Approximately 6.3 million teens and adults are engaging in meditation, tai chi, yoga, deep breathing and other therapies as part of their medically referred journey to wellness.
While a complementary treatment like yoga or meditation may seem like little more than a relaxation technique, research has uncovered the fact that more physicians than ever before are prescribing or referring patients to mind-body therapies (MBTs) as part of a holistic healing approach.
A study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine found that 3 percent of people who are using an MBT are there at the suggestion of their healthcare provider. This figure translates to approximately 6.3 million teens and adults, all of whom are engaging in meditation, tai chi, yoga, deep breathing and other therapies as part of their journey to wellness.
Researchers from the Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center came to this conclusion after checking survey data collected from more than 23,000 households.
"There's good evidence to support using mind-body therapies clinically," author Aditi Nerurkar said. "Still, we didn't expect to see provider referral rates that were quite so high."
This revelation may be good news for the thousands of happy Dahn Yoga members, many of whom already engage in MBT on a weekly basis in the effort to relax and reconnect the body and mind.
