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Bass Connections project funds yoga research

Keval Kaur Khalsa, Associate Professor of the Practice of Dance & Theater Studies at Duke University, and Michele Berger, Associate Professor in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, have received a Bass Connections grant from Duke University for their research project Mindfulness In Education & Human Development.

Launched by a $50 million gift from Anne and Robert Bass, Bass Connections supports interdisciplinary teams of faculty, students and community partners tackling societal and cultural challenges through collaborative, problem-centered research projects. 

For the Mindfulness In Education & Human Development project, Khalsa and Berger will work with a team of six graduate and undergraduate students from Duke and UNC-CH and the non-profit organizations Communities in Schools of Orange County and Y.O.G.A. for Youth for a study analyzing the effects of a regular yoga and meditation practice on middle school students.

Although Y.O.G.A. for Youth has taught over 18,000 youth in its 19-year history, only one published research study has been conducted on the effects of the Y.O.G.A. for Youth curriculum, and very little research currently exists in the area of youth yoga/yoga and education.