Alternative & Integrative Medicine

Previous studies showed that insomnia disorder is increasing by the rate of 5-10% in Indian population and its prevalent therapeutic/preventive measures have been found fragile. The objective of the current study was to assess the efficacy of yogic intervention on insomnia disorder. For this, 30 insomniac college students (13 boys and 17 girls) with global score 5 or more in Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Scale (PSQI) were sampled from University of Patanjali, Haridwar and recruited purposively after their written consent. It was hypothesized that University students would overcome the insomnia disorder after the YI. PSQI Scale standardized by University of Pittsburgh (Reliability: and Validity: 0.70) was used to measure baseline and post intervention intensity of sleep quality index. The YI comprised of selected poses, breath regulations, concentration, meditations and dietary prescription was administered among the participants for 15 days (From 10 to 25 April 2018) at University Hostel. Computed factor-wise and one aggregate paired t-tests by using SPSS showed significant reduction (p<0.05) in insomnia disorder of the participants after YI.

Introduction: Touch-based therapies (Reiki, Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch) are the subject of study and scientific research and thanks to the numerous publications of the last forty years, they have been shown to have a positive effect on a wide variety of disorders. But why do they work?

Discussion: The human being is a complex organism and in this brief communication it is divided into four fundamental parts, namely physical body, mind, emotions and soul. A fifth part considered is the self. In this brief communication it is theorized and explained, for the first time, how touch-based therapies act simultaneously on the four fundamental components of the person with different mechanisms of action, specific for each of these parts. These mechanisms of action emerge from the analysis of the main publications concerning touch-based therapies.

Conclusion: Touch-based therapies have shown their effectiveness in numerous independent studies to be a useful complementary and complementary medicine therapy to stimulate self-healing mechanisms, prevent disease and improve overall health. The mechanisms of action reported in this brief communication are a theory that emerges from the analysis of what has been published and that wants to explain why touch-based therapies work. However, further studies and research are needed to more clearly define their various mechanisms of action.

A large body of literature describes the healing process used by the traditional medicines of the world, with a substantial contribution from the Hippocratic doctors about 2500 years ago.

Holistic healing-more accurately the holistic process of healing-has always three steps, independent on the healing system and the continent where it was developed:

1. Meet the feelings.

2. Understand that your problem is about and where it comes from (=what happened to you in the past).

3. Find the precise beliefs that makes you sick, which came from the negative learning you had-and let go of them.

This simple formula for healing: “Feel, understand, and let go” seems to be a universal formula, reflecting the nature of man, as it is present in all native systems of healing.

The challenge of the doctor is to take a constructive role where he is involving his patient in the process of his own healing, and where he is giving the full responsibility for the healing to the patient. This is done by letting the patient understand that the project to be well again is his project-and his alone! The doctor first needs to step back from the role as an authority (the doctor role) to empower his patient. The he ideally reenters the process from below, as a wise friend and supporter. Because nobody can do this alone, you need a close person to help you meet your feeling, mind, and past. This is traditionally done by touch therapy. The integration process is then supported by talk therapy. Finally, is the letting go of negative beliefs supported by talks and exercises facilitating a renewing of the patient’s philosophy of life.