We Welcome Dian Dowling, RN, MSN, FNP-C to the Mind Body Institute Community

Dian Dowling is a family nurse practitioner with 16 years of experience providing healthcare to families in Athens and a mother and grandmother. Dian earned a MS in clinical psychology in 1978 from the University of Georgia, her BSN from the Medical College of Georgia in 1985, her MSN as a family nurse practitioner from Emory University in 1989 and is currently working on her PhD in nursing research from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

"Over 20 years ago I began to study alternative medicine approaches to healthcare to provide a more holistic approach to care for my patients who were interested in these options. I also began to incorporate these methods in my own life. After turning 40, I began noticing that my daily exercise program of weight lifting and stair climbing was no longer providing me with the benefits I had felt during my 30’s. My joints were becoming stiff, I was gaining weight despite eating the same foods, my sleep was poor and my stress level was high. As an experiment, I decided to attend a yoga class once a week. My initial impression of yoga was that the classes were calming and felt good, but I did not see how a form of exercise that did not involve sweating and moved so slowly could provide me with the benefits of a gym workout. Within a short time though I began to notice that my flexibility had improved and my clothes fit better. This motivated me to study and practice yoga more seriously.

"Over the past 10 years I have incorporated yoga into a daily practice. I practice the Ashtanga form of yoga and have been fortunate to study with Sri Pattabhi Jois who developed this form and at 92 still teaches yoga daily throughout the world. Studying with Pattabhi Jois showed me that yoga is of great benefit as we age. Several years ago I suddenly became aware of just how much my yoga practice had affected me. I had slowly but steadily dropped 15 pounds without a diet change. My blood pressure and cholesterol dropped without medication. My body looked leaner, my strength and endurance had improved and the morning stiffness had disappeared. The greatest change was in my reaction to stressful events. I was much calmer and confident when faced with difficult life challenges which previously overwhelmed me. My ability to focus and relax also improved, and I realized that my yoga practice had caused a change in me that was profound.

"One of the outcomes of this change was the decision to return to graduate school last year at the age of 52 to obtain a PhD in nursing research. My research focus will be to study the health benefits of yoga in adults. This research will add to other evidence, which shows regular yoga practice can improve sleep, reduce blood pressure, improve diabetes, reduce pain, increase muscle strength and flexibility and facilitate weight loss. I am very grateful to be able to join the MBI as a research consultant. It is very important that the benefits that our clients experience through these classes reach the attention of others so that yoga can be recognized as a powerful tool for improving health as we age."