Exploring the Impact of a Trauma-informed Yoga and Mindfulness Curriculum for Multiple Populations: A Pilot Study

There is growing awareness of the benefits of strength-based approaches addressing the many impacts of trauma and a growing number of non-profits are providing services rooted in mindfulness and embodied movement practices. Programming seeks to share access to holistic and often cost-effective approaches to resilience building, physical health, and mental wellbeing. To sustain impact and grow programming, it becomes important to demonstrate the effectiveness of programming including impact for specific populations. The current study represents a pilot exploration of a trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness curriculum as implemented with four priority populations: people who are incarcerated, those in treatment for substance use disorders, veterans, and youth.

Yoga is associated with physical wellbeing including improvements in cardiovascular health and reduction of cardiovascular risk, specifically hypertension28,30,71. According to a systematic review of 37 randomized controlled trials of 2,768 individuals, adults who practiced yoga had a systolic and diastolic blood pressure reduction15. Another systematic randomized control trial review by Barrows and Fleury5 summarized nine peer-reviewed studies investigating various cardiovascular outcomes associated with yoga. Of the reviewed studies, five specifically evaluated blood pressure, and two found statistically significant improvements in systolic blood pressure compared with controls14 and/or usual care23.

The impact yoga has on wellbeing been well documented in studies across a variety of populations5,15,16,21. Yoga is associated with improvements in psychiatric and mental health conditions10,13,24,62,67, including stress9,38, mood disorders9,30, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder21, anxiety16, dementia23, post-traumatic stress disorder26,67, insomnia30, as well as the effects of chronic pain26,32,39. The reduction of stress (both acute and chronic) through yoga has been shown to reduce other co-morbidities of disease, and improved stress is associated with increased quality of life38,46. Because of these widespread benefits, clinicians increasingly are recommending yoga as a complement to psychotherapy and medical management44.

Yoga benefits have been demonstrated across every age group as well as in specialized populations including people who are incarcerated (Auty, et al., 2015;4, 6, 7, 8,17,19,22,29,33,34,37,40,43,51,56,57,59,69), people suffering from substance use disorders (351,11,25,36,50,54), military personnel39,63, youth30,41,46,53, and survivors of trauma more generally18,26,31,42,52,65,67. The use of yoga specifically developed for populations with emotional, physical, or social needs related to trauma sequelae is increasing.

Given that populations with trauma may already be compromised, these studies suggest that our communities are incurring even greater costs associated with the individual's deteriorating or reduced mental and physical health status. To address this need for improving health and wellbeing outcomes among people underserved by healthcare, mental health, behavioral health and other social services, Yoga 4 Change (Y4C), Inc., a non-profit organization, developed a novel low-cost, yoga and mindfulness curriculum to address trauma and improve mental and physical health by integrating physical movement (e.g., body forms/shapes) with trauma-based thematic teachings (e.g., forgiveness, self-acceptance, vulnerability, etc.). These teachings are specifically developed for four populations, including incarcerated individuals, those dealing with substance use and behavioral health diagnoses veterans, and youth. The current program is unique in that it moves beyond a yoga only physical offering to incorporate programming that is strength-based, trauma-informed, and contains multiple components in support of holistic wellbeing.

The current study represents a pilot exploration of a trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness-based curriculum implemented with multiple populations. This study examined the impact of Yoga 4 Change's manualized curriculum with the goal of demonstrating viability generally and within four specific priority populations. To that end, we implemented two specific explorations examining the impact a trauma-informed mindfulness-based curriculum. The first examined the impact of programming on self-reported ratings of mood and stress across four populations (people in treatment for substance use, people who were incarcerated, veterans, and youth). The intent was to provide insight into the outcomes associated with the specific curriculum but also to explore comparative data on potential difference in impact across the four populations and after multiple sessions. The second part of this pilot study examined the impact of the curriculum on cardiovascular outcomes (blood pressure and heart rate) for individuals in treatment for substance use disorders. The purpose of this pilot exploration is to demonstrate viability of programming in support of curriculum development, implementation, and further controlled study.

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