India

The home of yoga chose to integrate the practice into national government in 1995 with the formation of the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy. In 2003 it was renamed the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), with a renewed focus on improving educational standards and bolstering research institutions. In 2014 the department of AYUSH became a fully-fledged Ministry, and now conducts research into the benefits of yoga and other traditional practices. Its aim is to lay out the best strategy for integrating them into public life, in order to maintain a healthy and happy populace.

It was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who proposed the idea of an International Yoga Day in a 2014 speech to the UN, where it was quickly drafted as a resolution. The proposal passed with a record 177 nations co-sponsoring the text, and was adopted on the 21st of June, otherwise known as the summer solstice and longest day of the year. The Ministry of AYUSH also wrote to support the June 2016 meeting on yoga in the UK House of Commons, as did India’s High Commissioner to the UK and Prime Minister Modi’s personal guru, Dr, Nagendra.

The United States of America

Yoga has gained significant popularity with people across America.  A 2012 US Government/CDC survey reported that an estimated 30% of the population used some form of complementary medicine, and that 9.5% specifically practised yoga as complimentary healthcare. A January 2016 study conducted by the Yoga Journal found that 36m people in total practiced yoga, up by an astonishing 16m from a previous survey in 2012. With the healthcare system still in flux after recent reforms, yoga could have a transformative effect on people’s health and their wallets. A large study at Harvard that followed 17,000 people over a year found that practise of disciples like yoga decreased healthcare costs by as much as $2434 per person per annum.

Medicare already covers a yogic-based program developed by Dr. Dean Ornish for those with or at risk of cardiovascular disease. Following landmark research that revealed the Ornish yoga program could actually reverse heart disease and reduce the need for surgery, Medicare began covering this ground breaking program.  Additionally, Boston Medical Center, which assists underserved populations, has been successful in getting health insurance to cover the cost of yoga for those with chronic conditions.

Following a host of trials supporting yoga’s positive role in wellbeing, medical institutions and research centers are increasingly looking at yoga as a means to support existing treatments for a wide range of ailments. In 2013 the NIH Cancer Institute began funding a $4.5m study at MD hospital in Texas (one of the USA’s premiere cancer hospitals), under the direction of Dr. Lorenzo Cohen, into the efficacy of yoga as a component of breast cancer treatment. Research has already concluded that yoga has a significant positive effect, on improving quality of life, reducing stress, and reducing fatigue in patients receiving treatment. According to one assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School, it is now hard to find a US cancer center that doesn’t offer yoga classes.

Research from conducted Dr. Nerukar in 2013 found that between 2006-2009, of the 3% of doctors in the USA who counselled patients on stress management, many of them suggested yoga. It is believed that these figures are currently much higher, indicating a growing trend for physicians in the USA and beyond to recommend yoga to patients.  With editorials written by doctors in leading medical journals like JAMA and BMJ, requesting further information regarding yoga’s benefits; it is clear that the medical community is increasing intrigued with what yoga can bring to their patients.

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