WHAT IS YOGA THERAPY?Through the use of yogic tools and contemporary best practices, the Yoga Therapist focuses on individual assessment and client goals to help an individual improve and maintain optimized health. It enables individuals to manage a health condition, reduce symptoms, restore balance, increase vitality, and improve mental attitude.
To accomplish this, Yoga Therapy uses the Panchamaya Kosha Model. The Panchamaya Kosha model analyzes the individual through the five Koshas (layers) of the body. This multidimensional system includes the physical, energy/breath, mental/emotional, wisdom/intuition and bliss layers. The Panchamaya Kosha Model suggests that the human system is interconnected and functions optimally when there is a state of balance between the layers. Yoga Therapy applies these principles to support an individual’s physical, emotional and mental well-being. |
The International Association of Yoga Therapists defines Yoga Therapy as the “professional application of the principles and practices of yoga to promote health and well-being within a therapeutic relationship that includes personalized assessment, goal setting, lifestyle management, and yoga practices for individuals or small groups.”
Some examples of conditions that benefit from Yoga Therapy include physical pain (back pain, shoulder injuries, chronic pain, fibromyalgia), anxiety disorders, cancer support, trauma, insomnia, depression, and arthritis, just to name a few. Yoga therapy is an extremely useful and helpful adjunct to Western medicine. |