Yoga Therapy

“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 ailments. The challenges may be an illness, a temporary condition like pregnancy or childbirth, or a chronic condition associated with old age or infirmity”.
-Yoga Biomedical Trust (England)
Robin Monro, Ph.D.

While Yoga can help prevent and treat many health conditions, it can also lead to injuries, especially if it is not practised safely and mindfully. Yoga Therapy adapts the practice of Yoga to the needs of people with specific or persistent health challenges not usually addressed in a group class.

Therefore, students who have health challenges will benefit from therapeutic Yoga, taught ‘one’ to ‘one’.

Starting Yoga Therapy

An initial consultation and assessment with a complete medical case history is necessary before embarking on a recommended minimum 4-week program.

A specific regimen of postures, breathing exercises, visualisation, meditation, and relaxation techniques is tailored to support each individual.

What is yoga therapy?

Yoga therapy is the application of Yoga to health challenges. While general Yoga can help with some ailments, specialist yoga therapy is needed for others. This is important not only because Yoga therapy can be more effective than general Yoga for such ailments, but also because it is safer. Certain conditions can be exacerbated by general Yoga. Yoga therapy can aid in the management and prevention of various health conditions.

Will Yoga Therapy work for me?

Yoga offers a vast array of practices that can be utilised for health benefits. This enables Yoga therapists to select practices which are appropriate for different ages and conditions. In their hands, Yoga is safe and effective for children and older adults, as well as for those in the middle age range. It can also be of great benefit for pregnancy and childbirth. 
There is no need to be fearful of Yoga if you have never tried it before. The commonly seen pictures of challenging Yoga postures are misleading. Yoga therapy can be beneficially utilised by people with no prior experience of Yoga, as well as by those with years of yoga experience. Yoga therapists adapt the practices to each person’s level of health, fitness, flexibility, and prior knowledge of Yoga.

How does it work?

People can begin to practice Yoga and benefit straight away, even if they have never practised Yoga before. Therapeutic Yoga tends to be gentle and nurturing, though it can be challenging. It places a heavy focus on bodily awareness and postural alignment with movement tied to relaxed, rhythmic breathing. Much more than in physical exercise, students practising therapeutic Yoga are taught to tune into subtle sensations of their muscles and joints, as well as the mind.

My unique approach tends to be hands-on, tailoring to the individual based on their needs, abilities, and responses, as well as my observations and any contraindications. Props such as blankets, bolsters and straps may be employed to make postures more comfortable and safer, or postures themselves may be modified. 

What are the practices of yoga therapy?

Yoga is a ‘mind/body’ system. It supports both mental and physical levels, aiming to foster harmonious functioning of the whole person. Just as mental actions affect the physical body through psycho-somatic processes, so physical actions affect the mind through stomato-psychic processes. Accordingly, yoga therapy utilises the following broad range of physical and mental practices.

Physical postures and movements 

Simple yoga postures gently stretch and strengthen muscles, improving mobility, flexibility, respiration, circulation, digestion and elimination. These consist of both simple movements and long-held postures, which promote a general sense of health and well-being.

Breathing practices

Breathing is at the interface between body and mind. It continues automatically from the moment we are born to the moment we die without a break. It is, however, constantly influenced by our emotions and activities, and (unlike heartbeating) we can consciously modify it. Yoga therapy utilises simple breathing practices to help harmonise body and mind, manage stress, and alleviate energy blockages, which are often associated with health issues.

Relaxation practices

Learning how to relax is another central element of Yoga Therapy. Relaxation is the body’s way of recharging and helps to ease physical and mental tension. Yoga therapy employs highly effective relaxation techniques that can often provide significant relief from stress and help renew energy. They can also help in the management of pain.

Meditation 

Meditation can help one step back from the pressures of daily life and look objectively at one’s habitual patterns of behaviour, enabling one to cope better with situations that put the body and mind under strain. The two most widely used meditation practices in Yoga therapy are ‘mindfulness meditation’ and ‘emotion cultivation’. In mindfulness meditation, one gets to know oneself by observing one’s thoughts and emotions without judging them. In emotion culturing, one explores the reduction of fear and other negative emotions by replacing them with positive emotions. Negative emotions often play a part in the perpetuation of health problems.