What is Yoga Therapy?

by Beth

The emerging field of yoga therapy is steeped in the history and tradition of Yoga, which goes back at least 2,500 years in terms of recorded history. But one can say that modern yoga and yoga therapy began to be developed about 200 years ago when western science and medicine began to notice and study yoga.

The first institutes of modern yoga began in India in the 1920s while India was under British rule. During that time, new teaching forms were brought in from the English education system, such as group classes as opposed to one-on-one study with a guru. These were departures from traditional spiritual culture. Another change was the focus on postures. According to Mark Singleton, author of Yoga Body:

“The primacy of ãsana performance in transnational yoga today is a new phenomenon that has no parallel in premodern times.”

Joseph Le Page, the founder of Integrative Yoga Therapy, says that asana-based yoga and yoga therapy are in many ways new creations, rather than a continuation of a specific Indian spiritual tradition.

Since the 1970’s:

• Yoga has become more integrated with Western culture.
• Research estimates approximately15.8 million people now practice yoga.
• There is a growing body of research seeking to quantify the benefits of yoga in the prevention and treatment of a wide variety of conditions.
• Yoga is gradually being accepted as a complement to allopathic medicine.

All of these factors have given rise to the emerging modality of yoga therapy.

The Goals of Modern Yoga Therapy

The current short definition developed by the International Association of Yoga Therapists is:

“Yoga therapy is the process of empowering individuals to progress toward improved health and wellbeing through the application of the teachings and practices of yoga.”

The scope of practice for yoga therapists is centered in the following framework. 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.

The practice of yoga therapy is aimed at developing self-knowledge through a process of personal witnessing and understanding the self at all levels, body, breath and mind (including intellect and emotions), and their mutual interaction. From the yoga perspective, self-knowledge is health in the most complete sense. It’s a modality that can be applied to groups or individuals with specific health challenges.

Yoga therapy is non-sectarian and non-hierarchical. The Code of Ethics states that yoga therapists will “Provide my services in a nondiscriminatory manner.” This can mean not discriminating on the basis of religion, race, politics, etc. However, if a yoga therapist has a personal belief or concern that might prevent them from providing fair and equitable service, they have the option of referring the client/student to another practitioner. The term “non-hierarchical” refers to establishing a client-therapist relationship in which each party is on equal footing, establishing a therapeutic partnership. The Educational Standards expect that the yoga therapist will have a demonstrated ability to “recognize, adjust and adapt to specific client/student needs in the evolving therapeutic/professional relationship.”

The goals of yoga therapy include: eliminating, reducing, and/or managing symptoms that cause suffering, improving function, helping to prevent the occurrence or re-occurrence of underlying causes of illness, and moving toward improved health and well-being. Yoga therapy recognizes that relief of symptoms is just one facet of the healing process and that not all illness and disease can be cured. It does, however, provide a methodology to heal lives, reduce pain, and stress, and relieve physical symptoms and psychological suffering. Yoga therapy recognizes that the healing journey is unique to each individual and so selects, adopts and modifies all practices appropriately for the individual and/or group depending upon age, physical condition and ability, religion and culture.

Training and Educational Standards

The International Association of Yoga Therapists, which supports research and education in yoga and serves as a professional organization for yoga therapists worldwide, has established training and educational competencies and standards for yoga therapists. These include the following:

• A full definition of yoga therapy
• A scope of practice
• A competency profile covering yoga philosophy, perspectives on health and disease, contemporary biomedical knowledge and principles, skills and ethics for working with individuals and therapeutic groups
• Minimum admission and practicum requirements for accrediting training schools and programs
• Length of training from accredited schools and programs: 1,000 hours

I was privileged to represent the school of Integrative Yoga Therapy on the Educational  Standards Committee. It was a rich and rewarding experience in which a diverse international group of yogis from wide ranging yoga traditions came together over months of meetings to hash out and finalize the standards. I am currently serving on the Ethics Training Task Force.

What is the Difference Between Yoga and Yoga Therapy?

All yoga is considered therapeutic but yoga therapy is yoga with a specific focus on health and healing. It is distinct from other systems of yoga where the class structure and content may be pre-structured and the students molds themselves to the form of yoga being taught. In a yoga therapy class or private session, each client’s/student’s condition, stress levels, and expectations for the class or private session is determined beforehand and the session or class that follows is an evolving collaboration between the therapist and the client/student. Yoga therapy is based in creative, student-centered education, where the yoga therapists see themselves as facilitators and guides. The focus is on awakening the student’s connection to his or her own true source of wellness because that is where true healing can occur.

For more information visit: https://www.iayt.org

In my next post I’ll offer some thoughts on the differences between general yoga classes and yoga therapy classes and sessions.

 

Beth’s self-awareness newsletter is published six times a year. It features informative, inspiring and entertaining tips for finding clarity, contentment, and resilience in a complicated world. For more information and to sign up for the newsletter go to www.bethgibbs.com.

Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° To order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being, go to Amazon, Shambhala, Indie Bound or your local bookstore.