Five years ago (in 2021), we partnered with Mitacs, a non-profit organization that pairs industry with academia (in this case, the University of Victoria) to run a group of students through the SmartBody SmartMind™ (SBSM) curriculum to assess its effectiveness on various markers of health and well-being, with interoception being a key point of interest. The university studied them with subjective measures pre and post (survey and assessment tools for self-worth, loneliness, interoception, pain scales, etc.).
This is the press release of their initial findings:
VANCOUVER, BC, April 18, 2024
Vancouver-based wellness company Scientuitive – Fitness & Wellness Education Inc. is proud to share the emerging results from a collaboration with researchers at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, to investigate the impact of the company’s online body-mind training program, SmartBody SmartMind™ as devised by Irene Lyon, experienced somatic educator and facilitator. The information provided is preliminary, as it is currently under scientific review for publication and will be available in its final form in coming months.
Mental and physical illness present a significant burden to the individual, as well as society. While scientists and clinical practitioners have understood the mind-body connection for many years, we still see discrete disorders are still often treated in isolation, rather than looking at the whole person, using a holistic healing approach. Prevailing approaches grounded in mental health often focus on changing how a person thinks and acts through approaches such as cognitive-behaviour therapy.
While these approaches work for many people, they do not work for everyone, as they are limited to “top-down” approaches to health and well-being. Interoception is a construct that refers to our ability to notice and connect to the sensations within our body. Research demonstrates that it connects to both physical and mental health, as well as certain aspects of cognitive function. Despite these findings in the research, “bottom-up” approaches using interoceptive awareness seem to be under-utilized in many mainstream mental health approaches. This is particularly relevant for people who may have been exposed to different types of trauma, including childhood adversity, as trauma can negatively impact one’s ability to connect with, and feel safe in, one’s own body.
SmartBody SmartMind™ (SBSM) is a 12-week online program created by nervous system expert and somatic practitioner Irene Lyon, MSc. This program runs twice a year and teaches people how to become their own medicine. Its focus is to restore nervous system regulation through polyvagal-informed education, practical neurosensory exercises, and interactive support.
SBSM worked with a team of researchers at the University of Victoria to evaluate the impact of their program on a diverse group of participants with self-reported physical and mental health concerns. Specifically, they worked with members of the SMARTLab in the Department of Psychology, led by Dr. Colette Smart, Associate Professor of Psychology. The lead researcher on the team was Dr. Jordan Ali, Mitacs Accelerate Postdoctoral Fellow, who worked to design a program of research to evaluate how participating in SBSM, an interoceptive (i.e., somatic) training program could impact self-report as well as cognitive test performance. The research team recruited a group of participants who were signed up to take SBSM and agreed to be followed in a research capacity. Rather than having a control group against which to compare SBSM, participants acted as their own “control” in the study. Participants were tested 12 weeks before the training began, where they were simply living their daily life. They were tested immediately before the program, and once more immediately after the 12 week program. This allowed for comparisons in the time period before the program (i.e., “baseline”) compared to the time period after (i.e., “post-program”).
The study revealed several significant findings. First, it was found that, as anticipated, the program did result in several increases in participants’ somatic or interoceptive awareness, relative to baseline. Specifically, they reported greater trust and safety in their body as well as less worrying about bodily experiences, indicating a different relationship to one’s body following the program. Compared to baseline, participants also showed greater self-compassion, as well as a trend toward improvements in relationship functioning. Participants also self-reported improvements in specific aspects of cognitive function, including their ability to focus and regulate their attention, avoid distraction, and be better organized, although these findings were based on self-report only because most participants performed well on cognitive testing at baseline.
People who had mental health challenges reported doing slightly better in terms of being less distractible, and less over-identified with their problems. By comparison, people with physical health challenges showed slightly less benefits, specifically, less of an increase in focused attention and less of a decline in over-identification with problems. Finally, a large proportion of the participants reported having adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Those with higher ACEs seemed to benefit more from the program than those without, including a greater reduction in perceived stress, overall physical symptom severity, and reduction in trauma-related functional impairments, as well as a trend toward higher resiliency.
Upon reviewing the findings, Dr. Smart commented, “These findings are innovative and add evidence to support the value of interoceptive-focused interventions and their potential to improve people’s experiences of mental and physical health. Such interventions may be particularly beneficial for people with difficult childhoods, who struggle to connect with and ‘befriend’ their own bodies. Being able to offer programs such as SBSM in a large online platform has the potential to reach people who do not have other options for mental health support or therapy. It also allows building of community for people who may otherwise feel quite isolated in their suffering.”
Scientuitive – Fitness & Wellness Education Inc., CEO, Irene Lyon, added: “It was wonderful to get a little piece of academic research complete to showcase the power of a non-invasive and self-guided approach to trauma healing via the improvement of nervous system regulation. Working with the SmartLab team and having the financial support from Canada’s Mitacs Accelerate program has been instrumental in enabling this academic collaboration.”
About Scientuitive – Fitness & Wellness Education Inc. (https://irenelyon.com/)
Established in 2005, Scientuitive – Fitness & Wellness Education Inc. provides online and live in-person support programs to address somatic, nervous system based trauma. To date the company’s online programs and classes have reached over 25,000 people in over 120 countries.
About the University of Victoria (https://www.uvic.ca)
UVic is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive universities, offering life-changing, hands-on learning experiences to more than 21,000 students on the edge of the spectacular BC coast. As a hub of transformational research, UVic faculty, staff and students make a critical difference on issues that matter to people, places and the planet. UVic consistently publishes a higher proportion of research based on international collaborations than any other university in North America, and our community and organizational partnerships play a key role in generating vital impact, from scientific and business breakthroughs to achievements in culture and creativity.
About Mitacs (https://www.mitacs.ca/en)
Mitacs is a key link between industry and post-secondary institutions, driving collaborations at home and abroad to develop projects which solve business challenges and develop Canada’s innovation capacity. Mitacs is passionate about developing the next generation of researchers helping to fuel Canada’s knowledge-based economy.
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