A few studies have been published revealing how enriching Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with yoga can improve the outcomes of patients.
This is exciting as CBT is one of the most commonly used mental health treatments around the world. If yoga can start to be integrated into its protocols, the world of psychological therapies will truly start to appreciate the profound offerings it has in this domain. We imagine that from little aspects of yoga incorporated into CBT, the flood gates will open for patients seeking fully trained yoga therapists!
Dr. Sat Bir Khalsa, sleep and yoga researcher, as well as Kundalini Yoga Teacher has been involved in a number of studies looking at how adding Kundalini Yoga to CBT can improve patient’s wellbeing. His work at Harvard Medical School has been ground-breaking.
In a recent publication he combined his knowledge exploring how CBT combined with an 8-week Kundalini protocol could improve various symptoms such as “intrusion, avoidance, arousal/reactivity, and negative alterations in cognitions and mood” as well as sleep in people with PTSD.
Sleep problems from nightmares, to insomnia, to disturbance of sleep cycles are all common in PTSD. This adds insult to injury as poor sleep leaves us feeling not just exhausted, but even more vulnerable to negative thoughts, reactivity, and other PTSD symptoms.
In this pilot study, Khalsa et al found participants had improvements in all measures. Additionally, participants were able to reduce sleep medication. The next stage will be to investigate if adding yoga to CBT for those with PTSD is superior to CBT alone. We at The Minded Institute have no doubt that this is what we will find.
On September 3rd and 4th, join the live online zoom seminar series with Dr. Khalsa to learn more about the efficacy of yoga in sleep improvement in ‘Yoga for Sleep and Sleep Disorders: Science, Research and Application’.
Knowledge gained will be relevant to working with any individual client with stress and sleep issues and can be integrated into any yoga class. Given that about 30 percent of adults (in various countries) suffer from insomnia, you will have students with sleep problems in probably any class you teach. Join Dr. Sat Bir Khalsa and reserve your place here.
Read the full report here.
