Yoga for Chronic Pain: Evidence, Safety, and Implications for Global Integration

Presenter bio: Holger Cramer, PhD

Chronic pain is among the most prevalent, disabling, and costly health conditions worldwide. Yoga is increasingly used as a therapeutic intervention for chronic pain, reflecting both patient demand and growing clinical evidence. This keynote synthesizes current research on yoga for chronic pain, drawing primarily on findings from systematic reviews and meta-analyses that demonstrate pain-reducing effects, particularly for chronic low-back pain, and emerging evidence across other pain conditions.

Beyond effectiveness, yoga is characterized by a particularly favorable safety profile. Epidemiological data indicate lower injury rates compared with many other forms of physical activity. Health economic evaluations from multiple healthcare contexts further indicate that yoga interventions for chronic pain are cost effective, especially when societal costs such as lost productivity are considered. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing body of research on remotely delivered yoga interventions shows that online formats are feasible, acceptable, and safe, with preliminary evidence suggesting clinically relevant pain reduction.

Taken together, this body of evidence positions yoga as not just an adjunctive therapy but a credible, scalable, and equitable component of evidence-based pain management. We’ll discuss the implications of these findings for integrating yoga into evidence-informed pain management across diverse healthcare settings, highlighting opportunities to improve access, strengthen health systems, and address global inequities in chronic pain treatment.

Beyond Presence: Ripening into Consciousness

Presenter bio: Judith Hanson Lasater, PhD, PT, C-IAYT

Yoga philosophy teaches us that the world is a sacred place because everything that exists contains at least a drop of consciousness.

A well-known saying states that “Awareness sleeps in the stone, dreams in the flower, awakens in the animal, and flowers in the human being.” How can we nourish this flowering of our own consciousness? We can start with becoming Present.

Presence, though, is just the beginning of our spiritual journey. The practices of yoga, especially asana, pranayama, and meditation, all point to presence and the consciousness it reveals. It is up to each of us to trust our own flowering and cultivate recognition of the sacred that this process represents.

We all love learning more about the techniques of yoga, and we show that by practicing every day and by teaching and reading about this yoga we love so well. But what has been intriguing me during the last decades has been a question about broadening my practice: How can I live my yoga practice in daily life by becoming more rooted in the present?

How can I take my yoga off my mat and into my family life, my social life, and the world? How can I become freer from spinning mind? These are the questions we will explore together.

The Caring Art of Seeing: Yoga, Dignity, and Our Shared Humanity

Presenter bio: Robert Sturman

Join Robert Sturman, an internationally recognized yoga photographer, for an extraordinary visual journey celebrating the universal language of yoga and its profound impact. Through his lens, Robert has captured the resilience, healing, and interconnectedness of people from all walks of life: military veterans finding peace, incarcerated individuals discovering inner freedom, children in orphanages cultivating hope, and yogis across the globe embodying the power of the human spirit. Prepare to be moved, inspired, and reminded of the sacredness of seeing humanity with compassion and a caring eye. We’ll begin the day with a powerful homage to the heart of yoga and the global movement of healing.

Trailblazing Leadership and Emotional Intelligence: A Social Ecology Framework for Inclusion, Belonging, and Success in Yoga Therapy

Presenter bio: Marsha D. Banks-Harold, C-IAYT

Marsha D. Banks-Harold presents “trailblazing leadership,” a concept she developed to describe bold, values-driven leadership that challenges norms, occupies uncharted spaces, and catalyzes systemic change. While applicable across disciplines, this session examines trailblazing leadership as a critical strategy for cultivating inclusion and belonging in wellness and yoga therapy.

Integrating emotional intelligence with a social ecology framework, Marsha invites attendees to move beyond an individual-centered model of care and consider the communal layers that shape practice. This session explores how fostering inclusion and belonging strengthens confidence, engagement, and collective care—key drivers of personal and professional success. We’ll examine how ethical abundance and access to resources support resilient practitioners, thriving businesses, and empowered communities. Attendees will leave with a framework for cultivating success in yoga therapy rooted in authenticity, inclusivity, and collective well-being.

Mind-Body Practices for Brain and Mental Health

Presenter bio: Helen Lavretsky, MD, MS

Delve into recent advances in the translational neuroscience of mind-body therapies and consider how they may be applied for improved health of not only the brain but the whole person. In this keynote, UCLA psychiatry professor and award-winning researcher Dr. Helen Lavretsky will focus on the use of yoga and other mind-body practices for improvement of brain, cognitive, and whole-person health in aging adults and for stress-related disorders. She will also cover the diagnosis and management of spiritual emergencies.