David Shannahoff-Khalsa

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David Shannahoff-Khalsa is a researcher in mind-body dynamics. He has published widely in scientific journals and regularly presents full day courses at the American Psychiatric Association and other national and international conferences. Shannahoff-Khalsa has also published three books outlining his years of experience using Kundalini Yoga meditation as taught by Yogi Bhajan to understand and treat psychiatric disorders.

Current Professional Positions

From 2011 to the present, David Shannahoff-Khalsa has been a member of the University of California, San Diego, Centre for Integrative Medicine. From 2008 to the present, he has served as a consultant and yoga therapist at the Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, Executive Mental Health Program, Center for Wellness and Personal Growth. From July 2009 to the present, Shannahoff-Khalsa has been Director of The Research Group for Body-Mind Dynamics, BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, previous to which (1993-June 2003) he served as Director of The Research Group for Body-Mind Dynamics, Institute for Non-linear Science, University of California, San Diego. David Shannahoff-Khalsa also has served as Senior Editor of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine since 2009.

Scientific Publications

David Shannahoff-Khalsa's published scientific papers date back to 1973. His subjects have included: Selective Hemispheric Stimulation by Unilateral Forced Nostril Breathing (1987), Lateralized Rhythms of the Central and Autonomic Nervous Systems (1991), and The Ultradian Rhythm of Alternating Cerebral Hemispheric Activity (1993).[1]

Shannahoff-Khalsa's most-cited work is a 1999 randomized control study on the effects of two meditation protocols on two groups of individuals with Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The one group practiced The Relaxation Response plus Mindfulness Meditation technique, while the other group employed a Kundalini Yoga protocol. After three months, it was found the Kundalini Yoga group showed greater improvement on all six scales, namely the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Y-BOCS, Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised Obsessive Compulsive (SC-90-R OC) and Global Severity Index (SC-90-R GSI), Profile of Moods Scale (POMS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Purpose in Life test (PiL). Within group statistics (students' paired t-tests) showed that the Kundalini Yoga group significantly improved on all six scales, while The Relaxation Response/Mindfulness Meditation group had no improvements. The groups were merged for an additional year using the Kundalini Yoga techniques. At 15 months, the final group improved significantly on all the scales, demonstrating that kundalini yoga techniques are effective in the treatment of OCD.[2]

In a 2006 editorial for The Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Shannahoff-Khalsa makes a case for the vigorous and rigorous - "using all possible blinding for assessment" - study of new treatment modalities for psychiatric disorders.[3]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.theinternetyogi.com/html/publications.html
  2. ↑ Shannahoff-Khalsa, DS, Ray, LE, Levin, S, Gallen, CC, Schwartz, BJ, Sidorowich, JJ, Randomized control trial of yogic meditation techniques for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, CNS Spectrums [1999 4(12): 34-47]
  3. ↑ David Shannahoff-Khalsa, "A Perspective on the Emergence of Meditation Techniques for Medical Disorders," The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Volume 12, Number 8, 2006, pp 709-713.

More Sources

  • David Shannahoff-Khalsa, Sacred Therapies: The Kundalini Yoga Meditation Handbook for Mental Health, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, London, 2012.
  • David Shannahoff-Khalsa, Kundalini Yoga Meditation for Complex Psychiatric Disorders, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, 2010.
  • David Shannahoff-Khalsa, Kundalini Yoga Meditation: Techniques Specific for Psychiatric Disorders, Couples Therapy and Personal Growth, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, London, 2006.
  • http://www.integrativepsychology.net/Shannahoff-KhalsaBio.htm
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