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*** Special News Announcement ***
This fall the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine & Humanology will launch the first ever KRI Level 1 Teacher Training specifically for those in the health and healing professions. Please let all your students know!
Our teaching team includes Dev Suroop Kaur, Pritpal Kaur, Shanti Shanti Kaur and special guest instructors. Board President Julie Staples will lead the research presentations.
In order to build support for research on the medical effects of Kundalini Yoga and to more smoothly introduce Kundalini Yoga into the health care setting, we are growing our own skilled teachers! Please let us know how you want to participate. As always, thank you for your contributions.
September 2008
We are moving our office, and we're adding two new staff members! Devi Dyal Kaur Khalsa, MSW has joined our clinical team, focusing on parenting, children, teens and young adults. Sat Mitar Kaur has joined our yoga team, offering instruction in Kundalini Yoga to people with health conditions.
August 2008
At the Level 1 Teacher Training Immersion course a special 2 day Continuing Education course was taught in conjunction with KRI director of training, Gurucharan Singh. Mind and Meditation: Cognitive Processes and Lifespan Behavioral Applications was offered for the first time.
July 2008
In ancient times the skillful use of breath was the method of treatment for good health and mental and emotional balance. Yogic healers knew that the rhythm of breath—its subtle pulse—is a powerfully sophisticated self-healing technology. Prana as Medicine: The Therapeutic Application of Breath is an introduction to the vayus and nadis and various breathing techniques to build immunity and relieve anxiety, depression and fatigue. It was taught for the first time as a tele-class on July 10th.
Please check our website for upcoming courses, trainings and programs. Or let us know if you would like specialty training brought to your community.
June 2008
At the IKYTA annual meeting June 20th, the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine and Humanology was well represented.
First, Linda Alderman, the Center’s field director for Northern California, received a special teacher’s award for her work in support of the Center.
Next, Charlotte Stern Astrom spoke about YogaHust, the Kundaliini Yoga Center she runs with business partner Tom Jenson on the eighth floor of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. This is the most prestigious medical center in Northern Europe and each day Kundalini Yoga and Meditation is taught there.
Finally, Julie Staples, PhD, our board president, presented Yoga and Meditation research to the IKYTA membership.
Our efforts to expand to yoga teachers and health professionals continue.
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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) premiered its first annual Yoga Week, highlighting the science, research and practice of yoga. More than 1300 people participated.
Sat Bir Khalsa, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and long time volunteer and consultant to the Guru Ram Das Center presented Yoga Research Past, Present and Future and an evening workshop on Yoga and Meditation in the Management of Stress.
Congratulations to Sat Bir Singh for leading the way in international yoga research.
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Board President Julie Staples presented Mind Body Modalities for People with Diabetes at the quarterly meeting of the New Mexico Diabetes Advisory Council in June. About 120 practitioners and Certified Diabetes Educators took part.
It was a lively, interactive presentation that brought a quick response from participants. They wanted more!
By introducing the outcome data of our Diabetes Kundalini Yoga program to diabetes care providers, we expand our reach into the health care field ever further.
May 2008
The Meditation for Change course was offered in Clearwater, Florida. Although the course evolved from our work with people facing the huge impact of a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, it is designed for healthy people facing life transitions.
We had a great time and each participant left with a clear idea of where they are in their own change process and with a personal meditation to practice.
Please check our website for upcoming courses, trainings and programs. Or let us know if you would like specialty training brought to your community.
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  In May I presented Diabetes and Depression at the Center for Disease Control Division of Diabetes Translation annual national conference in Orlando, Florida.
To the CDC, “translation” means moving research into practice so that we include what we learn from research into the day to day care of people with diabetes.
For example:
- Depressed adults have a 37% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Depression is twice as common in people w diabetes than those w/o diabetes
- There is a significant correlation between symptoms of depression and severity of diabetes complications
- As diabetes complications worsen, the chances of becoming depressed increase.
 People with both diabetes and depression spend 5 times more on medications than those who have diabetes but do not have depression and are less likely to adhere to a behavioral protocol for self-management.- There is an association between depression and hyperglycemia.
- Improvements in depressive symptoms predict improved glycemic control.
- Improvement in glycemic control correlates with improved depressive symptoms.
Postponing treatment for depression can mean worsening health. Your help means we can better meet the needs of all who come to us.
April, 2008
Mind and Meditation, a KRI Level 2 Teacher Training module was taught at Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs to our largest group ever. Join us in November for Level 2 Stress and Vitality.
March, 2008
The International Association of Yoga Therapists held its annual conference. Over 800 yogis participated in lectures, interactive learning, poster sessions and lively discussion.
Guru Ram Das Center advisor, Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, a prominent yoga researcher from Harvard University, led the research presentations. Several very important research projects are in the works that support the instruction of Kundalini Yoga in the health care setting.
The future is promising and your contributions make it possible.
February 2008
  February brought us to Clearwater, Florida for a program on preparing for the most important transition in life, death.
The foundation for Sound, Soul and Simran is a quotation from Yogi Bhajan, “In birth nothing is added, in death nothing is gained.” Participants chanted, meditated and had small group discussions to better prepare for death, so they can more consciously live their purpose in life.
It was a lively and joyful experience. Thank you for your contribution as each donation allows us to train teachers, provide services to those with chronic or life threatening illness and conduct outcome studies.
January, 2008
  We gave 3 major presentations at the Yoga Journal Conference Yoga Therapy track in San Francisco in January, each of which was well received.
The San Francisco sangat hosted a fund raiser for the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine & Humanology one evening during the conference. It was a festive blend of good food, joyful music and chanting.
The highlight was a book signing with Timothy McCall, author of Yoga as Medicine. The chapter on HIV disease features our efforts in teaching yoga to people living with HIV in the earliest years of the epidemic. Timothy graciously donated his time and sold a few books as well.
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There is considerable interest in research on the medical effects of Kundalini Yoga at the University in Linkoping, Sweden. During my recent visit there I had conversations with the principle investigators.
Currently three studies are in process: one investigating the effects of the mantra Sat Nam on the brain; another to measure outcomes of Kundalini Yoga and meditation practice with people recovering from stroke and a third study on the practice of Kundalini Yoga and meditation on stress effects.
Each of these studies involves our partners, yoga students and Kundalini Yoga teachers throughout Sweden. Your support allows the Guru Ram Das Center to participate in meaningful ways. Thank you!
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