Research on yoga
Growing body of research quantifies various benefits of yoga on health. Neuroscience has advanced our understanding of the mind and its relationship with the body (dis-ease, pain and our agency in its perception and healing). There is still a lot that we don't know about our brain and nervous system, which is why cultivating access to our intuition and empirical practice are so important. Nevertheless, we can pair the latter with intellectual findings, for a holistic understanding of our human nature.
Growing research on yoga and mental health
Research on the benefits of yoga for mental health, as shown by the number of annual publications on PubMed (a free source of biomedical literature), has grown significantly since 2010, with no publications at all before that and 16 listed so far in 2024 (Oct).
Effects of yoga on chronic insomnia
Positive changes in sleeping patters and improved quality of rest are one of the first benefits students notice after starting a regular yoga practice. Different types of yoga help with insomnia on different levels. The results shown here are from a study conducted with Kundalini Yoga, comparing the effectiveness of treatment with yoga and active sleep hygiene.
Reasons for starting yoga and for continuing the practice
In the study presented by Prof. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa at the SOAS Summit in Autumn 2024 we can see how the main reason for yoga practice is Wellbeing. However, interestingly the second most predominant motivation changes from Fitness (initial reason) to Spirituality (current practice).
