Viniyoga® and Yoga Research

with Vidhi Sadana, United Kingdom

Vidhi’s journey is an inspiring blend of ancient wisdom and cutting-edge science. With a background in public health and a Master’s from King’s College, she bridges the gap between yoga and modern medicine. In this interview, Vidhi shares how yoga therapy complements conventional medicine, the growing recognition of the mind-body connection, and her vision for integrating Viniyoga® into healthcare. Her experiences as a teacher, researcher, and practitioner highlight the transformative power of yoga therapy, both for patients and for the healthcare professionals of tomorrow.

Through this insightful conversation, Vidhi emphasizes the potential of yoga therapy to address chronic and complex conditions by fostering a holistic approach to healing. From her personal experiences and research, she advocates for yoga as a tool for empowerment and self-awareness, highlighting its role in mental, emotional, and physical well-being. As Viniyoga® continues to evolve, Vidhi envisions it becoming a cornerstone in integrative medicine, offering personalized and evidence-based practices that resonate with modern health challenges. Her advice to "listen to your body and trust its wisdom" is a reminder of the profound self-healing potential within us all.

Vidhi can be contacted here - Vidhi@wellbeeing.net

1) Your journey combines ancient wisdom with modern science. How has your background in public health and your MSc from Kings College influenced your perspective on yoga therapy?

My background in public health and my MSc from King's College has greatly influenced my perspective on yoga therapy by providing me with a comprehensive understanding of both the scientific and holistic aspects of health. Public health has instilled in me a strong focus on prevention, holistic well-being, and the importance of evidence-based approaches to health interventions. This aligns well with the therapeutic potential of yoga, which emphasizes not only physical well-being but also mental and emotional health.

The scientific training I received through my MSc at King's College has equipped me with the tools to critically evaluate research and understand the physiological and psychological mechanisms at play in therapeutic practices. This allows me to integrate modern health knowledge with the ancient wisdom of yoga, creating a more nuanced, evidence-informed approach to yoga therapy.

For example, I am particularly interested in how yoga therapy can be used as a complementary approach to managing chronic conditions, reducing stress, and enhancing mental health especially those with addictive behaviours. Yoga's emphasis on mindfulness, breathwork, yogic philosophy and breath-focused movement fits well with modern scientific findings on stress reduction, neuroplasticity, and the mind-body connection. Combining the ancient wisdom of yoga with evidence-based public health principles allows me to appreciate its therapeutic potential from a more holistic and scientifically grounded perspective. Additionally, it has allowed me to engage with western medicine professionals in a form/language that they understand whilst keeping the function of healing from the yogic perspective. Function over form!

2) In your experience, how does yoga therapy complement conventional medicine, particularly in managing chronic and complex conditions?

Yoga therapy can be a powerful complement to conventional medicine, especially when managing chronic and complex conditions. From my experience, yoga therapy offers unique benefits that enhance western medical treatments, focusing on the mind-body connection and addressing aspects of health that are often overlooked in conventional medicine such as how childhood traumas or even adult trauma can manifest in the physical body leading to stress disorders, chronic pain, musculoskeletal conditions, immune system disorders etc. Additionally, Yoga therapy encourages patients to take an active role in their healing journey. By learning to listen to their bodies, practice breathwork, and engage in self-care routines, individuals gain a sense of empowerment. This can complement medical treatments by fostering a mindset of self-management and contributing to long-term health maintenance. Conventional medicine often focuses on treating the symptoms of a disease in a reductionist manner, while yoga therapy addresses the whole person—body, mind, and spirit. By bringing a holistic approach, yoga therapy can help manage the emotional and psychological aspects of illness, such as fear, anxiety, or feelings of helplessness/worthlessness, which may not always be addressed in conventional medical settings. Hence, yoga therapy complements conventional medicine by addressing the five layers within the human self. While conventional medicine may focus on symptom management and treatment of disease, yoga therapy helps the patient understand the cause of their illness causing negative core beliefs, their past conditioning or impressions, their dysfunctional patterns created from those core beliefs and experiences manifesting in symptoms. At the same time, it offers tools using yoga on the mat and off the mat practices.  All of which can lead to better overall health outcomes and an enhanced quality of life for those with chronic and complex conditions.

3) The concept of the mind-body connection is gaining traction in modern medicine. How do you think yoga therapy is contributing to this paradigm shift?

Yoga therapy is playing a significant role in the paradigm shift toward understanding and integrating the mind-body connection in modern medicine. This shift acknowledges that physical health is deeply interconnected with mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and yoga therapy provides a unique, practical approach to embody this holistic perspective. Here’s how yoga therapy contributes to this evolving understanding:

a. Scientific Validation of the Mind-Body Link: Yoga therapy helps to bridge the gap between ancient wisdom and modern scientific research. As research increasingly supports the idea that the mind and body influence each other, yoga therapy offers concrete practices demonstrating this connection. Techniques like pranayama (breathing exercises), asanas (postures), mantras and meditation directly affect physiological processes, such as reducing cortisol (a stress hormone), lowering blood pressure, and improving immune function. Studies on yoga’s impact on stress, mental health, and chronic conditions show the power of practices that engage both the mind and body to improve overall health. This growing body of evidence helps integrate yoga into mainstream medicine as an adjunct to conventional treatments.

b. Stress Regulation and Its Physiological Impact: Stress is recognized as a significant factor contributing to many chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders. Yoga therapy, mainly through breath regulation and mindfulness, helps regulate the autonomic nervous system, balancing the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses. This reduces the body's fight-or-flight reaction, promoting relaxation, healing, and restoration. By managing stress and anxiety, yoga supports physical health in ways that modern medicine increasingly recognises as integral to disease prevention and management.

c. Mindful Movement and Mind/Body Awareness: Yoga therapy enhances body awareness through mindful movement, postures, and breathwork. This practice encourages individuals to tune into their physical sensations, improving their understanding of how emotional and mental states manifest in the body. This heightened awareness can lead to better management of conditions like chronic pain, headaches, or tension-related disorders, where emotional stress often exacerbates physical symptoms. As modern medicine begins to understand the importance of mind-body awareness in managing such conditions, yoga therapy provides a practical, accessible tool for cultivating this awareness and reducing reliance on medication or invasive treatments.

d. Emotional Healing and Mental Health: Yoga therapy supports emotional healing by offering a safe space for individuals to process feelings such as anxiety, depression, trauma, and stress. Yoga therapy emphasizes a positive attitude towards oneself and others, and using non-judgment and compassion helps individuals develop emotional resilience, which is becoming a key element of mental health care. The mind-body connection is central to this work, as mental states directly impact physical health, and vice versa. Modern medicine increasingly recognises the importance of mental health and emotional well-being as vital components of overall health, which aligns with the therapeutic benefits of yoga.

e. Empowerment and Patient Agency: Yoga therapy encourages individuals to take an active role in their own healing process, fostering a sense of empowerment. By teaching self-regulation techniques like breathing exercises, meditation, and movement, yoga helps individuals build self-awareness and autonomy in managing their health. This shift from a passive, doctor-centred model to one where patients actively participate in their healing aligns with a growing trend in modern medicine toward patient-centred care. As patients become more involved in managing their health, the mind-body connection becomes a crucial part of this collaborative approach.

As more evidence emerges and the healthcare landscape evolves, yoga therapy continues to play an important role in this transformative shift toward a more integrated, mindful approach to healing.

4) Can you tell us about a moment in your practice or research where you witnessed a profound transformation in a patient or participant?

One moment that stands out in my practice involved working with a participant who had been struggling with chronic pain and anxiety due to a long-term autoimmune condition. This was one of the participants from my research study on the ‘impact of yoga therapy in rheumatoid arthritis and anxiety’. When we began working together, she was in constant discomfort, and her physical symptoms compounded her anxiety. She had tried various medical treatments but felt that they only managed the symptoms without addressing the underlying emotional toll or improving her overall quality of life.

Over time, I introduced her to a combination of gentle yoga postures, breathing exercises, and visualisation techniques and mantra meditation.  Initially, she was sceptical, especially about how movement, breathing technique and mantra chanting could have any impact on her pain or anxiety. However, as we progressed, she noticed subtle shifts in her body and mind. The mantra meditation helped her manage moments of anxiety, and the mindful movement gave her more awareness of her body, which had become a source of frustration and fear.

The profound shift came after about six weeks of consistent practice. During one of our sessions, she shared that she had experienced a moment when the pain was particularly intense but instead of feeling overwhelmed by it, she was able to focus on her breath, softly chant the mantra and observe the sensations in her body without judging them as "pain," and instead respond with more calm asking pain what it needed and compassionately offered the body some rest. This allowed her to stay grounded, rather than spiralling into anxiety. Over time, she started to see this as a tool she could use not only during sessions but in her daily life.

By the end of our work together, she reported not only a significant reduction in her anxiety but also an increased ability to manage her pain in a more balanced, non-reactive way. She felt empowered by the practices and experienced a new sense of agency in her healing journey. It was a turning point where she realized that, while conventional treatments had their place, yoga therapy gave her an additional, deeply personal tool for managing her condition—one that nurtured her mind and body simultaneously.

This moment was particularly powerful because it exemplified the profound transformation that can happen when we integrate the mind-body connection into healthcare, enabling patients to reclaim a sense of control and healing that transcends the purely physical or medical.

5) You’ve mentored medical students and teach at Imperial College School of Medicine. How do you see the next generation of healthcare professionals integrating yoga into their practice?

As a mentor to medical students and a teacher at Imperial College School of Medicine, I see a growing openness among the next generation of healthcare professionals to integrate holistic approaches like yoga into their practice. The field of medicine is evolving, and the current focus on treating disease is increasingly shifting toward promoting overall well-being and preventive care. Here’s how I envision yoga playing an important role in this integration:

• Medical students today are being trained in a more patient-centered approach, where there is increasing recognition that healthcare goes beyond just treating symptoms—it’s about addressing the whole person. Yoga offers a valuable set of tools that can help healthcare professionals treat not only the physical but also the emotional and mental aspects of their patients’ health. 

• One of the critical challenges in modern medicine is fostering empathy and effective communication between healthcare professionals and patients. Yoga, with its emphasis on mindfulness and presence, can serve as a model for how doctors can cultivate deeper listening and connection with patients. Through practices such as meditation and mindfulness, healthcare providers can learn to manage their own stress and emotional reactions, which in turn enhances their ability to be present with patients. Teaching medical students to practice yoga and mindfulness can also help them build resilience, emotional regulation, and the capacity to avoid burnout—issues that are increasingly important in the demanding world of healthcare.

• As evidence-based practice continues to guide medical education and clinical care, future healthcare professionals will be instrumental in exploring how yoga can be integrated into mainstream medicine. Medical students who are exposed to yoga in their training may be more inclined to explore research opportunities that investigate its effects on various health conditions. In the future, I foresee a growing body of research that demonstrates how yoga can be incorporated into clinical guidelines for managing chronic conditions like anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, and musculoskeletal and autoimmune disorders.

• As evidence-based practice continues to guide medical education and clinical care, future healthcare professionals will be instrumental in exploring how yoga can be integrated into mainstream medicine. Medical students who are exposed to yoga in their training may be more inclined to explore research opportunities that investigate its effects on various health conditions. In the future, I foresee a growing body of research that demonstrates how yoga can be incorporated into clinical guidelines for managing chronic conditions like anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, and musculoskeletal and autoimmune disorders.

6) Yoga therapy is still considered complementary in many parts of the world. What steps do you think are necessary for it to become more widely accepted and integrated into mainstream healthcare?

For yoga therapy to become more widely accepted and integrated into mainstream healthcare, several important steps are needed to bridge the gap between traditional practices and modern medical systems. These steps focus on evidence-based validation, education, and collaboration, alongside shifting attitudes within the healthcare system.

1. Strengthening the Evidence Base

The most critical step is the expansion of rigorous scientific research on the effectiveness of yoga therapy for a variety of health conditions. While there is already a growing body of evidence supporting yoga's benefits—especially for chronic pain, mental health issues, stress management, and overall well-being—more high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are necessary. These studies need to focus on specific conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological disorders, and musculoskeletal conditions, to establish yoga therapy’s role as a legitimate, evidence-based intervention.

Moreover, systematic reviews and meta-analyses that aggregate the findings from various studies would help highlight the broader impact of yoga therapy on patient outcomes. Research that explores the underlying mechanisms of how yoga works (e.g., the role of breathwork, mindfulness, and movement on the nervous system) would also contribute to a better understanding of its therapeutic effects, further supporting its integration into mainstream healthcare.

2. Collaboration with Conventional Healthcare Providers

Yoga therapy’s integration into healthcare systems requires collaboration between yoga therapists and conventional healthcare professionals. Doctors, physical therapists, psychologists, and other healthcare providers should be educated about the potential benefits of yoga as part of a comprehensive treatment plan, rather than viewing it solely as a "complementary" or "alternative" option.

Multidisciplinary teams that include yoga therapists working alongside medical professionals can create holistic care plans for patients. For example, patients with chronic pain may receive conventional treatments like medications and physical therapy alongside yoga therapy to manage stress, improve flexibility, and reduce pain perception. The more healthcare providers understand the practical benefits of yoga therapy and its complementary nature to traditional treatments, the more likely they are to recommend it as part of a well-rounded approach.

3. Creating Reimbursement Structures

One of the barriers to widespread integration of yoga therapy into healthcare is the lack of insurance coverage and reimbursement for yoga-related treatments. Governments, healthcare organizations, and insurers need to create policies that include yoga therapy as a reimbursable service, especially for conditions where it has shown effectiveness, such as chronic pain, mental health disorders, and stress-related conditions.

Reimbursement for yoga therapy would help ensure that it is accessible to a broader population, including those who might not be able to afford private classes or therapies. This also encourages healthcare systems to adopt yoga as a legitimate form of treatment, ensuring its inclusion in clinical guidelines and treatment protocols.

7) If you could share one piece of advice, what would it be, and to whom would it be destined?

 If I could share one piece of advice, it would be "Take the time to listen to your body and mind, and trust its wisdom." 

8) How has your work in yoga therapy shaped your personal outlook on health and well-being?

My work in yoga therapy has profoundly shaped my personal outlook on health and well-being by fostering a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of the body, mind, and emotions. This holistic perspective has transformed how I approach my own health, as well as how I view the health of others. Through yoga therapy, I have come to manage my own autoimmune disorder that results in chronic pain, rash and emotional imbalance. It helped me recognise my own patterns that fuelled my symptoms. Yoga has taught me to listen more closely to my body and to notice subtle shifts in how I feel, both physically and emotionally. This self-awareness has allowed me to identify areas of tension or stress early on, giving me the opportunity to address them before they become overwhelming. Although, I still suffer with pain due to my illness, I can maintain distance from pain and address what is needed moment to moment. Another important lesson from yoga therapy is the importance of self-compassion. In yoga, we’re encouraged to honor where we are in each moment without judgment or expectation. This approach has helped me to let go of the pressure to be “perfect” and to accept myself as I am. I’ve learned that well-being doesn’t mean always striving to be better or achieving some ideal, but instead, it’s about accepting our human limitations and treating ourselves with kindness, patience, and understanding. Yoga therapy has empowered me to take an active role in my own health journey. Instead of passively relying on external sources (such as medications or treatments), I now feel more in control of my health through the practices I engage in daily. Yoga has shown me that we all have the power to influence our health through our choices, mindset, and actions. This empowerment has been transformative, allowing me to take ownership of my well-being and create a lifestyle that supports it.

9) Finally, what does Viniyoga® mean to you on a personal level, and how do you see it evolving in the coming years?

 Viniyoga® holds a unique and deeply personal meaning for me. On a personal level, it has a very supportive community and has served as a spiritual family. Yogic philosophy taught within this tradition helped me understand some of the causes that created some dysfunctional core beliefs and patterns which manifested in my illness. It helped in offering me tools to be compassionate with myself but also provided me with strength and empowerment to deal with stressors my life. Viniyoga® with its roots in the teachings of Acarya Krishnamacharya, emphasises adapting yoga practices to suit the specific needs, abilities, and intentions of the practitioner. This flexibility fosters not only physical healing but also emotional and spiritual growth. It aligns with my belief that yoga is not a one-size-fits-all practice but a deeply personal journey  as was in my case that can support well-being on multiple levels.  

The evolving nature of Viniyoga® in the coming years seems to be moving toward greater integration with modern healthcare systems, focusing on mental health, trauma recovery, and chronic pain management. As more people seek holistic approaches to wellness, I envision Viniyoga® becoming an accessible tool for a wide range of individuals, from those dealing with physical limitations to those navigating the challenges of modern life causing mental ill health. There’s a growing awareness of yoga’s potential for personal empowerment, mindfulness, and resilience, which will likely drive more people to explore its individualized, healing-focused approach. Additionally, I believe there will be an increasing emphasis on teaching Viniyoga® in a way that preserves its rich tradition while adapting to the diverse needs of contemporary practitioners.