RY is a gentle type of yoga which is similar to other types of yoga classes, moving the spine in all directions but in a more passive and gentle way. Props such as cushions, bolsters, and blankets provide complete physical support for total relaxation with minimal physical effort, and so people in differing levels of health can practice yoga more easily.

44 women took part in the study, with 22 undertaking the yoga classes and 22 in the waitlist control group. All of the women had breast cancer; 34% were actively undergoing cancer treatment while the majority had already completed treatment. All participants completed a questionnaire at the beginning and end of the ten week program, asking them to evaluate their quality of life through various measures. The results clearly showed that the women who had been given the RY classes experienced a wide range of benefits compared to the control group (who were later all invited to attend identical RY classes).

“Evidence from systematic reviews of randomized trials is quite strong that mind-body therapies improve mood, quality of life, and treatment-related symptoms in people with cancer. Yoga is one mind-body therapy that is widely available and involves relatively reasonable costs,” said lead researcher Suzanne Danhauer, Ph.D., based at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. “Given the high levels of stress and distress that many women with breast cancer experience, the opportunity to experience feeling more peaceful and calm in the midst of breast cancer is a significant benefit.”

The study found that women who started with higher negative emotions and lower emotional well-being derived greater benefit from the gentle yoga intervention compared to the control group. Women in the gentle yoga group also demonstrated a significant within-group improvement in fatigue, while no such change was noted for the control group.

“This was a pilot study to identify the worthiness and feasibility of conducting a larger randomized control trial on restorative yoga and women with breast cancer,” added Danhauer. “Our results are very promising and will allow us to embark on a much larger scale study.”

“Dolphin-assisted therapy is not a valid treatment for any disorder,” says Marino, a leading dolphin and whale researcher. “We want to get the word out that it’s a lose-lose situation – for people and for dolphins.”

While swimming with dolphins may be a fun, novel experience, no scientific evidence exists for any long-term benefit from DAT, Marino says. She adds that people who spend thousands of dollars for DAT don’t just lose out financially – they put themselves, and the dolphin, at risk of injury or infection. And they are supporting an industry that – outside of the United States – takes dolphins from the wild in a brutal process that often leaves several dolphins dead for every surviving captive.

Marino and Lilienfeld reviewed five studies published during the past eight years and found that the claims for efficacy for DAT were invalid. Their conclusions were published recently in Anthrozošs, the journal of the International Society for Anthrozoology, in a paper entitled “Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: More Flawed Data and More Flawed Conclusions.”

“We found that all five studies were methodologically flawed and plagued by several threats to both internal and construct validity,” wrote Marino and Lilienfeld, who conducted a similar review in 1998. “We conclude that nearly a decade following our initial review, there remains no compelling evidence that DAT is a legitimate therapy, or that it affords any more than fleeting improvements in mood.”

An upcoming issue of the newsletter of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities will feature another article by Marino and Lilienfeld, entitled “Dolphin-Assisted Therapy for Autism and Other Developmental Disorders: A Dangerous Fad.”

“We want to reach psychologists with this message, because DAT is increasingly being applied to children with developmental disabilities, although there is no good evidence that it works,” said Lilienfeld, a clinical psychologist. “It’s hard to imagine the rationale for a technique that, at best, makes a child feel good in the short run, but could put the child at risk of harm.”

The Emory scientists have timed their campaign to coincide with a recent call by two UK-based non-profits – the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and Research Autism – to ban the practice of DAT.

While Marino is against taking dolphins from the wild and holding them captive for any purpose, she finds DAT especially egregious, because the people who are being exploited are the most vulnerable – including desperate parents who are willing to try anything to help a child with a disability.

Many people are under the impression that dolphins would never harm a human. “In reality, injury is a very real possibility when you place a child in a tank with a 400-pound wild animal that may be traumatized from being captured,” Marino says.

Dolphins are bred in captivity in U.S. marine parks, but in other countries they are often taken from the wild. “If people knew how these animals were captured, I don’t think they would want to swim with them in a tank or participate in DAT,” Marino says, referring to an annual “dolphin drive” in Japan. “During the dolphin drives hundreds of animals are killed, or panicked and die of heart attacks, in water that’s red with their blood, while trainers from facilities around the world pick out young animals for their marine parks. They hoist them out of the water, sometimes by their tail flukes, and take them away.”

Each live dolphin can bring a fisherman $50,000 or more, she says. “The marine parks make millions off of dolphins, so that’s a drop in the bucket. It’s an irony that dolphins are among the most beloved, and the most exploited, animals in the world,” Marino says.

Sutherlandia Frutescens has long been regarded as the most profound and multi-purpose medicinal plant in South Africa and is proven to powerfully assist the body-mind-energy system. Used as a treatment for cancer, Sutherlandia has also been highly effective in treating HIV as well as wasting from AIDS and TB. Sceletium Tortuosum, a rare plant successfully cultivated on a limited basis, is being used by medical professionals with excellent results to relieve anxiety and depression in patients with little or no adverse side effects. Sceletium also helps relieve symptoms from menopause and works as a support mechanism for smoking cessation.

For more information or to purchase these and a wide range of healthy-living organically grown products, please visit their website at http://www.africanredtea.com or contact them in Los Angeles at 323-658-7832. ART products are available in major markets across the United States through UNFI and Select Nutrition. They can also be found at Whole Foods, Bristol Farms, and Wild Oats stores.

The owner and co-founder of ART, Ms. Nira Levy Maslin will be available at the following events: (Select Nutrition Distributors) 2008 West Coast Table Top Show on February 7; Natural Products Expo West 2008 at the Fresh Ideas Organic Market Place, Booth #9 on March 13; The CA Dietetic Association 2008 on April 11 and 12; and also the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, Booth 843, May 30 – June 1. Complimentary samples for media available upon request to ART.