Evidence-Based Yoga Research - Center for the Study of Yoga and Health

Center for the Study of Yoga and Health

Evidence-Based Yoga

Researching the Intersection
Between Yoga and Health

Our Mission

What makes us Unique

No other organization dives deeper into the scientific literature on Yoga than we do. We are staffed by trained scholars who understand how to evaluate academic literature and determine validity.

Unlike others, we devote considerable resources to examining the research literature on Yoga, contacting the underlying researchers, and obtaining the details of what was and wasn't done at the study level.

If a study appears to be valid, we collect the details on the specific Yoga practices and population that it was used with. These are rarely published, and we often must track down the actual Yoga teachers who were used for the study.

No other organization goes to these lengths to locate and share the most scientifically proven Yoga practices.

Evidence-Based Research

Studies on Yoga and Health

A great way to become familiar with the evidence-based research on Yoga is through review articles. These articles examine and summarize the scholarly literature with a narrow and highly specialized focus, such as reviewing all articles that relate to a single disease state. They typically involve complex criteria for inclusion to increase the validity of their results.

For example, an article on Yoga and arthritis may begin with 200+ sources, but be narrowed down to only a handful that can be considered credible. The information this handful contains would then be contrasted and compared. Below is a list of review articles on Yoga from 2000 to 2008:

Aljasir, B., Bryson, M., & Al-shehri, B. (2008). Yoga Practice for the Management of Type II Diabetes Mellitus in Adults: A systematic review. Evidence-based Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, 5(1): 119.

Alexander, G. K., Taylor, A. G., Innes, K. E., Kulbok, P., & Selfe, T. K. (2008). Contextualizing the Effects of Yoga Therapy on Diabetes Management: A Review of the Social Determinants of Physical Activity. Family & Community Health, 31(3),228-239.

Galantino, M. L., Galbavy, R., & Quinn, L. (2008). Therapeutic Effects of Yoga for Children: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Pediatric Physical Therapy. 20(1), 66-80

Smith, K. B., & Pukall, C. F. (2008). An evidence-based review of yoga as a complementary intervention for patients with cancer. Psycho-Oncology. DOI: 10.1002/pon.1411.

Lynton, H., Kligler, B., & Shiflett, S. (2007). Yoga in Stroke Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review and Results of a Pilot Study. Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, 14(4), 1-8.

Lipton, L. (2008). Using yoga to treat disease: an evidence-based review. Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, 21(2), 34-6, 38, 41.

Yang, K. (2007). A Review of Yoga Programs for Four Leading Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases. Evidence-based Complimentary and Alternative Medicine. DOI:10.1093/ecam/nem154

Innes, K. E., Bourguignon, C., & Taylor, A. G. (2005). Risk Indices Associated with the Insulin Resistance Syndrome, Cardiovascular Disease, and Possible Protection with Yoga: A Systematic Review. The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice, 18,491-519.

Jayasinghe, S. R. (2004). Yoga in cardiac health (A Review). European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation, 11(5),369-375.

Hutchinson, S., & Ernst, E. (2003). Yoga therapy for coronary heart disease: a systematic review. Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapy, 8, 144.

Raub, J. S. (2002). Psychophysiologic Effects of Hatha Yoga on Musculoskeletal and Cardiopulmonary Function: A Literature Review. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 8(6), 797-812.

The following article is a good introduction to Yoga Therapy from an academic perspective:

Hart, J.(2008). An Overview of Clinical Applications of Therapeutic Yoga. Alternative and Complementary Therapies, 14(1), 29-32.

Infobar

The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) defines Yoga Therapy as:

"the process of empowering
individuals to progress toward improved health
and well-being through the
application of the philosophy and practice of Yoga. "

Yoga Therapy is a big tent that incorporates many different kinds of information sources regarding what may or may not work for Yoga and specific health conditions.

Evidence-based Yoga is subset of Yoga Therapy that is grounded in proven, peer-reviewed scientific research into Yoga and its health effects.

The placebo effect makes health related research very difficult. Studies that do not make use of scientific procedures, or do not use them properly, often produce inaccurate results.

The academic, also called scientific, research community has been working on and improving procedures to deal with this for 50+ years.

This type of research follows very strict quality guidelines and includes layers of independent review. It is widely regarded as the most rigorous and credible form of research, and is the only type used by the center.