When Doctors Suggest Yoga Therapy
When Doctors Suggest Yoga Therapy
Many a yoga teacher has quoted Sri K. Pattabhi Jois saying, "do your practice, and all is coming." The practice of yoga itself is transformative, often shaping our relationship to the body, the mind, and how we relate to the present moment. Yoga is unlike a pill or a surgical intervention; it is the slow and methodical growth and change of the student within their journey.
So, what happens when traditional Western medicine doctors suggest yoga therapy for their patients? Are these distinct methods of care and self-care parallel to each other, or do they blend seamlessly?
The place for yoga therapy as part of a holistic life choice
When it comes to yoga therapy, choosing a yogic lifestyle can integrate well with Western medical care. Through scientifically relevant and peer-reviewed data, modern medicine now sees that yoga therapy may benefit patients with various health challenges. Science tells us that yoga and mindfulness may positively affect our brains, change the levels of stress hormones in our bodies, and enhance general health by perhaps helping with pain management, insomnia, depression, and more.
Incorporating yoga therapy into a health care regime is tailored to the individual. Yoga as a therapeutic element of healing is also a whole-body approach. No stone is left unturned, and no aspect of the human form and spirit is ignored.
Movement and āsana address the body, or Annamaya Kosha. Prānāyāma encourages stress reduction and mindfulness. Meditation, sound immersion, and guided imagery also support this holistic life choice. These supportive tools allow the body and mind to relax, which supports a client’s physical healing.
The most significant benefit of yoga therapy could be that of balance and peace. While we usually think of peace as an ethereal existence, it's closely linked to the physical processes in the body. Yoga therapy stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for relaxation, stress reduction, and digestion.
In addition to a doctor-suggested yoga therapy program's physical and mental benefits, one can continue their practice as needed at home.
Where to find yoga therapy programs that partner with physicians and health care professionals
More physicians and health care workers understand yoga therapy as a holistic treatment that complements traditional western medicine. Cancer centers often have yoga therapy programs to support the physical and mental challenges of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments, and concierge services and medical groups often in include yoga therapy in their services.
Yoga teachers with advanced training and certifications by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) partner with chiropractors, acupuncturists, physical therapists, and physicians to address an individual's specific needs. Integrative medicine centers and even private practices offer yoga alongside traditional Western treatments.
You may find that your doctor does not have a direct referral to a yoga therapy program. In that case, do a little bit of research into the yoga therapy programs in your area and uncover options. It's wise to have your physician consult with a yoga therapy provider before beginning. Healing is a team effort, and you want all your team members on the same page!
Becoming a yoga therapist
If you are a yoga teacher that enjoys the idea of using yoga to serve your student’s health challenges, consider seeking advanced yoga teacher training, specifically as a yoga therapist.
There are many advanced YTT courses available, and many you can even do online. For example, Prema Yoga Institute’s “Therapeutic Yoga Essentials” is available as an online course and addresses how to make yoga accessible for different populations, such as beginners and older populations.
Learn more about this topic by reading “Becoming a Yoga Therapist” from a previous blog.
Yoga therapy as a part of the wellness process blends seamlessly with health treatments
Whether your doctor has suggested yoga therapy or you are a yoga teacher exploring yoga therapy – we recommend doing your own research about the many possible benefits of yoga therapy.
If you have any questions about this topic, contact us at Prema Yoga Institute. Prema Yoga Institute is no longer limited to locals of New York City and is now available online with interactive trainings through 2022. PYI is an accredited program based in New York city, teaching students around the globe through online classes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you advance your yoga practice and teaching!
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Becoming a Yoga Therapist
Becoming a Yoga Therapist
There's a fine difference between a Yoga Teacher and a Yoga Therapist. Yoga Teachers focus on the principles; Yoga Therapists focus on the individual.
Modern Yoga vs. Yoga Therapy
Mainstream yoga classes typically offer group classes, with asana as the primary focus. Students learn alignment, flowing, and build strength as they navigate through a class. Yoga is widely seen as another form of exercise, with some teachers including meditation, chanting, or mindfulness practices.
Pranayama and meditation are rarely the sole foci in a yoga class. While a group yoga class can be beneficial and does open the door for more spiritual or mental yoga practice, they may not serve those wanting to incorporate mindfulness to a greater degree. The sheer physical nature of these classes overlooks the individual, especially students with special needs, injuries, or diseases.
Modern Yoga classes tend to be one-way; students are guided as a group, with minimal adjustments to accommodate the individual. Yoga Therapy is a partnership with open, two-way communication between Yoga Therapist and the student.
Yoga Therapy is a way to use all aspects of Yoga to support general health and provide therapeutic benefits for specific challenges in the body and mind. Yoga Therapists formally collect information about a client's health to create assessments and then a support plan. Holistic life choices become the focus instead of exercise and movement.
A Yoga Therapy Session
Any Yoga Therapy session begins with open communications and information gathering. From there, the Yoga Therapist can help a client develop goals and provide techniques for managing their wellness.
With many diseases and conditions, comfortable daily functioning is a challenge. Mental health conditions and physical conditions can be addressed when a health care professional has suggested yoga. Yoga therapists work with their clients to support balance, improve general health, and perhaps improve the quality of life.
Yoga therapy is more than simply pairing asana with evidence-based yoga for ailments (in fact this can be reductionist). It's appropriate for sessions to include dialog, assists when requested, guided meditations, and even homework.
It's not unusual for a therapeutic session to include multiple aspects of Yoga. Targeted asana allows movement to support certain health conditions, both physical and mental. Pranayama helps to focus the mind, while meditation creates relaxation and peace. Sounds, Ayurvedic scents, guided meditations, and yoga nidra may also complete a session.
With a plan targeted to a client's needs and situation, the client can use the therapeutic techniques away from a session. These techniques not only help provide holistic wellbeing, but they also serve to empower and uplift the client. As progress continues, the student gains confidence, and independence returns.
A Yoga Therapist often partners with other healing professionals. It's not unusual to pair Yoga Therapy with western medicine, Reiki therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, and other health care disciplines. Health care providers who have recommended yoga may provide guidance or information for the client to share with the yoga therapist.
Becoming a Yoga Therapist
The journey of any Yoga guide begins with becoming a Yoga Teacher. A commitment of 200 hours of study into the basics of Yoga is required to earn registration with Yoga Alliance, earning the designation of Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200).
It's possible to continue your yoga education with advanced yoga teacher training courses. For example, Therapeutic Yoga Essentials addresses how to make yoga accessible for different populations, such as beginners and older populations. The use of props is studied to allow asana for all bodies. Another advanced yoga teacher training course is the Principles of Ayurveda, the sister science of Yoga, which teaches how Ayurveda opens the door to a better understanding of a person's state, and how seasonal changes interact with the those doshas.
The path to becoming a certified Yoga Therapist is a comprehensive, 800-hour program and culminates with testing, typically with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Their system of IAYT-accredited schools guarantees that your studies will prepare you for certification and a successful career serving others.
Check out Prema Yoga Institute for Online Advanced Yoga Teacher Trainings
While you’re here, we’d love to invite you to check out Prema Yoga Institute, which is longer limited to New York City and is now available online with interactive trainings through 2022. PYI is an accredited program based in New York city, teaching students around the globe through online classes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you advance your yoga practice and teaching!
If you found this information useful, visit our Blog often or subscribe to our Mailing List for similar content.
Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy Explained
Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy Explained
The complexity of modern living, paired with injuries and aging, often yields a body out of balance. We strive for the "work-life" balance, but often glaze over spiritual health and mental well-being.
Clever marketing has a way of tricking us into quick and false fixes, but what about ancient practices, like Yoga and Ayurveda? These two sacred traditions blend together in Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy, placing health and balance at the forefront by modifying yoga and mindfulness practices for the individual. Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy includes time-honored traditions of self-care.
Yoga Today
The accessibility and popularity of modern Yoga bring this ancient practice into everyday life. The corner studio yoga represents the broad strokes of a complex tradition to accommodate the community at large. Spirituality and mental wellness may become secondary to the physical asana.
Missing from some yoga studios is the individual attention and instruction for the uniqueness of each human body and mind. Everyone's imbalances vary! So much about our lives - health, stress, occupation, mindfulness, and lifestyle – may not be addressed in a general Yoga class.
As Yoga has spread across the world and into modern times, the intertwining relationship between Yoga and Ayurveda drifted apart. Ayurvedic Yoga Teaching and Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy bring them back together, which aims to address the whole person.
The Basics of Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy
Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy blends traditional Yoga teachings with Ayurvedic principles of health and healing. The history of Ayurveda and Yoga is rooted in the ancient Vedas, the Hindu scripture guiding philosophy, hymns, and rituals.
The individual is the center of the practice. The uniqueness of each soul's Ayurvedic characteristics will guide appropriate holistic yoga and mindfulness techniques.
These characteristics begin with the five elements making up the universe - space (ākash), water (jala), earth (prithvi), fire (teja), and air (vayu). In each human, those elements combine in different quantities to create the three doshas.
The doshas of vata, kapha, and pitta determine our Ayurvedic constitution. Our doshas guide the best practices for self-care. A more natural balance occurs with yoga practices that support specific doshas. Doshas are such an essential driving force in a person that the same ailment in different souls yields differing wellness plans.
The vayus, or body's forces, also influence the holistic yoga plan. The five vayus describe how prana, the life force, moves within. Apana vayu describes downward and outward movement in our bodies, samāna vayu describes what we ingest, and prana vayu describes inward motions. Udana vayu governs upward movement within our bodies, and vyana vayu draws everything from the outside towards the middle.
A unique and complete wellness plan can take shape when uncovering an individual's doshas and examining the body's forces. Doshas pair with appropriate nourishment, movement, breathing, and even sounds and smells.
Integrating Ayurveda
The Ayurvedic Yoga Therapist will work with a client once their health care provider has cleared them for yoga and mindfulness practices. Because Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy addresses a person's specific characteristics and allows for targeted Yoga practices, health is supported from all angles. Balance begins to restore.
The path to becoming an Ayurvedic Yoga Therapist requires dedication to complete a two-year certification. However, yoga teachers can study to teach Ayurvedic Yoga first – which modifies the practice according to the season, the time of day, and the time of life and intentions of a client. This preliminary certification for Ayurvedic Yoga Teachers can take about 100 hours of study.
Ultimately, an Ayurvedic Yoga Therapist will assist clients with new techniques and lifestyle suggestions to help them function at a higher and healthier level. It begins with addressing the individual as a complete being, and the Ayurvedic Yoga Therapist does just that.
Interested in Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy Training?
If this article has piqued your interest in Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy Training, we’d love to invite you to Prema Yoga Institute’s 100-hour Ayurvedic Yoga Training.
The Ayurvedic Yoga Training is now available online and teaches how to:
· Use Ayurveda to apply the techniques of yoga in a precise and empowering way.
· How to cultivate a healthy Ayurveda self-care routine
· Teach seasonally for better care of your students
· Refine sequencing for all levels of classes
· Refine your yoga practice and teaching for private clients to specifically improve mind/body imbalances
· And more (click here for details)
Additionally, The Ayurvedic Yoga Training counts 100 hours towards the PYI IAYT-accredited 850-hour Yoga Therapy Certification Program (additional prerequisites apply) and 100 hours towards the Pure Yoga 300 Yoga Certification.
Visit Prema Yoga Institute to learn more about our training, which is now available online with interactive trainings through 2022!
PYI is an accredited program based in New York city, teaching students around the globe through online classes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you advance your yoga practice and teaching!
If you found this information useful, visit our Blog often or subscribe to our Mailing List for similar content.