Generic Yoga Modules for Clinical and Research Settings-Need of the Hour

Author: Vinod Kumar1, Aarti Jagannathan2, Hemant Bhargav3, Shivarama Varambally4, B N Gangadhar5
Affiliation:
1 PhD Student, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
3 Senior Scientific Officer, NIMHANS Integrated Centre for Yoga, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
4 Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
5 Director and Senior Professor of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Conference/Journal: Int J Yoga Therap
Date published: 2021 Jul 14
Other: Special Notes: doi: 10.17761/2021-D-18-00016. , Word Count: 162


Yoga-based interventions offer significant promise in healthcare. However, meta-analyses of various yoga trials suggest that comparisons of trials are either not possible or difficult due to heterogeneity in therapeutic yoga interventions. Also, in view of emerging evidence for the role of therapeutic yoga, it is important to identify the specificity and validity of various yoga components being used in different trials. Efforts in this direction will be fruitful only if a systematic approach is adopted to develop yoga programs for various ailments. In this article, we emphasize the need for a "generic yoga" concept for designing a therapeutic yoga program for particular health issues, with the objectives of promoting scientific growth of therapeutic applications of yoga and widespread application of standardized therapeutic yoga programs within a biomedical framework. This generic therapeutic yoga will essentially highlight the development-validation process of uncopyrighted yoga programs; their components, benefits, and possible side-effects; and requirement for need-based modifications.

Keywords: generic; standardization; therapeutic yoga.

PMID: 34260713 DOI: 10.17761/2021-D-18-00016

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