Improvements in Psychological and Occupational Well-being Following a Brief Yoga-Based Program for Education Professionals.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine changes in psychological and occupational well-being in education professionals who attended a yoga-based program. METHODS: Education professionals who attended a 3-day yoga-based RISE (resilience, integration, self-awareness, engagement) program were recruited to participate. RISE was administered at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. Measures of psychological and occupational well-being, and health-related behaviors were completed before (baseline), after (post), and 2 months after RISE (follow-up). Forty-four participants completed baseline and post and were included in the analysis. Of those, 33 participants also completed the follow-up. Paired samples t tests were used to compare scores between time points. RESULTS: Compared to baseline, at post, participants showed improvements in perceived stress, mindfulness, empowerment, positive affect, negative affect, self-compassion, total work engagement, vigor, sleep quality (all P values < .001), resilience, satisfaction with life, as well as exhaustion and professional efficacy which are dimensions of burnout (all P values < .01). At the follow-up, significant improvements were maintained for mindfulness, empowerment, self-compassion, sleep quality (all P values < .001), resilience, vigor, and exhaustion (all P values < .01) and positive affect, satisfaction with life, and work engagement (all P values < .05). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the yoga-based RISE program improves psychological and occupational well-being in education professionals. In addition, participants reported that attending RISE was feasible, they could continue using RISE practices long-term, shared them with work colleagues, and reported that RISE positively impacted both their daily lives and workplace environment. With these promising results, additional controlled research is warranted.

Improvements in Psychological and Occupational Well-Being in a Pragmatic Controlled Trial of a Yoga-Based Program for Professionals.

Objective: The purpose of this pragmatic controlled trial was to examine changes in psychological and occupational well-being in professionals who attended a yoga-based program. Setting: The 5-day RISE (resilience, integration, self-awareness, engagement) program was delivered at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. RISE included 5 h per day of yoga, meditation, lectures, and experiential activities. Subjects: Adult professionals from education, corrections, and social service institutions were pragmatically assigned to the RISE group (n = 61) or a waitlist control group (n = 60). Outcome measures: Measures of psychological and occupational well-being were completed before RISE (baseline), immediately after RISE (postprogram), and 2 months after RISE (follow-up). Analyses of covariance were conducted to compare change scores between groups. Results: Eighty-two participants (RISE n = 41, control n = 41) completed baseline and postmeasures and were included in the analysis, and 57 (RISE n = 27, control n = 30) also completed the follow-up. Relative to controls, the RISE group reported improvements in stress (p = 0.001, r2 = 0.51), resilience (p = 0.028, r2 = 0.34), positive affect (p = 0.001, r2 = 0.52), negative affect (p = 0.001, r2 = 0.52), mindfulness (p = 0.021, r2 = 0.13), and job satisfaction (p = 0.034, r2 = 0.08) from baseline to postprogram. From baseline to follow-up, compared with controls the RISE group showed improvements in stress (p = 0.001, r2 = 0.33), resilience (p = 0.001, r2 = 0.24), positive affect (p = 0.006, r2 = 0.49), negative affect (p = 0.043, r2 = 0.32), mindfulness (p = 0.001, r2 = 0.28), empowerment (p = 0.005, r2 = 0.20), and self-compassion (p = 0.011, r2 = 0.19). Conclusions: The RISE program was associated with improvements in psychological and occupational well-being immediately after and 2 months after the program. Future research is needed to confirm these results.

Effects of a Kundalini Yoga Program on Elementary and Middle School Students' Stress, Affect, and Resilience.

OBJECTIVE: The Your Own Greatness Affirmed (YOGA) for Youth program delivers yoga to urban inner-city schools with the goal of providing practical benefits that support underserved children at high risk of behavioral and emotional problems. A 10-week YOGA for Youth program delivered 1 to 2 times per week was implemented in 3 schools in urban neighborhoods to examine the effect of the program on student stress, affect, and resilience. METHODS: Thirty children were administered the Perceived Stress Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Resilience Scale before and after the yoga program. After the program, informal qualitative interviews were conducted with school teachers, yoga teachers, and students to determine the overall impact of the yoga program. RESULTS: The quantitative results of this study indicated that the yoga program significantly improved students stress (p < 0.05), positive affect (p < 0.05), and resilience (p < 0.001). The qualitative results indicated that students, school teachers, and yoga teachers all found the program to be beneficial for students' well-being. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these data suggest that the YOGA for Youth program may provide students in low-income urban schools with behavioral skills that will protect against risk factors associated with the development of behavioral and emotional problems.

Improvements in Psychological Health Following a Residential Yoga-Based Program for Frontline Professionals.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effects of a residential yoga-based program on psychological health and health behaviors in frontline professionals. METHODS: Frontline professionals from education, health care, human services, and corrections participated in the RISE (Resilience, Integration, Self-awareness, Engagement) program and completed questionnaires at baseline, post-program, and 2 months following RISE. RESULTS: Paired samples t tests revealed improvements in mindfulness, stress, resilience, affect, and sleep quality from baseline to post-program (all Ps < 0.001, N = 55), which were sustained at the 2-month follow-up (all Ps < 0.01, N = 40). Participants also reported increases in exercise, fruit, and vegetable consumption post-program (all Ps < 0.001), all of which persisted at the 2-month follow-up (all Ps < 0.01) except exercise. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that RISE improved indices of psychological health and healthy behaviors that remained 2 months following RISE.

Tibetan Herbal Tea Agar-35 Reduces Negative Affect and Anxiety: A Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study.

INTRODUCTION: Herbal medicine and other forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are used to treat symptoms of psychiatric disorders in the United States, including anxiety and mood problems. In Traditional Tibetan Medicine anxiety and depression are commonly treated with an herbal compound known as Agar-35. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this pilot study was to explore whether Agar-35 tea would improve anxiety, affect, stress, and rumination. METHODS: Undergraduate psychology students (N=14) were randomized to drink either Agar-35 tea (n=6) or placebo tea (n=8) for 7 nights. RESULTS: The results indicated that Agar-35 significantly reduced participants' negative affect compared to placebo, U = 6.0, p = .019, effect size, r = .63. Further, Agar-35 also reduced anxiety (trending toward significance), U = 10.0, p = .071, effect size, r = .48. CONCLUSION: In accordance with its use in Tibetan Medicine, these preliminary findings suggest that Agar-35 may benefit aspects of psychological health.

An Integrative Review of Scientific Evidence for Reconnective Healing.

BACKGROUND: Biofield therapies offer a novel, non-invasive approach to treating chronic diseases based on assessing and adjusting an individual's physiological and emotional responses through their bio-energetic field. Reconnective Healing™ (RH) is defined as: "…not just energy healing, but instead a more comprehensive spectrum of healing composed of energy, light, and information." OBJECTIVES: Several biofield therapies, such as Reiki, Therapeutic Touch and Johrei, have already been reviewed in the literature but RH has received little attention even though it is taught and practiced worldwide. This review provides a critical assessment of RH as a healing modality. METHODS: Scientific research articles published in peer-reviewed journals addressing RH were identified using relevant databases and archives. Information was extracted from each article that met selection criteria for evaluation of quality of reporting and design. This review summarizes and critically evaluates the five currently published peer-reviewed research papers involving RH and assesses whether RH provides consistent physiological outcomes between the studies. RESULTS: These results, taken together, suggest: (i) exposure of a healer or healee to RH, either directly or indirectly, amplifies their degree of autonomic arousal and energy, (ii) RH can reduce pain and improve range of motion in people with shoulder limitations, and (iii) when individuals experience RH as a group, their autonomic nervous systems simultaneously show sudden similar responses consistent with the idea that RH is mitigated by entrainment of biofields. CONCLUSIONS: Since these studies are extremely varied in design it is not possible at this point to reach conclusions about the general effectiveness of RH. More clinical and physiological research performed on different populations under a range of conditions is needed in order to support this healthcare approach.

Lateral septal infusions of the neuropeptide Y Y2 receptor agonist, NPY(13-36) differentially affect different defensive behaviors in male, Long Evans rats.

The lateral septum has been extensively implicated in regulating anxiety-related defensive behaviors in the rat. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) contributes to anxiety, likely through activity at the NPY Y1 and/or Y2 receptor binding sites. Although the lateral septum contains the highest density of Y2 receptors in brain, the involvement of this receptor in anxiety-related defensive behaviors is not clear. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to characterize lateral septal Y2 receptor contributions to rats' defensive responses to threat and/or potentially threatening environments. We investigated this by infusing the NPY Y2 agonist NPY13-36 into the lateral septum and testing rats across a battery of animal models of anxiety (Experiment 1). To verify the role of Y2 in mediating the observed effects, rats were pre-infused with the potent and highly selective Y2 antagonist BIIE 0246 prior to infusion with NPY13-36 (Experiment 2). Infusions of NPY13-36 into the lateral septum increased rats' open-arm exploration in the elevated plus-maze test (p<0.01) and decreased the proportion of rats' that buried (p<0.05) as well as their latency to initiate burying in the shock-probe burying test (p<0.01). By contrast, NPY13-36 did not affect either anxiety- or appetite-related responses in the novelty-induced suppression of feeding test (all ps>0.3; Experiment 1). Pre-treatment with the Y2 antagonist BIIE 0246 prevented the anxiolytic-like actions of NPY13-36 in the plus-maze but not in the shock-probe test (Experiment 2). Thus, it appears that the anxiolytic-like actions of lateral septal NPY13-36 are mediated by the Y2 receptor in a test-specific manner.

Infusions of neuropeptide Y into the lateral septum reduce anxiety-related behaviors in the rat.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is one of the most abundant peptides in mammalian brain and NPY-like-immunoreactivity is highly expressed in the lateral septum, an area extensively involved in anxiety regulation. NPY counteracts the neurochemical and behavioral responses to acute threat in animal models, and intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of NPY at low doses is anxiolytic. Less is known about the specific contributions of the lateral septum to NPY-mediated anxiety regulation. In Experiment 1, the effects of infusions of NPY (1.5 µg) into the lateral septum were investigated in three animal models of anxiety: the elevated plus-maze, novelty-induced suppression of feeding, and shock-probe burying tests. Experiment 2 examined the role of the NPY Y1 receptor in these models by co-infusing the Y1 antagonist BIBO 3304 (0.15 µg, 0.30 µg) with NPY into the lateral septum. In the elevated plus-maze, there were no changes in rats' open arm exploration, the index of anxiety reduction in this test. In the novelty-induced suppression of feeding test, rats infused with NPY showed decreases in the latency to consume a palatable snack in a novel (but not familiar) environment, suggesting a reduction in anxiety independent of increases in appetite. This anxiolysis was attenuated by co-infusion with BIBO 3304 (0.30 µg) in Experiment 2. Lastly, rats infused with NPY showed decreases in the duration of burying behavior in the shock-probe burying test, also indicative of anxiety reduction. However, unlike in the feeding test, BIBO 3304 did not attenuate the NPY-induced anxiolysis in the shock-probe test. It is concluded that NPY produces anxiolytic-like actions in the lateral septum in two animal models of anxiety: the novelty-induced suppression of feeding, and shock-probe burying tests, and that this anxiolysis is dependent on Y1 receptor activation in the feeding test.

The ventral hippocampus and the lateral septum work in tandem to regulate rats' open-arm exploration in the elevated plus-maze.

Lesions or pharmacological inhibition of the ventral hippocampus or the lateral septum suppress rats' defensive responses in various rat models of anxiety. Although these two structures are extensively connected, it was not clear whether they regulate anxiety in a parallel (independent) or serial (integrated) fashion. In Experiment 1, bilateral infusions of the GABA-A receptor agonist muscimol (5 ng/side) into the lateral septum increased rats' open-arm exploration in the elevated plus-maze test, whereas unilateral infusions of muscimol did not. Similar anxiolytic-like effects were observed in Experiment 2, following bilateral infusions of muscimol (500 ng/side) into the ventral hippocampus. In Experiment 3, we confirmed that unilateral infusions of muscimol into either the lateral septum (5 ng) or the ventral hippocampus (500 ng) did not alter rats' normal open-arm avoidance. Importantly, dramatic increases in open-arm exploration were evident when muscimol was co-infused into one side of the lateral septum (5 ng) and the contralateral ventral hippocampus (500 ng). By contrast, open-arm exploration was not altered when these same doses of muscimol were co-infused into one side of the lateral septum and the ipsilateral ventral hippocampus. These results support the contention that the ventral hippocampus and the lateral septum regulate rats' open-arm exploration in a serial fashion, and that this involves ipsilateral projections from the former to the latter site.