You don’t think it’s possible, do you? A few years ago, before I started researching holistic healing model, I would’ve agreed with you. However, today I ask you to humor me and try this:
Begin seating or standing tall, close your eyes and for a few moments focus your attention on your breath. Now, allow your awareness to travel to your neck and shoulders, and take note of how you feel – observe the interplay of the muscles working to attain balance; feelings of tension or stress that so often settle in our shoulders. Now imagine that your head is a balloon! Yep, that’s right – a light, air–filled balloon that is floating on your shoulders. Take a moment to allow this impression to settle. Then, again, bring your attention to your shoulders and neck. Is there any difference?
In October we’ve laid out steps to a comprehensive, holistic approach to health and created a road map to follow in the pursuit of optimal health and wellness.
This month, I’d like to introduce you to the concept of yoga therapy – its roots, practices and benefits.
While all yoga chikitsa – yoga therapy draws from ancient Ayurvedic roots; modern therapeutic practices have two distinct branches: Ayurvedic and structural yoga therapy.
Ayurvedic yoga therapy, just like the science of Ayurveda itself, concerns itself with creating and maintaining health through balancing the doshas. Recognizing how differently each dosha manifests itself in the physical structure, digestion, nervous system, temperament and even stress response of individuals, Ayurvedic yoga therapy prescribes particular yoga sequences and pranayama (breathing practices) based on the vikruti, or current state of doshic balance. The goal of Ayurvedic yoga therapy is to open the body’s energy pathways, so that Prana, (vital force) can flow through the body ridding it of toxins, relaxing nervous system and promoting healing.
Structural yoga therapy, just like the name suggests, addresses the structures of the body. The structural approach changes the way we
move by re-wiring our nervous and muscular systems and changing the way our fascia (connective tissue) moves. When your muscles are balanced and working in harmony, your joints move in an optimal (and pain-free!) range of movement. How important is that? Have you ever gone to physiotherapy or chiropractor time after time, only to have them work on the same issue? While good chiropractic, physiotherapy or massage treatments are absolutely essential for one’s health, they don’t change the way we move. Structural yoga therapy will teach you how to move differently so you don’t hurt in the first place. What is even more amazing, the benefits last. Once the changes are underway, the body naturally senses the correct movement patterns and healthy movement becomes a consistent practice; whether you are on your yoga mat, walking, working on the computer, driving a car, or working out in the gym.
The study of physical and postural alignment has always interested me: partially out of necessity for creating a safe, injury – free practice; and partially out of fascination with the connection between our posture, our emotions, our thoughts and our relationship with the world. As my own practice of therapeutic yoga and knowledge of Ayurveda deepened, the separation between Ayurvedic and structural yoga therapy has gradually vanished, leaving way for a therapeutic system that addresses the body in its entirety.
Last week, for example, in Therapeutic Yoga for Hips and Shoulders class we played with different ideas for sitting alignment. I’ve asked students to shift between a few different sitting postures and explore how that feels in their bodies – physically and emotionally. Noticing the deep connection between our posture and the way we interact with our environment and people around us was an “Aha!” moment for many of my students. And once they made that perceptual connection, changing their postural habits became almost effortless.
Our thoughts, emotions, life experiences, breathing habits, and our postural health are all deeply interconnected. In fact, they are parts of the single, whole, multidimensional being. Once that concept becomes clear, we stop doubting our ability to change posture with just one thought.
What is yoga therapy? In my understanding and in my practice, it’s a way back to health through the study of interconnectedness. Consider this to be an invitation to create your own multidimensional healing model with the help of yoga therapy.
References:
Mochan, A. G. and Indra. Yoga Therapy. Boston, Massachusetts: Shambala, 2004
Stephens, Mark. Teaching Yoga. Berkley, California: North Atlantic Books, 2010
Stiles, Mukunda. Structural Yoga Therapy. San Francisco, California: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2000
