Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, PhD received his doctorate in human physiology and neuroscience at the University of Toronto and has conducted research in neuroscience, biological rhythms, sleep and sleep disorders for over 35 years. He has also been personally involved in the practice of a yoga lifestyle since 1971 and is a certified Kundalini Yoga instructor.  He is currently the Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical Medical School at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Research Associate at the Benson Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine. As a full-time yoga researcher, he has conducted clinical research trials evaluating the efficacy of yoga treatment for insomnia, stress, anxiety disorders, and mental health in public schools. Dr. Khalsa collaborates with fellow yoga researchers internationally, routinely participates in yoga research conferences, and actively works with the International Association of Yoga Therapists to promote research on yoga therapy, including coordination of the annual Symposium on Yoga Research.  He is the author of the Harvard Medical School ebook entitled Your Brain on Yoga, and since 2005 he has also been teaching an elective course at Harvard Medical School in mind body medicine.   Dr Lorenzo Cohen is Professor and Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Distinguished Clinical Professor, Fudan University Cancer Hospital, Shanghai, China. Dr Cohen conducts research examining the biobehavioral effects of integrative medicine practices aimed at reducing the negative aspects of cancer treatment and improving quality of life including studies of meditation, Tibetan yoga, Patanjali-based yoga, Tai chi/Qigong, and other strategies such as stress management, emotional writing, neurofeedback, and acupuncture. He is interested in examining different types of complementary programs that can be easily incorporated into conventional treatment to decrease the psychophysiological consequences associated with treatment and improve outcomes. The grandson of the late Vanda Scaravelli, author of Awakening the Spine and yoga teacher of many, Dr Cohen is especially interested in researching the effects of yoga, meditation, and other mind-body practices.  Dr Cohen is also conducting research to demonstrate that lifestyle changes can influence cancer outcomes.  Ongoing studies are examining lifestyle changes in the areas of diet/nutrition, physical activity, and stress management/social network to change the risk of developing cancer and influencing outcomes in those with cancer.   Timothy McCall, MD is a board-certified internist, and the author of two books, including Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing (Bantam). He practiced medicine for more than 10 years in the Boston area before devoting himself full-time to investigating and teaching yoga therapy. He is the founder/director of Yoga As Medicine seminars and teacher trainings and the co-director, alongside his wife Eliana, of the Simply Yoga Institute, a yoga therapy center in Summit, New Jersey. Timothy has traveled extensively, studying with many of the world's leading yoga teachers and yoga therapists including BKS Iyengar, TKV Desikachar, Patricia Walden and Donald Moyer. He has practiced yoga and meditation from various traditions for over 20 years and Tantra for more than a decade. Since 2005, he has studied with a traditional Ayurvedic doctor, Chandukutty Vaidyar in Kerala, India. McCall's articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, the Los Angeles Times and the Nation. In 2004-2005, he was a scholar-in-residence at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, MA. Since 2002, he has been the medical editor of Yoga Journal. He lectures and teaches yoga therapy seminars worldwide.   Shirley Telles completed a MBBS degree followed by a M.Phil and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India. She is currently the director of research, Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India (www.patanjaliresearchfoundation.com). Dr Telles has 159 publications indexed in bibliographic databases, 17 chapters in books and has written 3 books. She was a Fulbright fellow (Gainesville, FL) and has received awards from the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Templeton Foundation. She is an enthusiastic practitioner of yoga.

Section 1: Introduction to Yoga and Yoga Therapy



1. Introduction to yoga in health care



2. History, philosophy and practice of yoga



3. History, philosophy and practice of yoga therapy



4. Research on the psychophysiology of yoga



Section 2: Mental Health Conditions



5. Yoga therapy for depression



6. Yoga therapy for anxiety



7. Yoga therapy for other mental health conditions



Section 3: Musculoskeletal and Neurological Conditions



8. Yoga therapy for back conditions



9. Yoga therapy for musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions



10. Yoga therapy for neurological and immune conditions



Section 4: Endocrine Conditions



11. Yoga therapy for diabetes



12. Yoga therapy for metabolic syndrome and weight control



Section 5: Cardiorespiratory Conditions



13. Yoga therapy for heart disease



14. Yoga therapy for hypertension



15. Yoga therapy for respiratory conditions



Section 6: Cancer



16. Yoga therapy during cancer treatment



17. Yoga therapy for cancer survivors



Section 7: Special Populations



18. Yoga therapy for pediatrics



19. Yoga therapy for geriatrics



20. Yoga therapy for obstetrics and gynaecology



21. Yoga as prevention and wellness



Section 8: Practical and Future Considerations



22. Implementation of yoga therapy



23. Future directions in research and clinical care