Better health through therapeutic effects of yoga (original) (raw)

Yoga Therapy: Exploring the therapeutic effects of yoga and its ability

Yoga therapy in its present form is a new discipline, created by the marriage of traditional yoga with modern m edicine. It is a specialization of yoga, which tailors yoga practices to the individual needs of people with health problems. It employs simple postural, breathing, relaxation and meditation practices, taking into account medic al diagnoses and holistic factors. It emphasizes mind-body integration, extended awareness and the cultivation of a sense of harmony with the rest of life. It is applicable to many chronic conditions and can be used in conju nction with other complementary therapies. Prior experience of yoga is not required. The objective of this stud y is to assess the findings of selected articles regarding the therapeutic effects of yoga and to provide a comprehe nsive review of the benefits of regular yoga practice. Therapeutic yoga is defined as the application of yoga post ures and practice to the treatment of health conditions and involves instruction in yogic practices and teachings to reduce or prevent alleviate structural, physiological, emotional and spiritual pain, suffering or limitations. R esults from this study show that yogic practices increase muscular strength and body flexibility, promote and i mprove respiratory and cardiovascular function, promote recovery from and treatment of addiction, reduce stre ss, depression, and chronic pain, anxiety, improve sleep patterns, and enhance overall well-being and quality of life.

Yoga and Health

Journal of Yoga and Physiotherapy, 2018

The background of yoga has its origin in ancient Indian philosophy. In contemporary society we can observe many schools or types of yoga. Each having its own specific emphasis regarding body postures, breathing techniques, relaxation technics, and meditation practices. That nurture awareness and state of consciousness. The application of yoga as a therapeutic means, take advantage of the number of psychological and physiological benefits. Yoga exercises may increase man flexibility, strength, coordination while the breading and meditation practices may silent the mind, hence evoke greater awareness and diminish anxiety, reduce distress, and thus enhance quality of life. Despite of growing body of clinical research on the therapeutic effects of yoga, there is still a lack of evidence regarding its clinical validity for number of symptoms and health conditions. In some research studies we can observe inconsistent evidence with some reporting positive effect of yoga interventions, but some are less conclusive. In our review we summarize the current evidence on the clinical effect of yoga intervention on various factors of physical and mental health.

Effects of Yoga on Mental and Physical Health: A Short Summary of Reviews

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012

This report summarizes the current evidence on the effects of yoga interventions on various components of mental and physical health, by focussing on the evidence described in review articles. Collectively, these reviews suggest a number of areas where yoga may well be beneficial, but more research is required for virtually all of them to firmly establish such benefits. The heterogeneity among interventions and conditions studied has hampered the use of meta-analysis as an appropriate tool for summarizing the current literature. Nevertheless, there are some meta-analyses which indicate beneficial effects of yoga interventions, and there are several randomized clinical trials (RCT’s) of relatively high quality indicating beneficial effects of yoga for pain-associated disability and mental health. Yoga may well be effective as a supportive adjunct to mitigate some medical conditions, but not yet a proven stand-alone, curative treatment. Larger-scale and more rigorous research with hig...

HEALTHCARE PRACTICE OF YOGA AND ITS EFFECT UPON SOCIAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

isara solutions, 2022

The objective of this study is to assess the findings of selected articles regarding the healthcare practice of yoga and its effect upon social and mental health.. As participation rates in mind-body fitness programs such as yoga continue to increase, it is important for health care professionals to be informed about the nature of yoga and the evidence of its many healthcare effects. Thus, this manuscript provides information regarding the healthcare effects of yoga as it has been studied in various populations concerning a multitude of different ailments and conditions. Healthcare practice of yoga is defined as the application of yoga postures and practice to the treatment of health conditions and involves instruction in yogic practices and teachings to prevent reduce or alleviate structural, physiological, emotional and spiritual pain, suffering or limitations. Results from this study show that yogic practices enhance muscular strength and body flexibility, promote and improve respiratory and cardiovascular function, promote recovery from and treatment of addiction, reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, improve sleep patterns, and enhance overall well-being and quality of life.

Role of yoga in health and disease

Yoga as a mode of therapy has become extremely popular, and a great number of studies and systematic reviews offer scientific evidence of its potential in treating a wide range of psychosomatic conditions. Healthy life can be considered as a by-product of practicing yogic techniques since it has been observed that yoga practitioners are physically and mentally healthier and have better coping skills to stressors than the normal population. This review paper details some of the health promoting benefits of yoga as well as discusses the important cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal and metabolic conditions in which it may have preventive, supportive, curative and rehabilitative potential. Role of yoga in stress, mental health, cancer, pregnancy and childhood are also detailed. Mechanisms for such beneficial physiological, biochemical and psychological effects are discussed. Psycho-neuro-endocrine changes including correction of GABAergic activity, and parasympathetic activati...

A Brief Review of Beneficial Effects of Yoga on Physical and Mental Health

Medical and health science journal, 2022

Yoga is focussed as an essential form of spiritual discipline based on an extremely subtle science bringing harmony between mind and body. It is an art and science of healthy living consisting largely of asanas. It is found to be one of the best exercises for physical and mental health. There is more need of supportive therapy for maintaining physical and mental health apart from current treatment by different forms of medicine. It is known to relax body, promote immunity and thereby prevent illness seeing as effective, acceptable and cost-effective for body and mind to relieve stress. An online search for studies done using medline terms like yoga, physical health & mental health were done. The studies have shown that it improves physical illness and promotes mental calmness by removal of anxiety, depression & stress thereby excel the treatment of diseases. These gives positive change such as well-being and happiness to the individual and increase the quality life years.

7. Evidence Based Medical Benefit of Yoga

Yoga helps achieve balanced health by connecting the mind and body through a series of postures, breathing exercises and meditation. Regular practice results in an increase in flexibility and strength, an improvement in posture, and better mood and concentration. Today over 16 million Americans practice yoga on a regular basis. Over the last decade, several scientific studies have established therapeutic benefits of yoga practice. As a result, yoga has emerged as a potential integrative modality for the management of several common medical diseases. The United States National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is presently supporting research on the benefits of yoga on diabetes risk factors, HIV, immune function, arthritis, menopausal symptoms, multiple sclerosis, posttraumatic stress disorder and smoking cessation. This research initiative by NCCAM is aimed at establishing evidence based data on the therapeutic benefits of yoga. It also provides further credibility to this centuries old practice. This brief review looks at some conditions where yoga may have already established evidence based beneficial effects.

Yoga: the life changing tool to improve health of human beings

Yoga is a life changing tool for human beings. It is the subject of research from last few decades intended for healing purposes for modern epidemic illnesses i.e. hypertension, mental stress, obesity, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In such cases, specific research studies reported beneficial results of yoga. That means, yoga can be utilized as a nonpharmaceutical measure or counterpart to drug therapy for the treatment of these conditions/cases. In this article, research is reviewed on the effects of yoga as a tool for changing the life of human beings. In addition to this, the limbs, asana and pranayama are discussed in a proper way. Further, how that helps in solving the health problems are also discussed in this article.