Yoga Therapy

Yoga is one of India’s oldest and most comprehensive soteriological traditions, which has developed a vast arsenal of physical and mental techniques geared to gain control over the nervous system in order to achieve, at will, conscious and supraconscious states of transcendence. In order to appreciate the unique contribution of Yoga to our understanding of the human condition, this age-old tradition is best viewed from the kind of broad perspective of the human potential that characterizes transpersonal psychology and psychosomatic medicine.

Yoga Therapy
“Yoga Therapy is a therapy without medicine, a surgery without tools” Yoga therapy is of modern coinage and represents a first effort to integrate traditional yogic concepts and techniques with Western medical and psychological knowledge. Whereas traditional Yoga is primarily concerned with personal transcendence on the part of a "normal" or healthy individual, Yoga therapy aims at the holistic treatment of various kinds of psychological or somatic dysfunction ranging from back problems to emotional distress. Both approaches, however, share an understanding of the human being as an integrated body-mind system, which can function optimally only when there is a state of dynamic balance.

Yoga therapy emerged in India in the first half of the 20th century. It tailors and adapts classical yoga practices to suit the individual needs of people with specific health problems such as asthma, arthritis, back pain . It aims to be both preventative and curative. It also aims to familiarise individual clients with postural modifications that can be used in a general yoga class, where full yoga postures may aggravate their particular condition. There is nothing mystical about it.It is simply about understanding your own body and its limitations and about thinking positively. It keeps the body supple and mobile and keeps the joints moving.

There is no doubt that the practice of yoga, which in the West is mainly understood as adopting certain bodily postures, is beneficial for health and wellbeing. Yoga also includes techniques of breathing, meditation, body awareness and purification, and emotional stability. Particular medical conditions can be alleviated, managed and even helped towards cure, by carefully selected elements from this broad yoga tradition.

Substantial help is given by yoga therapy for a variety of common conditions, including anxiety, low back pain, arthritis, hypertension, heart conditions, hyperventilation, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome and firma.

Yoga therapy is the adaptation of yoga practices for people with health challenges. Yoga therapists prescribe specific regimens of postures, breathing exercises and relaxation techniques to suit individual needs. Medical research shows that yoga therapy is among the most effective complementary therapies for several common ailments. The challenges may be an illness, a temporary condition like pregnancy or childbirth, or a chronic condition associated with old age or infirmity. Yoga therapy in its present form is a new discipline, created by the marriage of traditional yoga practice with modern medicine. By tailoring yoga practices to individual needs, whilst taking medical considerations into account, yoga therapy is more effective than general yoga practice as a safe means of treating medical conditions.

Yoga Therapy takes a holistic approach to health emphasising body/mind integration, heightening of awareness, and cultivation of a sense of harmony with life. By these means, yoga therapy promotes the natural and innate healing resources of the body and helps restore the proper functioning of the various bodily systems. This can often help to alleviate symptoms and guard against diseases, especially those associated with stress.

Benefits of Yoga Therapy
Yoga therapy is good for everyone.. Modified positions are drawn from all the classical yoga postures and therefore have the same health benefits but without the risk of injury. The postures are designed to align the body and this alignment comes from having a straight back. Allowing the spine to be straight will have positive effects on the rest of your body. Practicing a basic sitting posture , even in a modified form with props such as foam blocks or cushions ,will help achieve this; it will lift your spine and your rib cage and create space. This simple movement will allow your body the space to perform and improve your breathing - it will give a greater sense of confidence and wellbeing.