"Mind/Body Connection"

Maryanna Klatt:

Danny and I met because he was in a class called "Body/Mind Goes To School," and that's part of the minor in Integrative Approaches in Health and Wellness. And then I invited Danny to be a part of my research that I do with Dr. Jane K. Smith, it's a combination of yoga, meditation, and occupational therapy for the whole classroom. And we're in Weinland Park in the second grade classroom. I think there were like four OSU students who came every time and helped and Danny was one of them.

Daniel Snider:

One of the initiatives out of that class was for me to take what I learning and apply it to my previous experience in yoga and provide it as an outreach to other people. And we decided to write up this proposal that I would teach college students who had been impacted by cancer, whether they were cancer survivors or people in a family who had been impacted by cancer and I would be teaching them. So some of the skills that we talked about and teach techniques that we used in the class would become the impetus for me to reach out and really learn to teach yoga.

MK:

So both of these projects, both "Move Into Learning" and Danny's class for survivors, they were only possible through OSU giving us grants. I got one through Outreach and Engagement, to do my research, and Danny got one through undergraduate admissions. It's great to have students who are interested in integrative medicine, because I feel like that's the future of medicine, to use evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine in conjunction with allopathic, western medicine. And the students know so much about it, even when they come in, it's just great to see the breadth of their knowledge.

DS:

Having a mentor at Ohio State is one of the best things I can think of for my academic experience. It really shows me about where I can be in my future, the opportunities that I only have a limited perspectives. I can see so much more through the faculty that help influence me, like Dr. Klatt.

When Daniel Snider's aunt was dying of abdominal cancer, Snider wanted to get to know her better and help her deal with her disease.

So he created a yoga routine for her.

The practice made her feel good, he says, and drew them closer together before her death last year.

"Yoga is a way to reconnect with your body. It helps to establish conscious control of your experience, so decisions you make can better enhance your life and create peace," says Snider, who's majoring in psychology.

"In a cancer survivor situation, oftentimes medications create a lot of lower energy and fatigue. Yoga is a very low-energy activity, but you're able to work with all different areas of your body."

Snider wanted to share what he learned by teaching his aunt. So he created a yoga class for Ohio State students whose lives have been touched by cancer. Participants include cancer survivors and members of families affected by the disease.

"Yoga is one of the best things I can think of," Snider says. "It really addresses all different levels of a person. It's good physically. Mentally, it's very calming. You're initiating a relaxation response. And then there's sort of a transcendental aspect to it. You're not worrying about your past or your future. You're just content."

Snider created the program with the help of a faculty mentor: Maryanna Klatt, an assistant professor of Clinical Allied Medicine and Clinical Family Medicine and creator of the interdisciplinary Integrative Approaches in Health and Wellness minor. (Download information on the minor.) Yoga is a research interest for Klatt, who has taught the practice to groups ranging from Columbus schools second-graders to breast cancer patients.

"Learning the breathing techniques, the meditation, the acceptance of the moment and whatever it brings, and to do that with people who are going through the same things is very powerful," she says. "It’s a support system."

Snider was able to pursue the project thanks to an Undergraduate Enrichment Grant from Undergraduate Student Government; the grant allowed him to take yoga teacher certification courses. In the future, he hopes to study how yoga affects health, perhaps even pursuing a thesis on the subject.