Scientific Evidence of the Therapeutic Efficacy of Iyengar Yoga – Lisa Walford

SCIeNTIFIC eVIDeNCe OF The TherApeUTIC eFFICACY OF IYeNgAr YOgA

by Lisa Walford

Last October in Mumbai, India, The Light on Yoga Research Trust, in collaboration with the Bombay Hospital Trust, the Indian Medical Association, the General Practitioner’s Association, and the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Society, sponsored a conference entitled “Scientific Evidence of the Therapeutic Efficacy of Iyengar Yoga.” Rajvi Metha, senior Iyengar Yoga teacher and the driving force behind the Light on Yoga Research Trust, which publishes Yoga Rahasya, organized the conference to introduce Iyengar Yoga to medical professionals. More than 300 participants joined the presenters at the Bombay Hospital to attend the full-day conference.

Researchers from Germany, the United States, and India reviewed studies in cardiovascular disease, pediatric pain management, depression, low back care, Parkinson’s disease, and stress management. “You operate from the inside;

I operate from the outside to reach the inside.”

Guruji presided over the event and stated, “Our life force is like a river which moves from the mountain to the sea, never going backwards. We have to make sure it does not stagnate.” Most importantly, he noted that we are all psychosomatic animals, and that the psyche and the soma always move together: “We must work with the nature and adjust to what we see, find out how to give the exact amount of support to the individual.” Addressing the doctors, Guruji noted, “You operate from the inside; I operate from the outside to reach the inside.” Dr. Naik, a regular assistant to Guruji, contributed to the discussion. He is currently collaborating with Guruji to decipher the operative biological mechanisms in the therapeutic process that make Iyengar Yoga so effective.

In her introductory remarks, Metha said, “Beyond the armament of drugs, we have nothing. Yoga can help.” She stressed that evidence-based research is needed to corroborate the therapeutic benefits that Guruji has demonstrated so consistently in his medical classes at the Institute in Pune. Through research, the mechanisms at work in the therapeutic applications of yoga and the most advantageous applications for particular conditions can be recorded and reviewed.

Statistics worldwide indicate that people with many health conditions—diabetes, depression, low back care, and headaches, to name but a few—benefit with complimentary medical therapies. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health established the Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine to apply the rigor of science to assess the efficacy of more than 23 healing practices, including yoga. We expect to see more statistical evidence of yoga’s benefits as these studies progress.

The following are synopses of the studies presented in Mumbai.

GERMANY: The University Hospital of Duisberg-Essen in Germany champions a department of integrative and internal medicine with 60 beds, an outpatient clinic, and a fully equipped Iyengar Yoga studio with three on-site certified Iyengar Yoga instructors. The department chair, Dr. Andreas Michalsen, supervised several studies on patients with stress-related disorders who also were at risk for cardiovascular disease. After the remarkable results of a pilot study assessing quality-of-life improvements to stress-related disorders, Dr. Michalsen designed two randomized trials. The first corroborated the beneficial results of the pilot study and compared the efficacy between biweekly yoga sessions, one session weekly, and a waiting list control. The later study assessed the benefit to patients at risk for cardiovascular disease.

Within a short period, these studies all recorded significant improvements in stress-related outcomes for the participants. Depression, anxiety, anger, and insomnia decreased, and participants’ overall health improved. Cortisol (a stress hormone) levels decreased significantly after the 90-minute classes. There was no marked difference between those practicing twice weekly versus once weekly, except that those partaking in the once-weekly program began practicing at home. Blood pressure and heart rate decreased significantly for the at-risk cardiovascular participants, whereas blood lipid levels remained unchanged.

Dr. Michalsen noted that the patients continue to practice after they are discharged. He is currently opening a second such clinic in Berlin.

UNITED STATES: An exemplary randomized control study on the use of Iyengar Yoga for chronic low back pain was funded by the National Institutes of Health and was published in the peerreviewed journal Pain (Vol. 115, 2005). Kimberly Williams, key researcher and certified Iyengar Yoga instructor, reviewed her protocol and proposed that addressing imbalances in the musculoskeletal body that affect spinal alignment and posture would affect functional disability and would decrease clinical pain in the subjects. She reminded us that chronic low back pain is the most expensive musculoskeletal disorder to treat and accounts for the greatest percentage of absenteeism and disability in the workforce. For more information on Kimberly’s study, go to the Research link on the IYNAUS website.