Yoga in Action!

Left to Right: Camelia Pugh, Rebekah Brems, and Michelle Pugh.

Downward Facing Dog

                                        All Photos courtesy of Jessica Johnson Ackley! 

Donate to Yoga Therapy Training!

Donate to help cover costs like tuition and travel expenses! Pre sale a Yoga Therapy session. Any questions just e mail me at popconesundae@yahoo.com. Click the link below for secure Pay pal site but no pay pal account needed!

Why do I want to teach Yoga Therapy?

First of all, Why do I want to teach yoga? I love sharing yoga with others. The immense satisfaction I get from the faces when class is done and my fellow humans walk away relaxed, calm and relieved. That is just the instant benefits from yoga, what about long term benefits? My personal experience has been improved mood, sense of balance, improved confidence, more energy, anger management, better sleep and less negative reaction to life's challenges! That's a lot for a little daily commitment to the mat.
So Why Yoga Therapy? The implementations that Yoga has to offer can be endless and a life long process. With a little guidance from a Yoga Therapist one can create specific goals or focus on specific challenges for him/her. Yoga Therapy is the tool of yoga being used for therapy. Therapy for alleviating or healing numerous things. Just to name a few.... depression, anger management, weight loss, pain, chronic pain, anxiety, asthma, aids, cancer, diabetes, IBS, PMS, eating disorders, heart disease, menopause, migraines, trauma and body injuries. Yoga Therapy uses yoga and focuses it for the individual/group.
If I can assist in helping others to the road of a healthy, happy and better them, then why not?

What is Yoga Therapy?

 

Yoga therapy is that facet of the ancient science of Yoga that focuses on health and wellness at all levels of the person: physical, psychological, and spiritual. Yoga therapy focuses on the path of Yoga as a healing journey that brings balance to the body and mind through an experiential understanding of the primary intention of Yoga: awakening of Spirit, our essential nature.

Joseph LePage, M.A., Integrative Yoga Therapy (U.S.A.)

Yoga therapy adapts the practice of Yoga to the needs of people with specific or persistent health problems not usually addressed in a group class.

Larry Payne, Ph.D. Samata Yoga Center (U.S.A.)

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 aliments. The challenges may be an illness, a temporary condition like pregnancy or childbirth, or a chronic condition associated with old age or infirmity.

Robin Monro, Ph.D. Yoga Biomedical Trust (England)

Yoga comprises a wide range of mind/body practices, from postural and breathing exercises to deep relaxation and meditation. Yoga therapy tailors these to the health needs of the individual. It helps to promote all-round positive health, as well as assisting particular medical conditions. The therapy is particularly appropriate for many chronic conditions that persist despite conventional medical treatment.

Marie Quail, Yoga Therapy and Training Center (Ireland)

The use of the techniques of Yoga to create, stimulate, and maintain an optimum state of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health.

Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D.

Yoga therapy consists of the application of yogic principles, methods, and techniques to specific human ailments. In its ideal application, Yoga therapy is preventive in nature, as is Yoga itself, but it is also restorative in many instances, palliative in others, and curative in many others.

Art Brownstein, M.D.

Yoga therapy may be defined as the application of yogic principles to a particular person with the objective of achieving a particular spiritual, psychological, or physiological goal. The means employed are comprised of intelligently conceived steps that include but are not limited to the components of Ashtanga Yoga, which includes the educational teachings of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. Also included are the application of meditation, textual study, spiritual or psychological counseling, chanting, imagery, prayer, and ritual to meet the needs of the individual. Yoga therapy respects individual differences in age, culture, religion, philosophy, occupation, and mental and physical health. The knowledgeable and competent yogin or yogini applies Yoga Therapy according to the period, the place, and the practitioner's age, strength, and activities.

Richard Miller, Ph.D.

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 dysfunctions 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.

Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D.

Yoga therapy is a holistic healing art. Rather than prescribe treatments, it invites presence and awareness. Using age-old yogic approaches to deeper presence and awareness, we are able to know ourselves more fully. Out of that knowing, we are more easily moved to embrace the opportunity for change, growth, and enhanced well-being in body, feelings, thought, and spirit.

Michael Lee, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapy is the application of Yoga to individuals to empower them to progress toward greater health and freedom from disease.

Ganesh Mohan, Svastha Yoga and Ayurveda