BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine - Yoga Vidya

More documents

Recommendations

Info

17Furthermore, it could be that the energy was used to handle the feelings and emotions that theypreviously suppressed. Additional work that utilizes multiple instruments is needed to assessthese possibilities.The shortcomings of this pilot study are that, first, this was not a randomised controlledtrial. It is therefore possible that there has been a selection bias in the formation of the twogroups. This could be alleviated with proper randomization in a full-scale trial. Second,checking for longer term effects of the interventions are desirable. Are they only effective for 6weeks, or are they durable, as long as the techniques are practiced on a regular basis? This isimportant to determine for the possible long term utility of SK&P. Third, even though the twogroups were treated as equally as possible, significantly more interaction occurred with theSK&P group and the instructor than that with the control group and its instructor which mayhave had some effects. Therefore, in a full trial, comparable interaction of the subjects with theinstructor is desirable. Fourth, sampling was not preceded by a power estimation; insteadparticipants that were available were included. Fifth, blinding was not possible. Sixth, cointerventioneffects cannot be ruled out. Therefore, larger and longer term full-scale trials witha randomised protocol are required for the future.As SK&P appears to have the potential to generate positive effects on wellness, it wouldbe interesting to conduct studies that also focus on physiological parameters, such asbiochemical markers, as this can give indications as to the mechanism that underlie the effectof these practices, as well as providing a means to objectively test the efficacy of this program.It would also be interesting to conduct additional qualitative studies that specifically focus onpsychological experiences during SK&P as this appears to be a method with the potential ofgenerating insight into the psyche.The need for well-documented methods for increasing wellness is large. There exist anumber of techniques, which could increase quality of life and health for many people but theymay have shortcomings by different criteria. Data presented here suggest that SK&P may be an
18efficient and practical method to increase wellness and thus further evaluations are warranted.ConclusionsThe current findings suggest that adult participants of normal health can improve theirwellness by learning and applying a program based on yoga and yogic breathing exercises.This pilot study, with its limitations discussed above, has allowed a number ofrecommendations to be made to facilitate the design of a large-scale trial. These easily learnedand applied cost-effective yogic practices can thus be offered as an intervention to the adultpopulation at large to relieve psychosocial stress and its associated disorders; this in turn mayresult in the prevention of a score of mental and physical disorders. Full-scale trials arerequired to conclusively assess the validity of this hypothesis.Competing InterestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.Authors’ ContributionsAK carried out the design of the study, supervision of data collection, and in dataanalysis, as well as drafting and finalizing of the manuscript. SB assisted with data collectionand analysis. KA helped design the study, was the major person in data collection, and draftedthe manuscript. TN was the main person in analysing the data and performed the statisticalanalysis. FS participated in the design and coordination of the study as well as in drafting andfinalizing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.AcknowledgementsKA, SB, and TN were supported by the University of Karlstad, and FS by University of
Page 1 and 2: BMC Complementary andAlternative Me
Page 3 and 4: 2AbstractBackground. Increasing rat
Page 5 and 6: 4BackgroundRelaxation exercises off
Page 7 and 8: 6MethodsParticipantsThis study incl
Page 10 and 11: 9DesignThe current study used a two
Page 12 and 13: 110.76 and internal consistency was
Page 14 and 15: 13ResultsPersonality variablesDepre
Page 16 and 17: 15The yoga group which practiced SK
Page 20 and 21: 19Oslo. We would like to thank Art
Page 22 and 23: 18. Cowen VS, & Adams, T.B: Physica
Page 24: 23Table 1. Baseline characteristics

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine - Yoga Vidya

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?