What is Yoga Therapy?
Yoga therapy is the process of empowering individuals to progress toward improved health and wellbeing through the application of the teachings and practices of yoga.
How can Yoga Therapy help you?
If you are suffering from on-going health issues and your doctor doesn’t seem able to help, or you have tried different suggestions from Western medicine and are at the frustrated stage, the ancient practices of yoga can often assist. You may choose to use yoga therapy alongside your doctor’s treatment, alongside other natural therapies, or you may choose to use yoga therapy alone. It is entirely up to you.
Some yoga therapists focus on specific issues, others choose to take a broader approach and will deal with whatever health issue is presenting with the client. While this may appear less effective, it can sometimes be the best approach due to yoga therapist’s training which allows them to investigate both the presenting health issue (what you see as your problem) and any underlying issue that has caused the presenting issue (which is often the real issue)!
In both models of therapeutic yoga (specific and broad based) yoga therapy aims to look at both the presenting problem and the underlying issues.
The first step is to fill in a health and lifestyle questionnaire to provide information about your current issues. That is the starting point and things may evolve from there as you open up to the possibilities.
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Why Try this Approach?
Yoga has been around for thousands of years and it is much more than simply physical exercise. Yoga also incorporates breathing practices, meditation practices, chanting, mudras (a symbolic gesture made with the hands), karma yoga (selfless service), bhakti yoga (devotion), jnana yoga (knowledge). Don’t worry, you will not be introduced to all that first up! You will simply be introduced to the practices that will be of most benefit to you, usually some physical postures, breathing practices and mindfulness through yoga nidra.
Many practitioners in India have used these yoga practices as an integral part of their daily lives since birth and have reaped the benefits.
Often people shy away from trying yoga because they have seen the Western re-branding of yoga which often emphasizes acrobatic postures done by very fit people.
That is not what yoga is really about at all! Gentler postures are often the most effective, even for those very fit people. There is an element of stress in almost every aspect of our lives and also in almost every health issue. Yoga works on opening up the spaces in the body, planting seeds of possibility, providing antidotes to stress – all providing you with a chance to optimize your health.
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