Yin yoga and mindfulness: a five week randomized controlled study evaluating the effects of the YOMI program on stress and worry.


Author: Hylander F1, Johansson M1, Daukantaitė D1, Ruggeri K2

Affiliation: 1 a Department of Psychology , Lund University , Lund , Sweden.

2 b Department of Psychology , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK.
Conference/Journal: Anxiety Stress Coping.
Date published: 2017 Mar 13
Other:
 Volume ID: 1-14   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1080/10615806.2017.1301189. [Epub ahead of print]   ,  Word Count: 198  
    BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The YOMI program is a psychoeducational training and physical practice-based program that bridges knowledge from evidence-based psychotherapy with the practice of mindfulness and yin yoga. It consists of 10 content-specific sessions and does not include home assignments. The primary purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the effects of the five-week YOMI program on perceived stress, worry and mindfulness in a non-clinical sample.



DESIGN AND METHOD: In this randomized controlled trial participants were assigned to two groups. Group 1 participated in the five-week intervention twice a week while Group 2 was assigned to a waiting-list condition and participated in the intervention after Group 1. All measures were administered through self-report questionnaires, conducted via a web-based program.



RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study indicated significant effects of the YOMI program on decreasing stress and worry, and increasing mindfulness. Notably these changes were still present at five-week follow up. Consistent with the hypotheses, results suggested that the YOMI program established a group setting where individuals learned to use tools and methods to facilitate better self-directed practice. The study shows moderate to large effect sizes.



KEYWORDS: FFMQ; PSS; PSWQ; YOMI; acceptance; mindfulness; psychology; stress; worry; yoga



PMID: 28286971  DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2017.1301189