What science says about the health benefits of yoga

I've noticed some of those same benefits (reduction in LBP and sciatica) doing stretching with a TRX suspension device. I wonder if it's the mindful concentration while stretching with a TRX that provides the same benefits as yoga? Sounds like single-pointed concentration and stretching is also at the heart of pilates too. Makes you wonder whether the single-minded concentration on alternate neural pathways distracts the pain patient from obsessing about his symptoms? Distraction as a psychological strategy again?

 

Thanks for posting this, Forest. I especially like this quote from the article:

"Clearly, in cases where yoga does not offer significant relief from physical disease, it can still offer some measure of relief from suffering. In this sense, yoga can provide a different way of looking at pain and suffering, which in itself can potentially alleviate some suffering. The basic realisation that “I” am not my body, or my thoughts, or my sensations of pain, is itself healing or liberative from a certain kind of existential suffering."


I wrote a post about a month ago about my experience with pain while doing Bikram Yoga, which is similar to this quote.