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Dru Yoga research results

Dru Yoga research results

Dru Yoga research results

In world-first research studies, Dru Yoga is shown to be beneficial in reducing stress and back pain at work. It helps professional footballers decrease injuries. And most importantly, it helps you make a greater success of your life. 

Here are just a few more things that Dru can do for you

Reduce stress and tension

Ease back pain, headaches and other physical discomfort

Transform painful emotions into positive and have a better mood

Ease negative thinking

Resolve conflicts more successfully so you can have better relationships

Improve feelings about yourself and others

Boost your energy and vitality

If this sounds good, read on ...

Benefits of Dru Yoga and Meditation

What's the evidence?

Dru yoga and meditation offer a variety of benefits to your body, mind and emotions. It can help reduce physical tension in the body, increase positive thinking and transform your life in a way that ripples out to benefit all of those around you.

Evidence of health benefits

University research shows that Dru Yoga eases back pain, decreases stress, reduces anxiety and fatigue... while boosting confidence and emotional well-being. You'll be well-placed to make a great living!

Check out university research papers involving Dru Yoga:

Pepe Reina

Pepe Reina

If you are looking for the key to athletic success - Dru Yoga is it!

Dru Yoga helps Liverpool football players reduce injuries 

In an article published in January 2013 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Dru Yoga is quoted as being part of a successful 7 point plan, used by physiotherapists on Liverpool Football Club’s players to reduce hamstring injuries.

Recurrent hamstring injuries are a major problem in sports such as football. The research followed a professional footballer who had sustained five hamstring injuries. Liverpool’s doctors and physiotherapists successfully used a seven point programme which included Dru Yoga. The player started regular sessions of yoga-based stretching and relaxation with a qualified Dru yoga instructor. These consisted of Dru fascial warm-up techniques; intense hamstring and low back stretches, guided Dru relaxations and Dru breath training (techniques to improve lung capacity, stamina and to activate the relaxation response through the body). Sessions were undertaken for 60 min twice per week. The player soon reported subjective improvement in his hamstring freedom.

Dru Yoga on the beach

Dru Yoga is a graceful and potent form of yoga

Dru works on body, mind and spirit

The benefits of Dru Yoga

Dru Yoga is shown to be effective in the treatment and management of low back pain and stress, and is known for being a particularly safe style of yoga. Previous studies on the effectiveness of Dru Yoga for stress in the workplace and back pain, were published in the Scandinavian Journal of Work and Environmental Health and the Journal of Occupational Medicine, and these were cited in this recent article.

Yoga for reducing perceived stress and back pain at work >

'Dru Yoga is a graceful and potent form of yoga, based on flowing movements, directed breathing and visualisation. With its foundations set firmly in ancient yogic tradition, Dru works on body, mind and spirit - improving strength and flexibility, creating core stability, building a heightened feeling of positivity, and deeply relaxing and rejuvenating your whole being.

Designed to be practised by people of all abilities, all fitness levels and all age groups, Dru is a style of yoga that can be quickly dipped into or learnt in more depth over a lifetime. Dru

Yoga classes are available in the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands and across Europe, Australia and Canada. Short Dru Yoga retreats and yoga holidays in these countries are also very popular. The Dru Yoga teacher training course, which is necessary to teach this safe, therapeutic style of yoga, is available in many countries.' Visit: druyoga.com for more details.


Dru Yoga is shown to reduce stress and back pain at work

Dru Yoga, Dru Meditation, about Dru, Dru health, workplace, research

The Dru effect

Research results show Dru Yoga can reduce stress and back pain at work

New UK research, first published in September 2012 in the Journal of Occupational Medicine, shows that Dru Yoga can reduce perceived stress and back pain at work.

Stress and back pain are two key factors leading to sickness absence at work, costing the British economy an estimated £17 billion per year.  This study by researchers at Bangor University suggests to employers that wellbeing programs that include yoga can have a significant impact not only in reducing stress, but also in preventing back pain.  

More than 80 participants in the study were recruited from Conwy County Council and randomized into a yoga group who received one 50 minute Dru Yoga session each week for 8 weeks along with a 20 min DVD for home practice, while a control group received no intervention.

Dru Yoga is one of the UK’s largest schools of yoga, and includes therapeutic stretches and postures to ease back pain, flowing movements designed to relieve stress, and breathing exercises which calm the mind. 

Deb Ryan - teaching cat posture

Dru Yoga

Includes therapeutic stretches and postures to ease back pain

When compared with the control group, the yoga group scores were significantly lower for perceived stress, back pain, sadness and hostility, and much higher for feeling self-assured, attentive and serene.  

Susan Williams, a Community Engagement Officer for Conwy County Council who participated in the yoga group, said: “I found that the Dru Yoga programme had a positive influence on my level of confidence.  I felt more in control, ready, aware, dynamic, even recognizing my own power.  I was happier, and it was so much easier to manage my circumstances.”

The study authors concluded: "The results indicate that a workplace yoga intervention can reduce perceived stress and back pain and improve psychological wellbeing.  Larger randomised controlled trials are needed to determine the broader efficacy of yoga for improving workplace productivity and reducing sickness absence." The study was published on-line in September in the Journal of Occupational Medicine (Oxford University Press).  

http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/62/8/606

Tree posture by moonlight

Hazel Y

Architectural Designer

My job demands as an architectural designer were intense and stressful, but after I started a regular course in Dru the quality of my life started to change. 
Thanks to my regular Dru Yoga practice, I am able to meet the challenges at work head on. I am now actually enjoying delivering presentations to important clients and closing a deal, whereas before I sometimes felt like crumbling under the pressure! I have clearer focus to prepare and organise my busy schedules, and as a result I seem to have more time in a day. 
Dru gives me more energy, makes me a brighter and a more creative person all round and made my recent move abroad to the Middle East a breeze. 
And the good news is, Dru Yoga is easy, you don't have to be able to do the lotus to start to practise. Just Dru it!'

Yoga reduces workplace stress – new study released

A new study shows that yoga is significantly effective for improving wellbeing and resilience to stress in the workplace.  A team of researchers working at Bangor University found that a six week programme of Dru Yoga reduced anxiety and fatigue, while increasing emotional well-being and resilience to stress.

This research is very timely as latest figures from the HSE suggest that stress in the workplace costs the UK over £530 million per year, which equates to over 13 million ‘lost’ working days. Experts believe these figures will increase further as a result of the recession. Researchers conducted a randomized controlled study, (the first robust research done on yoga in the workplace) involving 48 university employees. They were either placed into a Dru Yoga programme, or wait listed, as the control group. The yoga group participated in a six week programme of Dru Yoga, which involved attending at least one weekly 60-minute class.

Results showed that the Dru Yoga group reported feeling significantly less anxious, unsure, confused, tired, and depressed than the control group who did not practice Dru Yoga.

In addition, the yoga group reported feeling more life purpose and satisfaction, and greater self-confidence during stressful situations. Study participant Eileen Price, Undergraduate Recruitment Administrator said, ‘At the end of the first session I went back to the office with a much clearer head and renewed vigour – I could think more clearly, make better decisions and work more efficiently.’
Researchers concluded that even a short program of Dru Yoga is effective for enhancing emotional well-being and resilience to stress in the workplace, and recommended that employers should consider offering yoga classes to their employees.

Dru Yoga is one of the UK’s most popular forms of yoga, comprising of easy-to-learn flowing movements, simple breathing techniques and effective relaxation methods. 

The complete research results can be viewed on-line at the following link:  

http://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=2916 

Graph of results from 2008 randomised control research into benefits of Dru Yoga

Results from a 2008 randomised control study into the effects of Dru Yoga

First randomised controlled trial into Dru Yoga - university research

In 2008, research into the benefits of Dru Yoga was conducted at the University of Bangor (UK). 48 employees were randomized into a yoga group and a wait-list control group.

The yoga group were given Dru Yoga for six weeks, given three 60 minute classes per week.  The wait-list control group received no intervention during the six week study but were offered free classes after the trial.  Before and after measurements were obtained with the Profile of Mood States - Bipolar, and the Inventory of Positive Psychological Attitudes.

Dru Yoga participants recorded substantial increases in seven key areas of wellbeing:

Increase
More composed - less anxious  120%
More clear-minded - less confused  500%
More elated - less depressed  240%
More energised - less tired  270%
More agreeable - less hostile  100%
More confident - less unsure  210%
Life purpose and satisfaction  330%
Self confidence during stress  650%

This study pioneers efforts to show that Dru Yoga benefits not just your physical health. Dru Yoga also benefits your emotional, mental and spiritual life... all of which are likely to improve your relationships, sense of purpose and connectedness to whats important in your life.

There is now a plethora of randomised controlled trial research showing the benefits of yoga to a whole gamut of health conditions including heart disease, pms, breast cancer side effects, back pain, depression, and cancer and many more.

Dru Yoga Survey Results

JS

Senior financial Management Consultant, australian Federal Government

The benefits that Dru has brought me has dramatically reduced my stress levels and increased my awareness of the daily pressures that are faced by most of my colleagues. I am more conscious of not taking on this stress myself. As a result, people value my increased creativity, clarity and calm, and my client base has expanded.


We asked 440 Dru practitioners across the world what their experience was, and this is what they said:

Dru Yoga is highly effective for helping reduce stress and tension

  • 89% say they are better able to handle stress while over 84% regularly experience less body tension.
  • 91% say that Dru Yoga transforms negative thinking
  • About 69% report that they have more positive sleep patterns.

Dru Yoga significantly eases back problems

  • 72% experience a positive change in their back pain after doing Dru Yoga.
  • 93% of respondents experienced greater flexibility in spine and joints.
  • 84% experience an improvement in overall body tension, a significant factor in decreasing back pain.

Dru Yoga is particularly effective in transforming painful emotions into positive and solving conflicts

  • 83% of respondents notice that they have a greater ability to handle their emotions since doing Dru Yoga.
  • 84% experience a positive shift in their mood after practicing Dru Yoga
  • 73% have a better ability to deal with conflict.

Dru Yoga, Dru Meditation, about Dru, Dru health, Dru research, Dru benefits

Enjoy harmonious relationships

In the workplace.  In personal relationships.  In life.

Dru Yoga helps you create a better society! It helps people have more harmonious relationships and find greater peace within.

  • 79% of people practicing Dru Yoga experience higher levels of serenity.
  • 73% have a better ability to deal with conflict. 
  • 79% report they are more patient and open with others. 
  • 82% feel more tolerant towards others and over 76% feel greater feelings of compassion for others.
  • 74% report a positive improvement in their communication skills and over 74% report an improvement in their ability to handle relationships.

Paul Krystall

Paul

IT Consultant, Kenya                                                                                                                                     

Dru has benefited every part of my life; myself, my relationships and my business.                   

Dru Yoga, Dru Meditation, about Dru, Dru health, Dru research results, Dru benefits

Dru Yoga

A powerful tool for enhancing physical energy and vitality

Dru Yoga is a powerful tool for enhancing physical energy and vitality   

  • 85% of respondents experience a boost in their energy levels after doing Dru Yoga
  • 82% of participants notice an improvement in their strength and stamina.
  • 92% of respondents report that their body awareness has improved.

What kind of people are experiencing these massive transformations in their lives? About 65% are students of Dru Yoga or Dru Meditation classes; 35% are their teachers.

Amazingly, nearly 50% of these people say they practice their Dru less than once every five days. Imagine gaining all these benefits from something you do only once a week or so!

And then imagine how much you'd gain if you practiced some of these easy self-help approaches every few days. 

The benefits of meditation

Peaceful Dru meditation - John Jones

John Jones

Dru Meditation teacher training course coordinator

Science is now agreeing that meditation can be a powerful form of stress relief and can help general health.

More and more research is also being conducted on the benefits of meditation. Studies have shown that meditation helps a variety of conditions including: stress, depression, heart disease, cancer, back pain, asthma, anxiety, high blood pressure, sleep problems and allergies.

Meditation has also been shown to decrease general pain levels, boost your immune system, improve mood, increase self awareness and even increase brain size.

Here is small summary of the current research:

  • Meditation creates a unique hypo-metabolic state, in which the metabolism is in an even deeper state of rest than during sleep. During sleep, oxygen consumption drops by 8 percent, but during meditation, it drops by 10 to 20 percent.
  • Meditation is the only activity that reduces blood lactate, a marker of stress and anxiety.
  • The calming hormones melatonin and serotonin are increased by meditation, and the stress hormone cortisol is decreased.
  • Meditators secrete more of the youth-related hormone DHEA as they age than non-meditators. Meditating forty-five-year-old males have an average of 23 percent more DHEA than non-meditators, and meditating females have an average of 47 percent more. This helps decrease stress, heighten memory, preserve sexual function, and control weight.
  • Meditation has a profound effect upon three key indicators of aging: hearing ability, blood pressure, and vision of close objects.
  • Long-term meditators experience 80 percent less heart disease and 50 percent less cancer than nonmeditators.
  • 75 percent of insomniacs were able to sleep normally when they meditated.
  • 34 percent of people with chronic pain significantly reduced medication when they began meditating.


A list of published articles on the benefits of Dru Yoga sorted into categories

A   Academic research articles on Dru Yoga

  1. McDonald, A., Burjan, E., Martin, S. (2006). Yoga for patients and carers in a palliative day care setting. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 12(11):519-23. 
    1. This study suggests that Dru yoga benefitted patients (and carers) in palliative care settings. A 12-week Dru Yoga pilot project was introduced into a day care unit and proved to be highly successful.   
    2. Link:   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170669
  2. Hartfiel, N., Havenhand, J., Khalsa, S.B., Clarke, G. and Krayer, A. (2011). The effectiveness of yoga for the improvement of well-being and resilience to stress in the workplace. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment, and Health, 37(1):70-76.
    1. A six-week intervention showed that even a short program of Dru yoga was effective for enhancing emotional well-being and resilience to stress in the workplace. The Dru yoga group reported marked improvements in feelings of clear-mindedness, composure, elation, energy, and confidence. In addition, the Dru yoga group reported increased life purpose and satisfaction, and feelings of greater self-confidence during stressful situations.
    2. Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20369218
  3. Hartfiel, N., Burton, C., Rycroft-Malone, J., Clarke, G., Havenhand, J., Khalsa, S.B. and Edwards, R.T. (2012). Yoga for reducing perceived stress and back pain at work. Occupational Medicine, (62)8:606-612. 
    1. In comparison to the control group, the Dru yoga group reported significant reductions in perceived stress and back pain, and a substantial improvement in psychological well-being. When compared with the control group at the end of the programme, the yoga group scores were significantly lower for perceived stress, back pain, sadness and hostility, and substantially higher for feeling self-assured, attentive and serene. 
    2. Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23012344
  4. Brukner, P., Nealon, A., Morgan, C., Burgess, D. and Dunn, A. (2014) Recurrent hamstring muscle injury: applying the limited evidence in the professional football setting with a seven-point programme. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48:929-938.
    1. In this case study, Dru Yoga was practised by a professional footballer who sustained five hamstring injuries in a relatively short period of time. The injury was managed successfully with a seven-point programme which included regular sessions of Dru Yoga. These consisted of Dru fascial warm-up techniques; intense hamstring and low back stretches; guided Dru relaxations and Dru breath training (techniques to improve lung capacity, stamina and to activate the relaxation response through the body). The player soon reported subjective improvement in his hamstring freedom.
    2. Link:   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23322894
  5. Timlin, D. and Simpson, E. (2017). A preliminary randomised control trial of the effects of Dru yoga on psychological well-being in Northern Irish first time mothers. Midwifery, 46:29-36.
    1. This study showed that Dru yoga improved the psychological well-being of first time mothers, reduced educed global stress levels, decreased negative affect and dysfunctional coping, enhanced problem focused coping, and could be recommended to improve health and fitness in the postpartum.
    2. Link:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28129548
  6. Hartfiel, N., Clarke, G., Havenhand, J., Phillips, C. and Edwards, R.T. (2017). Cost-effectiveness of yoga for managing musculoskeletal conditions in the workplace. Occupational Medicine, 67(9):687-695.
    1. This study showed that an eight week Dru yoga programme, with a 6-month follow-up, for National Health Service (NHS) employees was effective for improving quality of life and reducing sickness absence due to back pain and musculoskeletal conditions. The results showed that Dru yoga is likely to be cost-effective for the NHS.
    2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29202204
  7. Hartfiel, N. and Edwards, R.T. (2017). Yoga in the workplace can reduce back pain and sickness absence. The Conversation.
    1. The results of this study showed NHS staff who participated in an eight week Dru Yoga programme had larger reductions in back pain compared to a control group. After six months, employee staff records showed that the yoga participants had 20 times less sick leave due to musculoskeletal conditions (including back pain) than the control group. NHS staff who practiced Dru yoga during the six month study visited health professionals for back pain only half as often as control group participants.
    2. Link:   https://theconversation.com/yoga-in-the-workplace-can-reduce-back-pain-a...
       

Yoga research by Dr Sat Bir Khalsa

In July 2015, Dr Sat Bir Khalsa, Assistant Professor of Harvard Medical School (USA) visited the Dru Centre in Snowdonia. During his visit, Sat Bir gave an excellent talk on yoga and its effectiveness for improving physical and mental health.


 

Dr Sat Bir Khalsa

Dr Sat Bir Khalsa - Assistant Professor at Harvard University in USA

DPN members can download the video

Dr Khalsa’s presentation was filmed and recorded for DPN members.  You can find the video and power point below.

Sat Bir also works closely with the International Association of Yoga Therapists and with yoga research institutes worldwide.  He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy. 

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