a Cochrane review found that yoga interventions designed for chronic low back pain increased function at the six month mark, and modestly decreased pain after 3–4 months. The decrease in pain was found to be similar to other exercise programs designed for low-back pain, but the decrease is not large enough to be deemed clinically significant. Theories of the mechanism underlying these changes include the increase in strength and flexibility, physical and mental relaxation and increased body awareness. Traditions Yoga is practised with a variety of methods by all Indian religions. In Hinduism, practices include jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, karma yoga, kundalini yoga, and hatha yoga. Jain yoga Yoga has been a central practice in Jainism. Jain spirituality is based on a strict code of nonviolence, or ahimsa (which includes vegetarianism), almsgiving (dāna), faith in the three jewels, austerities (tapas) such as fasting, and yoga. Jain yoga aims at the liberation and purification of the self from the forces of karma, which binds the self to the cycle of reincarnation. Like yoga and Sankhya, Jainism believes in a number of individual selves bound by their individual karma. Only through the reduction of karmic influences and the exhaustion of collected karma can one become purified and released. Early Jain yoga seems to have been divided into several types, including meditation, abandonment of the body (kāyotsarga), contemplation, and reflection (bhāvanā). Buddhist yoga Buddhist yoga encompasses a variety of methods which aim to develop the 37 aids to awakening. Its ultimate goal is bodhi (awakening) or nirvana (cessation), traditionally seen as the permanent end of suffering (dukkha) and rebirth. Buddhist texts use a number of terms for spiritual praxis in addition to yoga, such as bhāvanā ("development") and jhāna/dhyāna. In early Buddhism, yoga practices included: the four dhyānas (four meditations or mental absorptions), the four satipatthanas (foundations or establishments of mindfulness), anapanasati (mindfulness of breath), the four immaterial dwellings (supranormal states of mind), the brahmavihārās (divine abodes). Anussati (contemplations, recollections) These meditations were seen as supported by the other elements of the Noble Eightfold Path, such as ethics, right exertion, sense restraint and right view. Two mental qualities are said to be indispensable for yoga practice in Buddhism: samatha (calm, stability) and vipassanā (insight, clear seeing). Samatha is a stable, relaxed mind, associated with samadhi (mental unification, focus) and dhyana (a state of meditative absorption). Vipassanā is insight or penetrative understanding into the