What is yoga therapy about?
• Yoga therapy refers to the application of yoga techniques to help individuals maintain their health and recover from illnesses.
• Yoga therapy is based on the Indian Ayurvedic medicine, one of the oldest treatment methods in the world.
• Yoga therapy supports the natural healing mechanisms of the body and thereby helps prevent illnesses and alleviate symptoms of existing ones. In addition, yoga therapy improves conditions involving structural imbalance.
• Yoga therapy is only a complement to Western medical knowledge and should not be understood as an alternative to any treatment prescribed by a physician. Yoga therapy methods may be used in combination with medication and simultanously with other complementary forms of treatment.
Yoga therapy consultation sessions
First
the yoga therapist plans an individual yoga therapy programme for you, based on your state of health and the targets you have set together. Then the therapist teaches you the programme, after which you can start doing the exercises regularly.
•The programme may include yoga exercises,
breathing,
relaxation ja
silence practices as well as recommendations for diet, etc.
• In individual yoga therapy you will be provided with detailed instructions concerning your personalised home practice, which include all the information necessary for you to practise on your own.
• Yoga is, first and foremost, a self healing technique. The yoga therapist teaches you the personal practice he/she has developed for you and supports you in integrating the programme into your daily routine.
•Embracing a yoga therapy programme is a gradual process that requires initially at least three appointments for consultation sessions within a period of approximately two months. Follow-up sessions will be agreed upon as necessary, usually every two or three months.
What happens during the consultation sessions?
First consultation session (duration approx. 90 minutes) -
During the first appointment the yoga therapist assesses your health by interviewing you and by doing pulse, tongue and structural analyses. Together with the therapist, you will also define your individual goals for improving your physical, mental and, if you wish, spiritual health.
Follow-up consultation sessions (duration approx. 60 minutes) -
During the follow-up consultation session you will get a personal practice that the yoga therapist will teach you step by step. The practice programme may include individual yoga exercises, breathing and relaxation practices, diet or lifestyle recommmendations and, if you wish, instructions on how to learn to bring about a state of silence. Later the programme can be updated according to your current needs and life circumstances.
Introduction of yoga therapy into hospitals
• In countries such as the United States and the UK, yoga therapy has also been successfully integrated into hospitals, as part of patients’ overall treatment. Excellent results have been obtained in the treatment of asthma, diabetes, heart diseases, depression, anxiety and obesity, to name but a few.Yoga therapy is helpful for the same ailments as yoga in general.
• Yoga therapy also helps in managing stressful life circumstances and changes by restoring mental and physical balance, increasing flexibility and strength, improving self-esteem as well as by promoting relaxation and the capacity to live in the moment.
• Medical research has shown that yoga therapy is one of the most effective complementary forms of treatment. Medicare, which provides health insurance coverage to old people in the United States, has since the beginning of 2005 offered coverage for yoga therapy costs.
• Yoga therapy is derived from the Indian Ayurvedic medicine, one of the oldest treatment methods in the world.
• The term ‘ayurveda’ means knowledge of health or knowledge of life (ayus = health, life), veda = knowledge).
• Ayurvedic medicine aims at improving quality of life and prolonging it by treating the whole self, not just the symptoms of diseases. The purpose is to create harmony between all areas of life.
• According to Ayurveda, efficient digestion forms the basis of good health, and the root cause for diseases may be the combination of foods that are inappropriate for your constitution. In Ayurveda, diet and other recommendations are used to help the body find a state of balance and good health.
• Yoga therapy may use the recommendations of Ayurvedic diets and lifestyle to restore balance and enhance well-being. In fact, the methods applied in yoga originate from the Ayurvedic approach to maintaining health.