Yoga Therapy is a healing modality provided by a certified yoga therapist who applies the principals of yoga to the individual.
Yoga therapy is both an art and a science, used to enhance health and wellness at all levels of the person: physical, psychological, and spiritual. As a highly trained yoga therapist, Joy seeks to create a journey of healing by selecting, adapting, and modifying yoga practices that are most beneficial for the individual or group in respect to age, culture, and specific physical challenges. In this manner, the art and science of yoga therapy enables students to tap into the wisdom and healing inherent within themselves.
Yoga therapy can be done sitting in a chair or using a yoga mat. The emphasis is not about “doing” the perfect posture, but rather “undoing” the places within where restriction, loss, and trauma are stored.
Using breath work, accessible poses, and meditation techniques, yoga therapy is used to relieve and support various conditions:
Benefits of Yoga Therapy
- Common Aches and Pains: feet and ankles, knees and hamstrings, hips, lower back, hands and wrists, neck and shoulders, sciatica
- Constriction or Hyperextension: muscles, fascia, nerves
- Misalignments: kyphosis, lordosis, asymmetrical hips, pronated feet, scoliosis
- Injuries: whiplash; strained muscles, tendons or ligaments; sprained joints (hip, knees, shoulder, ankle, elbow, wrist); prolapsed/slipped discs
- Post-Surgical: knees, hips, back
- Weight Gain or Loss: obesity and anorexia
- Arthritis: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis
- Digestive Imbalances: irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, acid reflux, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea
- Chronic Conditions or Diseases: allergies, asthma, cancer recovery/remission, carpel tunnel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type II diabetes, fibromyalgia, hormonal imbalances, hypo/hyper- tension, hypo/hyperthyroid, incontinence, insomnia, stroke recovery
- Nervous Disorders: multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s
- Women’s Health: PMS, menstrual irregularities, pregnancy, infertility, pre/postnatal, menopause.
- Emotional Well Being: anxiety, depression, stress, grief or loss, PTSD
- Yoga therapy can relieve discomfort and create more vitality.
International Association of Yoga Therapist
Definition of Yoga Therapy
Updated June 2, 2020
Yoga therapy is 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.
Yoga is a scientific system of self-investigation, self-transformation, and self-realization that originated in India.The teachings of yoga are rooted in the Vedas and grounded in classical texts and a rich oral tradition.This tradition recognizes that the human being’s essential nature is unchanging awareness that exists in relationship to and identification with the changing phenomena of the empirical world. The yoga tradition views humans as a multidimensional system that includes all aspects of body; breath; and mind, intellect, and emotions and their mutual interaction.
Yoga is founded on the basic principle that intelligent practice can positively influence the direction of change within these human dimensions, which are distinct from an individual’s unchanging nature or spirit.The practices of yoga traditionally include, but are not limited to, asana, pranayama, meditation, mantra, chanting, mudra, ritual, and a disciplined lifestyle.
Yoga therapy is the appropriate application of these teachings and practices in a therapeutic context in order to support a consistent yoga practice that will increase self-awareness and engage the client/student’s energy in the direction of desired goals.The goals of yoga therapy include eliminating, reducing, or managing symptoms that cause suffering; improving function; helping to prevent the occurrence or reoccurrence of underlying causes of illness; and moving toward improved health and wellbeing.Yoga therapy also helps clients/students change their relationship to and identification with their condition.
The practice of yoga therapy requires specialized training and skill development to support the relationship between the client/student and therapist and to effect positive change for the individual.
Yoga therapy is informed by its sister science, Ayurveda.As part of a living tradition, yoga therapy continues to evolve and adapt to the cultural context in which it is practiced, and today, it is also informed by contemporary health sciences. Its efficacy is supported by an increasing body of research evidence, which contributes to the growing understanding and acceptance of its value as a therapeutic discipline.
BreathWorks With Joy 