News from the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine and Humanology
The New Conversation Between Yoga and Science, a day long course designed to help health professionals, and teachers and students of all disciplines of yoga to understand and discuss the scientific basis and research on yoga and meditation, was held in Palo Alto, California, in September. The course was presented as continuing education for yoga teachers and health professionals. We are planning to offer this course again.
The GRD Center sponsored the first annual gathering of those interested in yoga research, held in June, 2002, at Summer Solstice, high in the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico, to bring together those who are currently active in yoga research with those who have a strong interest in the topic. It gave us the opportunity to meet each other, to learn what research is being conducted, what ideas we have for research, areas of need, funding sources, consulting expertise, and possible collaborations.
Director of the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine & Humanology, Shanti Shanti K Khalsa, PhD, instructed Kundalini Yoga and Meditation to staff members at the Stanford University Complementary Medicine Center, Palo Alto, California, in June. She reviewed some of the research on yoga and health conditions, and then taught a few basic techniques.
Linda Alderman, a Kundalini Yoga teacher based in Palo Alto, California and Martha Arruda, a Kundalini Yoga teacher and teacher trainer based in Clearwater, Florida have each sponsored the Medical Meditation course in her area. Each woman completely donated her time and talents, with all the net proceeds from each course benefiting the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine & Humanology.
Food as Medicine is the title of the Guru Ram Das Center’s Board President, Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa’s 4th book. To be released in January, 2003, it continues the theme of his previous books, the yogic approach to a healthier life. By the way, Dr. Dharma’s most recent title, Meditation as Medicine , is now available in paperback.
Center volunteer, Gloria Borras Boneu, MD, Ph.D., director of the Guru Ram Das Health Institute in Barcelona, Spain, presented a workshop on Kundalini Yoga for People Living With HIV at the Parallel Forum with the International AIDS Conference on July 8-11, 2002, in Barcelona. The attendees were volunteers for AIDS organizations. Dr Boneu explained the effects of Kundalini Yoga on the human body and the benefits yoga practice has for people with immune disorders. She cited the results of Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur’s research on meditation effects for people with HIV; then instructed some yogic techniques that can be done in a chair, including movement, breath, sound, and meditation. Her presentation was well received.
Our mission is to provide health education and instruction in yoga and meditation to persons with chronic or life threatening illness and their family members. We train health professionals to use these techniques in their practice and we conduct research into the medical effects of Kundalini Yoga. Each of our programs integrates with medical treatment. Curently, our primary service is to people with cancer, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, diabetes, or HIV disease, including anxiety, depression, grief recovery, and life transitions.
Guru Ram Das Center [email protected]
PO Box 1926, Espanola, NM 87532