Pune, Maharashtra | August 2025 — Dr. Ishan Shivanand, mental health researcher and founder, Yoga of Immortals has been leading the Yoga of Immortals (YOI) Mental Resilience Training for 150 MBBS students as an integrated healthcare intervention. The 10-week program, conducted through weekly one-hour sessions between May and August 2025, equips medical students with evidence-based meditative tools to address burnout, chronic and compassion fatigue, anxiety, stress, and depression.
Building on this engagement, a formal research initiative is now underway to assess the clinical impact of YOI modalities on student mental health outcomes - primarily symptoms of depression, anxiety and insomnia. The study is being conducted under the Department of Community Medicine and is expected to be completed in 2026.
The program follows a blended and asynchronous model, with recorded meditation practices shared with students after each session, enabling daily self-paced practice alongside demanding medical coursework. Clinical psychologists have been designated to work with the students to ensure a thorough and highly effective program implementation.
Dr. Ishan Shivanand was appointed as Visiting Faculty with the Department of Community Medicine at Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University) Medical College, Pune (BVP), in May 2023, following which the first series of the Yoga of Immortals Mental Resilience Training was delivered between May and September 2023. That initial cohort laid the foundation for the program’s continued integration within community medicine and preventive mental healthcare education.
The ongoing engagement reflects a growing emphasis on integrative and preventive mental health interventions within medical training, combining research-backed contemplative practices with conventional medical education to support the well-being and resilience of future physicians.
