The Untapped Gold Mine of Yoga Research – Master Knowledge Visualization

Your Key to Health and Prevention

Anncharlott Berglar, PhD

What if there was a recipe to stay healthy? There actually is. And there is scientific proof. You can have it for free and as much as you want. I am talking about yoga, an ancient discipline that has been used for thousands of years in order to keep mind and body healthy for spiritual development.

A combination of human anatomy of the physical body and of the astral (or energy) body in Vistrit Bhujang Asana (Extended Cobra) pose. The astral body contains among others the seven main chakras, or energy centres, that are described in yoga philosophy and that are located at the positions of physical body nerve clusters.

Yoga’s popularity is rising in our culture. However, people who have the power of truly integrating its practice into the health care system, such as medical doctors, are often still sceptical. In this project, I am designing a communication tool for physicians, yoga teachers and patients by visualizing the proven effects of yoga on the body. This referenced database-type website may increase general awareness of a simple and cost-effective means that may save lives by raising awareness of health. Moreover, increased overall health may potentially increase economical savings.

The main questions in this work are:

What does a visual concept for the depiction and mediation of cause-and-effect cascades look like on different levels of detail?
Which pictorial language and which choice of media should be applied, if the result is used in digital as well as in print media?

I am addressing these questions through methods such as design workshops and online surveys. The core interest is to find a colour concept and a structure for the website. Once this foundation is given, it will serve as a framework for the actual content.

The result will be a prototype of parts of the intended database. It will include the framework of the website and a user pathway of certain effects of one chosen yoga pose on different levels of information: organ, cellular and molecular.I plan to continue this work within the existing collaboration after the MA project. The effects of single yoga poses shall be investigated on a molecular level in the frame of a scientific study. These results and further medical findings regarding yoga shall be integrated into the existing visualization.

Master project 2019–2020 (ongoing)

Mentoring
Prof. Niklaus Heeb
Jonas Lauströer
Fabienne Boldt

Cooperation partner
Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Wilhelm Bloch
Abteilung Molekulare und zelluläre Sportmedizin
Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln