Research Framework

Our research follows three tiers, covering a range of experience from structured to narrative. Each tier is intended to offer students new details for tracking personal progress towards meeting individual goals.

Tier 1 research involves not only biomedical markers such as body mass index and respiratory data but other time-based markers such as hours slept, fast food eaten, cigarettes smoked, soda and candy consumed, glasses of water consumed, self-reported outbursts of anger, self-reported levels of abusive language used, length of personal yoga practice, self-awareness of breath and the like. These can be measured for all students, but findings will be adjusted for number of yoga classes per week and other factors.

This level of research will involve health and stress indexes, and will measure concrete health indicators in a qualitative sense –that is, questions such as “I feel very stressed nearly every day” (agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, disagree strongly).

This level of research will use stories and client-identified goals which are then tracked over time to ascertain the effectiveness of yoga and mindfulness practices in helping clients meet their personal goals and needs.