SOAS BWY Autumn Summit: Yoga – Health, Harm, and Healing - by Mark Probert
I recently attended this one-day event, held at the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Despite practising yoga in Lisa’s classes for three years, I still feel like a recent convert. Like many, I enjoy the physical benefits of asanas and the mental calm that comes from a shared, peaceful space. My curiosity about yoga’s history, philosophy, and varied benefits led me to the SOAS BWY Autumn Summit, which posed important questions: Can yoga promote health? Does it instil hope? Can it foster healing?
The event, a collaboration between the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) and SOAS’s Centre of Yoga Studies, brought together scholars and practitioners to explore yoga’s influence on health. Four main presentations and a few gentle, practical sessions rounded out the day.
Professor Rosie Meek from Royal Holloway, University of London, opened with insights into yoga’s role in improving prisoners’ wellbeing. Her findings, shared in a report for the Ministry of Justice, underscored yoga’s impact within prison settings. Next, Rose Parkes, Associate Dean at the Institute of Law, Jersey, discussed developing inclusive yoga models for prisons, focusing on equality and anti-discrimination.
For me, the presentation of the day was delivered by Carola Chiarpenello, MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from King’s College London, whose research on Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) explores its potential to reduce inflammation and manage chronic stress. Her presentation, rich in scientific evidence, revealed that Yoga Nidra can significantly reduce stress and aid emotional regulation, likely by modulating the autonomic nervous system. She noted that around 20% of people suffer from depression, with nearly a third unresponsive to conventional treatment—an issue where yoga and CBT may help. I hope the NHS is taking note of her study.
Dr Umā Dinsmore-Tuli, founder of the Yoga Nidra Network, spoke next on Yoga Nidra’s therapeutic uses. Integrating traditional visualisation with modern relaxation techniques, she emphasised the importance of mindful practice, challenging the assumption that yoga is inherently harmless. This sparked a thoughtful discussion.
Professor Sat Bir Singh Khalsa from Harvard Medical School gave the keynote presentation, discussing his studies into integrating yoga therapy into modern medicine. His research indicates that yoga can improve sleep quality, reduce anxiety and depression symptoms, and enhance overall psychological well-being. These benefits are linked to yoga's regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which plays a key role in stress response. By modulating this axis, yoga helps mitigate the physiological effects of stress, promoting mental health. His work highlights yoga's potential as a complementary approach in mental health care.
Senior yoga teachers led two practical sessions during the day that allowed attendees to relax and experience some of the Yoga Nidra concepts directly…very pleasant! Overall, the summit highlighted yoga’s potential as a holistic health approach and underscored the importance of practising with mindfulness. Hearing scientific findings that align with the long-held beliefs of yoga’s benefits was both fascinating and affirming, and overall, learning about the latest findings on yoga’s benefits made for an inspiring day.
If anyone is interested in the slides of the presentations, I have copies which I can share. Unfortunately, they are not available online.