Virginia Commonwealth University to explore yoga’s effect on pregnancy depression

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Nursing will reportedly explore effect of yoga on depression during pregnancy.

The US National Institutes of Health reportedly recently awarded two-year $456,579 grant to VCU School of Nursing for a pilot study that will examine how motivational interviewing and prenatal yoga might reduce or prevent depression during and after pregnancy.

Dr. Patricia Kinser, who will lead this project, says: “Nearly 20 percent of pregnant women experience depressive symptoms during pregnancy”. Depressive symptoms may significantly threaten a pregnant woman’s well-being. Kinser will work with an interprofessional team to engage 40 pregnant women, who will participate in prenatal yoga classes and at-home physical activity, reports suggest.

Hindus have welcomed VCU efforts to explore multi-benefit yoga’s effects on pregnancy depression.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, yoga was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.

Yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out.

According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a bouncy castle recently released “2016 Yoga in America Study”, about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image. Yoga is the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Rajan Zed adds.

VCU in Richmond (USA), founded in 1838, is a major, urban public research university with national and international rankings in sponsored research. Dr. Michael Rao is the President.

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