“Excited”: Ringwood’s yoga community at the heart of a pioneering health study

More than 100 people with atrial fibrillation will take part.

Justine de Jonge
October 03, 2025

A local yoga student with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) - the most common type of irregular heart rhythm - is bending his body in the name of science by participating in a world-first randomised study into the condition and the potential benefits of yoga.

Robert Cook started practising yoga three times a week at Ringwood’s Phoenix Yoga Studios after suffering from his first AF episode about four months ago on the way to work one morning.

“It came out of nowhere,” he told the Eastern Melburnian. “I just felt…not right.”

❤️‍🩹 Beating at its own pace: AF develops due to structural and electrical changes in the heart and affects about 500,000 Australians due to a range of risk factors, including age, sedentary lifestyle and obesity.

According to the head of clinical electrophysiology research at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Professor Peter Kistler, people with AF experience symptoms such as shortness of breath, decreased exercise ability, chest pain, fatigue or weakness.

“Instead of beating in a steady, regular rhythm, the heart’s upper chambers quiver or ‘fibrillate’,” he told the Eastern Melburnian. “The condition can lead to heart failure and increases the risk of stroke.”

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🧍‍♂️Finding level ground: Cook said after he received his diagnosis and initial treatments, he entered a “complete unknown” space of how to find a new balance in life, with yoga and the study giving him a new sense of hope.

“I feel excited about it - [it has] the potential for others benefiting around the world.”

🧘‍♂️ Focusing on yoga to help those with AF: Professor Kistler said he chose to study the effects of yoga as a potential treatment for AF as it “encompasses physical activity as well as breathwork, mindfulness and meditation”.

“We hope that our study will help promote the benefits of yoga to the medical community, providing patients and healthcare professionals with evidence-based treatment for AF,” he said.

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Local interest: Phoenix Yoga Studios owner, Sanjay Lavoipierre, said it was “amazing that somebody in the Western hemisphere decided to take on yoga as part of a scientific study for a medical condition”.

Open to apply: Recruiting for the study closes by mid-2026 and results are expected by the end of 2027.