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.
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.
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.
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.
The use of the techniques of Yoga to create, stimulate,
and maintain an optimum state of physical, emotional, mental, and
spiritual health.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yoga therapy is the application of Yoga to individuals
to empower them to progress toward greater health and freedom from
disease.
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