To say that last month was challenging and overall somewhat of turning point in my life would be an understatement. But such is life; it throws things at us all the time, sometimes small things and sometimes big ones, and we just have to do our best to cope. Sometimes practices like yoga can help, sometimes it takes us time to get back to what normally supports us. Sometimes joy comes from surprising places, like seeing how many people want to learn about immunology or finding out about a cool study (more on those below).
So here I am, back to writing this newsletter, and forgive me for the lack of my usual flair (especially new readers).
News
I’m running a series of (online) workshops with Melanie Cooper on yoga and the immune system. Interested?
Each 2-hour workshop will include an accessible introduction into the scientific topic by me, followed by a yoga practice led by Melanie. We’ll also include tips and tricks on how to incorporate the learnings into your practice and teaching. The first one will be on June 29th and will focus on yoga, stress and the immune system – mark your calendars!
Enjoy my yoga nidras?
I finally set up a profile on insight timer and have uploaded two yoga nidras, one themed on gratitude and one on the stoic practice of view from above – more to come soon.
Mind–body science highlights
Yoga nidra and pranayama imrpove mental health in cervical cancer. Women with cervical cancer received either standard of care (control; the abstract doesn’t say what this is but likely a mental health intervention) or standard of care plus yoga for 30 minutes twice a day, five days a week. Both groups showed improvements in depression and anxiety scores, but the yoga group showed enhanced improvement. Abstract only, would like to know what the exact intervention was and what the improvement looked like, but interesting nonetheless.
Yin yoga helps with anxiety. This is a fairly small trial but it’s incredibly rare to read a study on yin yoga so I thought it was worth including. Over 10 weeks during the pandemic, participants (38 women) practiced yin yoga delivered online once a week. Yin yoga students showed a reduction in anxiety (specifically state anxiety, which is a feeling of worry and stress at that moment in time) compared with the control.
I can’t imagine the sequence is relevant, but for those interested: butterfly forward fold, deer, square, squat, child’s, shoelace, dragon, swan, downdog, half-saddle, snail, savasana (that’s a lot of poses of a yin class!).
Yoga does not improve impulsivity. This was a systematic review that collated the findings of studies evaluating the effects of yoga on conditions that involve impulsivity (eg ADHD, bipolar). There were only 6 studies included; however, I’m not sure why yoga would help with impulsivity so the finding is not exactly surprising.
Want to help create mind–body science?
I am super excited about a yoga nidra study that is taking place right now, looking at the effects of yoga nidra and music on the brain, mind and immune system in stressed participants. I had a chat with the lovely researcher a few weeks ago and fell in love with psychoneuroimmunology all over again (not quite at the point of grabbing my pipette again but it was close).
Londoners - the study is recruiting participants right now! You’d need to attend three sessions on campus (Kings College, Denmark Hill, in London) to assess your eligibility, measure your brain structure and collect a saliva sample. After that, you will attend two online sessions with a yoga therapist and receive either a co-created yoga nidra or a music playlist. You should practice three times a week for 15 to 20 minutes for 12 weeks (which sounds great, let’s face it).
Until next month!