What to Expect from Starting Yoga: Video Interview with an Expert

Research demonstrates the potential for yoga to have healthful effects on blood pressure, blood sugar control, weight, sleep, anxiety and more. But, you may wonder, how long after starting yoga does it take before you’d see such results? And how much time do you need to put in doing yoga to benefit?

In this portion of my interview with Sat Bir Khalsa, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, he shares some perspective on these questions. Check the video interview, and then see below for some resources from NCCAM (the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine), part of the federal National Institutes of Health and a good source of information about yoga.

Yoga is more than just moving through a series of stretches. The word yoga is Sanskrit (one of the ancient languages from India, where yoga began) and refers to uniting the body, mind and spirit. The key to getting the best out of each yoga pose is to focus not only on your body, but also on your mind and breathing.

Expectations about Benefits of Yoga

Dr. Khalsa notes that doing yoga does bring some immediate effects – peace of mind and improved mood, for example – which may last for hours or even a day.  The effects on health, including blood pressure, blood sugar and weight management, take time to develop.  Even these, he notes, should be apparent within a couple months of practicing yoga a few times a week.

Research at the Ohio State College of Medicine found differences in hormones and markers of inflammation between women who had only done yoga a few times and those who’d been regularly practicing yoga for at least two years. NCCAM summarizes these findings, which need further confirmation, and provides a link to the study.

 Expectations about What it Takes

How much time you need to invest in yoga depends on your goals, your starting point, and what else you’re doing to reach those goals.  If yoga is one of several different kinds of physical activity you do to keep fit, you may still promote heart and overall health with less frequent yoga. However, since many of yoga’s benefits seem related to not only the physical poses, but also the meditation and breathing exercises, other forms of exercise may not be able to completely cover for yoga.

According to Dr. Khalsa, a good minimum target is to do a 20- to 60-minute session of yoga two days a week, with about 15 minutes daily of some sort of meditation or other mindfulness practice.

You can get started learning yoga postures, breathing and meditation techniques in classes at a local Y, fitness center or yoga center; at a yoga center get-away retreat; or from videos online or on DVDs.  In the next, and final, portion of our interview, Dr. Khalsa shares his insights about finding what’s right for you.

Meanwhile, if you’ve tried yoga – either as a novice or a regular practitioner – please Comment below and share what you’ve learned from your experience that other readers might find helpful.

Resources

For a brief summary of information about yoga, what research shows in many different areas about what it can do, and thoughts of how to get started, check this introduction to Yoga for Health on the website of the NCCAM (the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine; part of the National Institutes of Health).

Here’s a video interview with two different researchers, George Salem, PhD, at the University of Southern California and Karen Sherman, PhD, MPH, at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, going into more detail about their studies on the health effects of yoga.

References

Chong CS, et al. Effects of yoga on stress management in healthy adults: A systematic review.  Altern Ther Health Med. 2011 Jan-Feb;17(1):32-8.

Roland KP, et al. Does yoga engender fitness in older adults? A critical review. J Aging Phys Act. 2011 Jan;19(1):62-79.