Yoga Vacation Program
December 12 — 15, 2022

The Science and Biomedical Research on Yoga

Rationale and Relevance for Modern Society

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa

How does yoga help us stay healthy and stress-free? Join leading yoga researcher Sat Bir Singh Khalsa for a cutting-edge exploration of the psychophysiological science underlying the benefits of yoga practice — and discover how and why yoga manifests as beneficial for addressing stress and emotion regulation, creating resilience and equanimity, maintaining health, and preventing and treating psychological and physical diseases.

In addition to an overview of current scientific studies on yoga relevant to stress and burnout, trauma, insomnia, modern medicine and public schools, you will experience and practice some of the yoga techniques presented. This program provides important exposure to the rationale for conducting research on yoga and an excellent introduction to the past, present, and future research on yoga and yoga therapy.

Offered as 3 satsangs and 3 workshops


In this program, you will learn…

  • Why and how yoga helps us regulate our emotions and keep stress levels low
  • An overview of current scientific studies on yoga
  • How yoga is being used to maintain health on both physical and mental levels
  • What recent research has to say about the influence of yoga practice on trauma, burnout, and insomnia
  • How yoga can offer relief and treatment for psychological and physical illnesses and diseases
  • The current landscape of yoga and yoga therapy as an alternative method of medical treatment

Why should you participate in this program?

  • To discover how to use the tools of yoga to benefit your physical, mental, and spiritual health.
  • Knowledge on its own is not enough; it is important that the one transmitting the knowledge is fit to do so. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa is renowned in the field as a researcher in the field of body mind medicine; he has spent decades specializing in yoga therapy and is currently the Associate Professor of Medicine at the Harvard School of Medicine and the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy.
  • This program is ideal for both those new to yoga therapy and its medical applications and those learned in the research.
  • For yoga enthusiasts, yoga practitioners, and students of yoga, this program offers a deeper dive into why yoga works—and how you can use yoga in your own life to benefit your own health.
  • Program participants will get both a taste of the theory and research of yoga therapy as well as its actual practice. Workshops will be interactive and leave you with an understanding of how to apply what you learned to your own life and the lives of others.

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D. has been fully engaged in biomedical research on the efficacy of yoga and meditation practices in improving physical and psychological health since 2001. He has practiced a yoga lifestyle since 1972 and is a certified instructor in Kundalini Yoga.

He is the Director of Yoga Research for the Yoga Alliance, the Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute, a Research Associate at the Benson Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, a Research Affiliate of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

He has conducted clinical research trials evaluating yoga interventions for insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic stress, and anxiety disorders and in both public school and occupational settings. Dr. Khalsa works with the International Association of Yoga Therapists to promote research on yoga and yoga therapy as the chair of the scientific program committee for the annual Symposium on Yoga Research and as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy. He is medical editor of the Harvard Medical School Special Report An Introduction to Yoga and chief editor of the medical textbook The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care.

December 12

Evening satsang | The Science Behind How Yoga Works

December 13

Afternoon workshop | Yoga for Stress and Burnout: The Science and Research

Evening satsang | Yoga and Modern Medicine

December 14

Afternoon workshop | Yoga for Insomnia: The Science and Research

Evening satsang | Yoga in Public Schools

December 15

Afternoon workshop | Yoga for Trauma: The Science and Research

Show Buttons
Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share On Pinterest
Hide Buttons

Let's Stay In Touch

Join our email list to learn more about our in-person and online programs, courses and free events.

SAYR Sitewide Form