Yoga Therapy
Our Body's Natural
Ability To Heal
by Bob Ash
Yoga Therapy is a fairly generic sounding name for an important field that is emerging in medicine. When most people think of yoga, groups of people gathering in a hot room performing different body positions usually comes to mind. While these poses, or asanas, can be beneficial, they are most effective when used as part of an overall yoga health plan that includes diet (Ayurveda), energy movement (Pranayama) and meditation. Since yoga considers all of the different aspects that make us who we are, it helps to have someone with a deeper understanding of these subjects to help guide us on this journey. That is the essence of what Yoga Therapy is.
It’s really only been in the last decade that traditional medicine has begun to research the benefits of yoga therapy, and in just the past couple of years that the results have begun to be analyzed. So far, the results have been overwhelmingly positive, showing positive effects on conditions ranging from heart disease and cancer, to the more modern maladies such as PTSD, MS and a variety of conditions that affect the nervous system. The reason that yoga therapy has been so effective is that it works with the body’s natural ability to heal itself.
Everything we have ever done or thought of is stored somewhere in our bodies. This fact makes each of us a unique combination of physical, emotional and energetic influences that can be quite different than anyone else in our environment. Understanding those unique elements in our self is a key component to true healing. If, for whatever reason, my body tended to run hot, and with it came the inevitable issues associated with that condition, I would definitely not want to participate in hot yoga as a form of therapy. On the other hand, that type of class might be ideal for someone whose body was made up differently. The opposite can be true as well. If I tended to run a bit cold or was perhaps lethargic, then activating energy may be more appropriate. The yoga therapy credo seems to be “it all depends,” and what it all depends on is who we truly are.
Understanding the elements that make you is the first step in developing an effective yoga therapy plan. A skilled yoga therapist can help you with this step, as they have many tools that can help identify different areas of influence in your life. While there are many individuals in the world practicing some form of yoga therapy, it wasn’t until 2014 that a formal certification process for yoga therapists has begun. The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) recently certified the first group of schools to train certified yoga therapists, and throughout the world there were twelve schools that met the initial qualifications (Ananda School of Yoga & Medicine, located in Nevada City, CA, is included in that group).
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