Der Psychiater: Klinische und therapeutische Zeitschrift

Abstrakt

Preliminary yoga therapy experiments testing the impact of self-awareness on a interoception

Yoko Kamada

The world’s yoga population is increasing. Many meta-analyzed papers on the effects of yoga and of mindfulness-based yoga have been published. According to Kanbara and Fukunagas, (2016) hypothesis, the foundation of physical self-awareness is receiving interoception, which mainly involves the anterior insular cortex (part of the cerebral cortex) and the cingulate gyrus (part of the limbic system) and is implicated in the regulation of the autonomic nervous system. In biofeedback therapy, this is where homeostasis is based. We hypothesize that the same applies to yoga therapy. We plan to prepare a program that allows becoming very aware of intraception and to prove its effectiveness. This experiment, as a preliminary step, verifies whether the program in itself is effective. Subjects concentrate their awareness regarding their interoceptive feelings of now, here, this moment.