Welcome to Yogaanveshana!

(Yoga Bharati’s Research Division)

Upcoming Study and Call for Participation

Effect of Surya Namaskar on general health and well-being

Jan 13th - Feb 2nd (every day for 21 days)

You will receive one month of free online Yoga classes upon completing the study.

People with mild neck/back/knee pain are also welcome to join with modified Surya Namaskar practice.

Yoga Bharati is embarking on a feasibility study aimed at illustrating the potential effects of 21 days of practice of Surya Namaskar, or Sun Salutation, a 10-step classic yoga sequence, on multiple facets of public health priorities. This study seeks to explore the plausible correlations between regular Surya Namaskar practice and its impact on cardiac, metabolic, mental health, and pain management.

If you decide to participate, we will ask you to complete a 21-day (3-week) Sun Salutations practice program in which you will practice an instructor-led yoga or self-practice module focused on the Sun Salutations practices daily. You will also be asked to complete a series of questionnaires (~30 minutes) online or in a data collection facility before and after the 3-week practice. 

Please complete the consent form below as an initial step, which takes 2-3 minutes.

Orientation Session Recording - https://youtu.be/m6LGZerGVGA

The study form will be shared with all the participants after completing the consent form

Effects of a Yoga Intervention on Attention and Memory in Children

Description: We just completed the yoga sessions for the research on the effects of a yoga intervention on children.

This study is approved by MIT Institutional Review Board (IRB Protocol 2110000497) and complies with regulatory guidelines.

We are compiling the results… Thank You for participating.

If you are interested in future studies Email: research@yogabharati.org

Yoga Intervention Study

The study for the effect of yoga on attention and memory in children is now closed for enrollment.

Completed Research Projects

Mind Sound Resonance Technique - Paper Abstract

In collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara

Thanks to all the participants and volunteers!

For the full paper, click here.

 Cross-cultural study on the Effects of an Online-Administered Chanting-Based Meditation Technique (MSRT) on Anxiety, Stress, Sleep, and Mindfulness 

Authors: Chinmay Surpur-1, Elliott Ihm-1, Dr. Jonathan Schooler-2, Dr. H. R. Nagarathna-3, Dr. Judu Ilavarasu-4 

Institutions: Yoga Bharati-1; University of California, Santa Barbara-1; SVYASA University-2 

Key words: Yoga, Meditation, Chanting, Sleep, Stress, Mindfulness 

Objective: The purpose of this randomized pilot study was to understand the effects of a 10-day online intervention of a chanting-based relaxation technique called Mind Sound Resonance Technique (MSRT) on measures of anxiety, stress, sleep, and mindfulness. 

Methods: Two-hundred and ten participants were recruited for this pilot study: fifty participants from India and one-hundred and sixty participants from the United States. Participants were initially administered a series of questionnaires to assess measures of state anxiety, stress, quality of sleep, and mindfulness. Each day, participants received a video of MSRT at 9 AM local time. Upon completion of the 10-day intervention, participants were administered the same series of questionnaires. 

Results: Sixty-five participants completed all portions of the study and were compensated. Upon applying exclusion criteria, the data of 47 participants’ (10 male and 37 female) was used for statistical analysis. The mean age of participants was 43.07 years old. Initial results showed no statistically significant difference in any of the questionnaires. However, within the Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire, four specific questions showed statistically significant improvements: 

1. Difficulties falling asleep (M = 2.089, SD = 1.42; t(44) = 3.0, p = 0.004). 

2. Insufficient amount of sleep (M = 2.178, SD = 0.1.29; t(44) = 2.0, p = 0.05) 

3. Feeling exhausted when waking up (M = 1.689, SD = 1.39; t(44) = 2.8, p = 0.008) 

4. Sleepiness during work (M = 1.33, SD = 1.10; t(44) = 2.8, p = 0.008) 

Although the results did not show statistical significance, 75% of the testimonials written by the participants indicated that MSRT is a relaxing experience. 

Testimonials were the best part of this study:

Conclusion: While none of the results showed statistically significant improvements in mindfulness, anxiety, and stress, there was a statistically significant improvement in some sleep-related questions. In addition, the testimonials were emphatically positive, showing that this study needs to be revised and revisited. Conducting online research in the field of yoga is a fairly new area of study, and the effort of this experiment was to design a robust pilot study in order to construct concrete future research. There is promise in potential future online research to study the effects of MSRT on various aspects of sleep alone, rather than including anxiety, stress, and mindfulness, in order to create a more pointed study on the effects of Mind Sound Resonance Technique on various aspects of sleep. 

For Questions, contact research@yogabharati.org

For the full paper, click here.