135 Jari Karppinen: Understanding Yoga Research

Jari is a Finnish movement teacher with over 15 years of experience in the field. He is also a physiotherapist and holds an MSc in Sports and Exercise Medicine. Currently, he works full time as a Ph.D. researcher at the Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä. Jari’s own movement practice a combination of different skill-oriented disciplines such as yoga, pole dancing, and hand-balancing.

 

 

Jari and Kathryn start by breaking down the different types of research, discussing which types are of the highest quality and how teachers can begin to decipher the meaningful science from the click bait. Jari talks about a recent article that has been floating around the internet on hip injuries in yoga, and helps explain why critical thinking is vital to understanding movement. They also talk about disc injuries, what the science says about herniations, and what we can do about it. Jari speaks about yoga and movement from an academic perspective which is highly informative yet accessible.