Yoga is historically spiritual discipline; it has also been used as a therapeutic intervention. Yoga is relatively novel and emerging clinical discipline within the broad category of mind-body medicine, whose growth is consistent with the burgeoning popularity of yoga in the west and the increasing worldwide use of alternative-medicine.
Research on Psycho-physiological effects of yoga practices began with Kuvalyananda's work in the 1920s. Furthermore there are a good number of psychological and little numbers of scientific studies conducted on yoga and their effects on neurophysiological, cardiovascular, respiratory and on muscular functions of normal and healthy volunteers as well as their therapeutic applications in different pathological conditions. Summary of few of those significant and relevant studies with reference to our work are reproduced here: