Who can benefit from yoga?
Yoga can benefit anyone who is capable of empowering themselves. Even if they have limited abilities or energy. Suitable practices can be offered, as long as the practitioner is willing and able to practice. By adapting Yoga practice to the person, it can accommodate different age groups and the varying levels of flexibility, agility, strength, stamina, balance and range of motion that inevitably are a part of aging. More importantly, Yoga can be adapted to the different goals and needs we have throughout life. You are never too old and it is never too late to enjoy the benefits of Yoga practice.
Why should yoga be taught one-to-one?
Yoga recognises and celebrates our differences. None of us are the same, be it in our constitution, potential or evolution. Just like a mango cannot be treated as a pineapple, nor can a raw mango be treated as a ripe one, one human cannot be treated like another. So Yoga does not believe in standardised prescriptions, but rather aims to find individual solutions for each person, honouring different parameters such as constitution, age, vocation, season, living condition, health status, energetic capacity and life interest to name a few.
This is why traditionally all Yoga was taught one-to-one and, in order to achieve results of the highest standard, it should continue to be done in that manner.
In a one-to-one setting, Yoga Therapy can play an important role as a complementary system of Healthcare and Wellness.
What is the difference between a yoga class and a yoga therapy session?
A general Yoga class focuses on teaching Yoga practices, either in a group or private setting, as a means to explore and create a positive relationship with your body, breath, mind and emotions. You could practice Yoga either for a short term (sometimes even just a single class), or long term.
However a Yoga Therapy session, which is only relevant in an individualised setting, focuses on alleviating your specific illness, reducing symptoms, helping manage disease and improving quality of life. The attention required in the Yoga Therapy session is more intense and almost always involves multiple sessions.
Where can yoga therapy help?
Through appropriate utilisation of Yoga Therapy, a wide range of illnesses can be alleviated:
- Musculoskeletal problems
- Digestive disorders
- Sensory dysfunctions
- Blood Pressure related illnesses
- Gynaecological disorders
- Neurological imbalances
- Circulation problems
- Respiratory illnesses
- Cardiac conditions
- and other such illnesses
Yoga Therapy can also be used to maintain health and well-being and manage the challenges of daily life. Through personalised Yoga Therapy practices, you can:
- Increase self confidence and emotional stability
- Promote attention, focus and memory
- Maintain optimum weight
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Mitigate depression
- Increase your energy level
- Expedite recovery from injuries
- Strengthen muscle tone and improve flexibility
- Improve quality of sleep
- Manage social disorders
- Enhance quality of life
- Promote healthier lifestyle
- Nourish and promote spiritual transformation
When practiced longer term with a competent Yoga Therapist, deeper emotional issues, inherited trauma, transgenerational diseases, energetic and spiritual illnesses can also be managed.
What is involved in the yoga therapy process?
This self-empowering process will involve an initial diagnostic consultation session, where the care seeker is observed and interviewed to get an overall picture of their health status, and a possible course of action is determined. Through further follow-up sessions, a Yoga Therapy practice will be taught, utilising a broad range of tools. The frequency of the sessions and the nature of tools included will depend on a wide variety of factors including nature of illness, kind of symptoms manifested, tolerance and energy level of the care seeker, etc.
Normally at least one consultation followed by Yoga Therapy sessions are recommended as a minimum starting point. These sessions can each range between 45-90 minutes each.