Talking Point: Yoga: The science, rationale, and research evidence for its efficacy in addiction and substance abuse

This event was one of our Talking Point series. It was delivered on 5 October 2016.

Dr. Khalsa discusses his clinical research trials evaluating a yoga treatment for insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic stress and anxiety disorders. At the center of his interest is an evaluation of the benefits of yoga within the academic curriculum of public schools.

Dr Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute, New Mexico, USA; Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA.

Dr Sat Bir Singh Khalsa has been fully engaged in basic and clinical research on the effectiveness of yoga and meditation practices in improving physical and psychological health since 2001. He has practiced a yoga lifestyle since 1971 and is a certified instructor in Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan.

He is currently the Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute, Research Director for the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Research Associate at the Benson Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Khalsa works with the International Association of Yoga Therapists to promote research on 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 the author of the Harvard Medical School ebook entitled Your Brain on Yoga and is chief editor of the medical textbook The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care. Since 2005 he has also been teaching at Harvard Medical School in mind-body medicine.