it is used during treatment and during recovery with improvement in quality of life, physical as well as psychosocial functioning, including sleep quality in adults as well as children. In type two diabetes, in metabolic syndrome, with improvement in cardio-metabolic factors including fasting plasma glucose and weight loss. Aside from the known benefits of aerobic exercise, stretching, increased body awareness in meditation. The other postulated benefits of yoga come through it facilitating the mind-body connection by top down cognitive processes, bottom up physiological processes. In particular, it is thought to balance the sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic nervous systems to facilitate adaptive responses to stress. Peer-reviewed research evidence is growing for mental health disorders but remains preliminary. Yoga, however, is being developed as an adjunct therapy. For example, yoga CBT's been developed for anxiety and depression. Patients often come with a long-standing practice and see it as part of the foundation of their resilience. Treatment plans often include yoga. Chronic insomnia, Professor Sat Bir Khalsa, who wrote the Harvard guide on yoga, contributed to the establishment of rigorous scientific method to yoga in medicine and demonstrated its efficacy in insomnia. Professor Bessel van der Kolk, psychiatrist and researcher in trauma disorders in adults and adolescents dedicated a chapter in his book The Body Keeps the Score to trauma informed yoga. Demonstrating its validity in adults including in attenuating emotional disregulation and heart rate variability. The evidence in children and adolescents is still preliminary. In eating disorders, physicians have been prescribing yoga for quite a while as a step towards recovering in managing compulsive exercise. In children and adolescents, there is also emerging evidence in ADHD, trauma disorders, learning disorders, and anxiety. Shirley Telles, prominent researcher in yoga and children, has called for biomarker and neuroimaging studies to show long-term efficacy. Probably the most exciting area of research in yoga is in prevention and early intervention. Many people practice yoga to manage and minimize stress, to be more grounded and calm. To keep the aging body supple and strong, to manage an old injury or help recover from a new one. However, in the USA, there has been a collaboration between health, justice, and education systems. To roll out yoga in schools as social emotional learning programs to provide children with another tool to manage their emotions. To provide teachers with the skills to recognize and preempt children with disruptive behaviors and therefore to enhance children's learning in and out of school. So if you were wanting to start a yoga practice, here's my advice. If you have a specific injury or health condition, discuss it with your trusted GP or health professional first. And certainly let your new yoga teacher know before you start your first class. Choose a school with small classes where the teacher can get to know you and give you individual attention. Consider one to one yoga therapy. Find a class that suits you. From Iyengar yoga which provides individual attention, focuses on alignment, and has a body of knowledge for managing injuries and illness. Bikram yoga might be more your thing where you can get hot and sweaty. There are many online courses which I would recommend only for a self-motivated person. And home practice, create a special place at home, warm, quiet, and inviting. Get some props maybe, bolsters, mat, and maybe some incense and a cup of tea to get you started. Set yourself a time table of regular times, two to three times a week, I would recommend. What works for me is a combination of the above. I attend the same school every week and supplement it with home practice. Which can be just getting on the mat and if I'm lucky an hour's gone past and I'm just in the right space for some meditation and shavasana. [MUSIC]
