Yoga Research

Are you looking for an experienced yoga professional for your research intervention?

Are you planning a clinical research intervention that includes yoga?

Do you have a current research intervention and are looking for a skilled yoga professional to jump in and take the lead on creating, refining and delivering your yoga protocol?

I am here to help you

In research literature, we know yoga is potent for so many health conditions. However, little is known about which elements actually are more influential for specific conditions and populations. My passion is culling through the literature to understand the physiological and psycho-emotional mechanisms within health conditions to effectively create, facilitate, and hone a yoga protocol. Doing so increases and enhances the effects we hypothesize yoga will positively impact for the populations and conditions we are targeting as well as helps us understand which elements, dosages, and combinations are accessible, acceptable, and feasible.

My skills range from:

1. Working pre-intervention to help research teams include the most relevant and effective yoga literature, techniques, and safety measures in a grant proposal and to the IRB

2. Creating a yoga protocol pre-intervention using current research literature and template protocols to target the population’s health conditions and aligns with research hypotheses

3. Finalizing a yoga protocol post intervention based upon literature, participant feedback, and observed accessibility and acceptability to implement in R01

4. Producing manuscripts for publication to enhance research teams’ presence in current research literature and further yoga research

Research Skills and Experience

  • Master of Science

  • Over 25 years of experience in academic research and environments

  • Highly skilled working in interdisciplinary and collaborative research teams

  • Understands the components and processes of research interventions

  • Understands the scientific method and aligns yoga protocol accordingly

  • Keen ability to synthesize overall research goals into a specific yoga plan and protocol

  • Skilled at creating, refining, and delivering yoga protocols in research interventions (in- person and online) - both at the R01 and R34 levels

  • Skilled at creating and delivering education modules and information for self-management of specific health conditions

  • Adept at creating and testing hypotheses for yoga protocols based upon yoga research literature and depth of yoga experience

  • Able to merge yoga with research educational and self-management material

Yoga Skills and Experience

  • Yoga professional (C-IAYT, MS) who expertly adapts yoga to populations with different physical and mental conditions and multiple health conditions

  • Certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT) since 2013 and yoga teacher since 1999 focusing on improving physical and mental health with yoga

  • Skilled working with caregiving groups and individuals with health conditions

  • Provides accessible and relatable yoga to a wide range of populations

  • Creates a caring and open environment to inspire research participants to be their own health advocate

 Interpersonal Skills and Work Ethic

  • Strong interpersonal communication skills with research team members, students, and research participants

  • Greatly enjoys the camaraderie of academic research environments and works well in teams

  • Highly committed to staying the course within large scale research interventions

  • Strong work ethic and ability to deliver products on time

  • Very comfortable working independently and sharing observations and results with research team members

I merge my skill and passion of research with my love and skill of yoga

To improve QOL for populations with Health conditions

Research Story

Science and research became my professional life since 1997, when as an undergraduate, I worked on developing genetic molecular markers to identify a threatened small mammal species in the western United States. Post graduating with an MS in Ecology, I continued to work in molecular ecology and research programs in federal agencies and then returned in 2005 to my first love of teaching and running molecular research projects in academia (first at University of Arizona in 2005 and then back to my alma mater, Colorado State University, in 2006). In 2009, I became the program manager for the National Science Foundation’s IGERT Multidisciplinary Program for Sustainable Bioenergy and helped build and managed the Sustainable Bioenergy Development Center at Colorado State University. Since 2018, I have worked with a group of academic yoga researchers from Colorado State University, University of Colorado, and Clemson University serving as the yoga professional designing, delivering, and assessing yoga protocols for yoga research interventions for caregiving dyads with chronic pain and for older adults with multiple chronic conditions who present with high levels of depression.

Yoga Story

I started practicing yoga in 1989 for severe anxiety and recovery from anorexia and started teaching yoga in 1999. After witnessing the transformational effects yoga had on myself and my students improving their overall health and outlooks, I became a certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT) in 2013 and focused my thesis on yoga and chronic low back pain. Since then, I have worked with clients and small groups with a range of health conditions, notably chronic pain, chronic illness, healthy aging, depression, anxiety, at-risk youth, military veterans with PTS and chronic pain, and trauma from early childhood adversity. I am driven to create the best yoga protocols for the populations I work with that are accessible and enjoyable inspiring these populations to continue to be advocates for their health while matching the goals of the research project.

Publications

Gibson, B.A., Portz, J, Schmid, A.A., Fruhauf, C.A., & Van Puymbroeck, M. Yoga for Older Adults with Multiple Chronic Conditions and High Levels of Depression and Their Care Partners: Protocol Development Merging Yoga and Self-Management to Develop Skills (MY-Skills) Mobile Health Intervention. In progress. Anticipated submission, October 2023.

Gibson, B.A., Van Puymbroeck, M., Fruhauf, C.A., Schmid, A.A., & Portz, J. Yoga For Caregiving Dyads Experiencing Chronic Pain: Protocol Development for Merging Yoga and Self-Management to Develop Skills (MY-Skills) Intervention. International Journal of Yoga, November 2021.

Conferences

B. A. Gibson, J. Portz, M. Van Puymbroeck, C. A. Fruhauf, A. A. Schmid. 2022. “Development of a Mobile Health Yoga Protocol for Older Adults with Multiple Chronic Conditions and High Levels of Depression and their Care Partners.” Symposium for Yoga Research, Stockbridge, MA, October 2022.

 A. L. Oudheusden, B. A. Gibson, M. Van Puymbroeck, C. A. Fruhauf, A. A. Schmid. 2021. “Shifting Yoga Research to Online: Perspectives from a Case Study.” Symposium for Yoga Research, Online, November 2021.

B. A. Gibson, M. Van Puymbroeck, C. A. Fruhauf, A. A. Schmid. 2020. “Development of a Yoga Protocol for Caregiving Dyads Experiencing Chronic Pain.” Symposium for Yoga Research, Online, October 2020.

Research

2021 - 2022 Merging Yoga and Education to Develop Skills for Older Adults with Multiple Chronic Conditions with High Levels of Depression in an Online Format (MY-Skills Mobile). University of Colorado. Designed and and facilitated yoga protocol and served as co-facilitator for self-management education for in-person pre-pilot and online preliminary interventions. Pilot interventions set to start in 2023.

2019 - 2021 Merging Yoga and Self-Management to Develop Skills (MY-Skills) for Caregiving Dyads Experiencing Chronic Pain. Project manager for in-person pre-pilot and online pilot interventions.

2018 - 2021 Merging Yoga and Self-Management to Develop Skills (MY-Skills) for Caregiving Dyads Experiencing Chronic Pain. Adapted, refined, and facilitated yoga protocol and served as co-facilitator for self-management education for in-person pre-pilot and online pilot interventions.

Mentoring

Clemson University PhD student. Yoga/education for older adults with multiple chronic conditions with high levels of depression in an online format. Summer 2021 - spring 2022

Clemson RT PhD students (2). Yoga/education for dyads with chronic pain – moving from in-person to online. Fall 2020 – summer 2021

CSU OT MS student. Yoga/education for dyads with chronic pain. Spring 2020

CSU OT MS student. Yoga for individuals with chronic pain. Spring 2017