02: The Placebo Effect with Katja Bartsch, Part 1

This episode is the first part of the conversation with Tiffany Cruikshank and Katja Barsch on the Placebo Effect and how it relates to yoga.

Katja is a Yoga Medicine instructor and a researcher with a focus on fascia. She runs anatomy and fascia physiology yoga teacher trainings around Europe and contributes research roundups to several Yoga Medicine trainings. She is currently working on her PhD under the skillful guidance of Dr. Robert Schleip and is a Board-Certified Structural Integration Practitioner (BCSI; ATSI) trained by Tom Myers and his Anatomy Trains school. We are honored to have her researchers eye for our research focused episodes.

Together, we dive into the history of the Placebo Effect, how it can be used for the treatment of pain and chronic pain, and how that relates to its function in yoga classes. We also discuss how the Placebo Effect relates to expectation and why, as teachers, our words matter so much.

Listen and learn about some possible positive effects that the Placebo Effect can have, how genetics affect the Placebo Effect, and how to use the Placebo Effect in yoga.

“We don’t realize that listening is actually serving a therapeutic role.” – Tiffany Cruikshank