All three groups showed improvement in some aspects of their functioning. The most dramatic results came in the area of cognition. With one year's practice, according to Frederick Luskin, Ph. D., director of the study, the participants demonstrated measurable gains in reaction time, short- and long-term memory, reasoning ability, and global cognitive processing. This finding is particularly noteworthy, since people of sixty or older tend to show losses in these areas over a one-year period. As for the physiological aspects of the study, all three groups showed significant decreases in systolic blood pressure, along with increases in both upper and lower body strength. There were no statistically significant changes in flexibility and balance.

Another surprising finding came in the area of psychological and spiritual well-being. Significant improvements were reported by participants in the degree of social support they provided for other people in the ITP group. Previous studies have examined the impact of programs to increase the social support participants perceive from other people, but few have demonstrated that a mind-body-spirit program can increase social support directed to other people. Furthermore, participants reported significant increases in spiritual well-being over the course of the year's practice.

Thus far, according to an official in the study, "we can conclude that the ITP program was well received and beneficial in a sample of community-dwelling older adults and patients with atrial fibrillation, and that the results that were observed in the Aikido of Tamalpais site [where the 1992-93 trainings were held] were not idiosyncratic to that milieu--i.e., ITP can be effective for a broader range of people in the community."