SKY Program For Healthcare Professionals

Evidence-based practices that can significantly reduce stress from the very 1st session!
  • Learn evidence-based breathing practices that relax your mind
  • Discover techniques to cultivate alertness and focus
  • Learn methods for boosting your energy levels and improving your sleep
  • Reconnect to the joy in medicine and discover a shared sense of oneness with peers
View Summary of Research
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Trusted By

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“Life Changing”

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"May be the fastest growing spiritual practice on the planet"

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"Shows promise in providing relief for depression"

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"Like fresh air to millions"

Rapid decline in burnout in just 3 days

Dr. Hemant Sharma and Dr. Christiane Corriveau from Children’s National Hospital conducted an independent study into the techniques provided by Healing Breaths—an organization dedicated to providing evidence-based programs to improve the well-being and resilience of healthcare professionals and leaders. The research resulted in significant findings. In just three days of undertaking the Healing Breaths’ SKY program, healthcare workers showed rapid declines in burnout and significant improvements in anxiety and depression—where previously they had shown clinically significant levels of both.

Covid- 19 Stress

Improved resilience in 6 weeks

In 2 Weeks

Cortisol stress hormone

Sleep

Slow wave sleep

Anxiety

Achieved remission in 4 weeks

Increased_56

In 6 weeks

Life satisfaction

100+ independent studies conducted on four continents and published in peer review journals, including Yale and Harvard, have demonstrated a comprehensive range of benefits from practicing SKY (Sudarshan Kriya Yoga), accompanying breathing techniques, and related breathing exercises taught in the Healing Breaths’ SKY program.

What’s Included

  • Evidenced-based SKY Breath Meditation
  • 2.5 hour daily live sessions
  • Certified expert instructions
  • Cognitive reframing knowledge
  • Creating a self-care regimen
  • Scientific evidence & research
  • CEU credits: Physicians, PAs, NPs, Nurses, and Dentists can receive 1 CEU credit for every class hour. Other healthcare professionals can receive a letter of attendance.
Register For An Upcoming Program

Real Stories of Change

“This course was very very good… it really does kinda make you go deep within and the beauty is that you do get a daily practice that you can carry with you forever. So I’m very appreciative. Very well thought out course and I really enjoyed it.”
Dr. Sandeep VaishnaviMedical Director, MindPath Care Center
“This course has been really exceptional… We talk about burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and this allows us to gain tools in combating these issues.”
Dominique Charlot-Swilley, Ph.D.Children’s Health Center
“What I benefited most from in the SKY program is the affirmation that it’s OK to care about myself and put me first… I will make the commitment to take 15 minutes out of the 1440 minutes a day for me, which will leave me 1425 minutes to care for others.”
Kimberly KelleyNurse Director
“I felt like I really had a deeper connection with my true self and had this sense of peace and relaxation. Having the tools to decompress daily truly helped me bring clarity on how I deal with things within my control and the acceptance of things I have no control over.”
Michele Atkins-YoungNurse, Director of Children’s Services

Frequently Asked Questions

There is a huge benefit to learning how to manage your stress and anxiety naturally. Temporary solutions and distractions won’t help you in the long term. Investing in a natural practice to calm your mind sets you up for long-term growth and success.

SKY is an evidence-based practice. Studies show that 70% of people experience significantly less anxiety when they practice this form of meditation. It is very likely to work for you!

It may seem hard to fit this form of relaxation into your schedule, but research shows that time spent in meditation actually makes you MORE productive by increasing your brain’s alertness. SKY is easy to implement in your schedule and has quick and noticeable results. Once you’ve started, you won’t want to stop!

A Sampling of Independent Studies on SKYTM

An evidence-based breathing technique, SKY facilitates the release of deep stress and harmonizes the body and mind. From reducing stress to getting better rest, these techniques have a demonstrated measurable impact on quality of life. Over 100 independent studies conducted on four continents and published in peer-reviewed journals have demonstrated a comprehensive range of benefits from practicing SKY.

Significant Health Benefits Documented in Independent Research and published in Peer-Reviewed Journals.

Published research shows that SKY significantly reduces stress, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and significantly increases mental and physical well-being. Research also demonstrates that the effects of SKY reach all the way down to the molecular level, to our DNA.

Mental Well-being:

Restoration and Enhancement of Vibrant Mental Health:

  • Relieves anxiety [1-12] & depression [2, 4, 8-23], PTSD symptoms [3, 12, 17, 18, 24] and stress levels [4, 6, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25-27]
    • significant reductions in anxiety are found in many populations, including a 73% response rate and 41% remission rate in individuals for whom medication and psychotherapy treatments had not provided remission [1].
    • Multiple studies demonstrate that depressed patients who learned SKY experienced a 68-73% remission rate within one month.
    • Significant reductions in PTSD symptoms were found in 4-6 weeks and were sustained at 6 months[17] and one year, with no follow-up after 1 month [3, 17].
  • Reduces impulsivity and addictive behaviors [28, 29]
  • Improved emotional regulation [1, 19, 20, 23, 30-32]
  • Enhanced wellbeing: increased levels of optimism, joviality (e.g. joy, happiness, energy), serenity, social connection, mindfulness, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and quality of life [4, 5, 17, 20, 22, 32-35]
  • Enhanced brain functioning: [15, 16, 26, 36]
    • Increased mental focus / heightened awareness [36]
    • Faster recovery from stressful stimuli [26]
  • Improved Quality of Sleep:[37-40]
    • Restoration of time spent in deep restful stages (stages III and IV) of sleep.[37]
    • Reduced sleep onset latency (length of time it takes to fall asleep).
Physical Well-being:

Enhanced biochemical status:

  • Reduced biochemical markers of stress: cortisol [2, 41, 42], corticotrophin [2] blood lactate [43], ACTH [2], and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) [2, 44, 45]
    • For example, blood lactate levels in police cadets who did not learn SKY were 4 times higher than their classmates who were randomized to learn SKY, suggesting a greatly increased resilience to stress in SKY practitioners
    • Since stressful physiological responses negatively impact immune, cardiovascular and endocrine systems, as well as mental health, this has significant implications for wellness [18].
  • Increased biomarkers of well-being [46]
    • Significant increases (33%) in the well-being hormone prolactin levels in depressed patients with low prolactin levels from the very first session.
  • Increased levels of antioxidant enzymes (glutathione, catalase, and superoxide dismutase) [6, 43, 47]
    • Antioxidants protect us from many diseases and rapid aging.

Improved immune function:

  • Improved immune cell counts in apparently healthy individuals [25, 29]
    • Some documented within three weeks (neutrophils, lymphocytes, platelet count) [25]
  • Improved immune cell counts in health compromised individuals seen in 12 weeks (Natural Killer Cells) [29]
  • Rapid changes to gene (the building blocks of DNA) expression [47-49]
    • SKY induced changes in the expression of genes in white blood cells (our immune cells) within two hours of starting the practice.
    • This was 4-fold more than simple exercise and relaxation used as the control condition in the same study participants[48].
    • Long-term effects of SKY on expression of 11 genes related to oxidative stress, DNA damage, cell cycle control, and cell death suggests that the long-term benefits of SKY may be mediated in part by regulation of gene expression [47].

Enhanced Cardiovascular and Respiratory Function:

  • Reduced heart rate
    • In both healthy and health compromised individuals [50-52] [6]
  • Reduced blood pressure
    • In both healthy and health compromised individuals [6, 45, 50, 51]
  • Improved Heart Rate Variability [23]
  • Improved cholesterol and triglyceride (lipid) profiles: [44] [6, 25]
    • Sometimes seen as early as 3 weeks, with no change in diet [44]
  • Improved respiratory function: [3, 12, 51-54]
    • Respiration rate dropped by 5% in 1 week [3] and 15% in 12 weeks [53]
    • Increased lung (vital/forced vital) capacity [51, 52, 54]

In Summary, Sudarshan Kriya uses specific cyclical, rhythmic patterns of breath to bring the mind and body into a relaxed, yet energized state. Its effects have been studied in open and randomized trials, both in healthy and health compromised populations.

Research suggests that SKY reduces depression, anxiety, PTSD, and stress. It has also been shown to curb addictive behaviors and substance abuse. It significantly increases feelings of well-being, optimism, and mental focus and improves emotion regulation. In addition, SKY is associated with enhanced cardio-respiratory function, antioxidant status, and immune system function. The practice has even been shown to impact gene expression at short and long-term periods, suggesting that the effects of SKY span all levels of physiology from the DNA within our cells to organ systems. Viewed together, the wide range of documented benefits suggests that SKY may be an efficient tool for rapidly strengthening the mind-body complex.

References:
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  2. Vedamurthachar, A., et al., Antidepressant efficacy and hormonal effects of Sudarshana Kriya Yoga (SKY) in alcohol-dependent individuals. Journal of affective disorders, 2006. 94(1): p. 249-253.
  3. Seppälä, E.M., et al., Breathing‐Based Meditation DecreasesPosttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in US Military Veterans: ARandomized Controlled Longitudinal Study. Journal of traumatic stress,2014. 27(4): p. 397-405.
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  28. Ghahremani, D.G., et al., Effects of the Youth Empowerment Seminar onimpulsive behavior in adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 2013.
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