In the past decade, yoga has taken a step forward here in North America. It’s gone from a stress-busting exercise to full-on medicinal therapy. Though very common in India (the birthplace of yoga thousands of years ago), this field is just emerging in the U.S. It’s called yoga therapy.
Regular yoga has swept across the continent, now a very popular recreational activity. People go to a yoga class to escape the stress of life or stretch out with some gentle exercise. Most classes go through a routine picked by the teacher. Most teachers don’t have the time (and perhaps knowledge) to address someone’s specific symptoms.
Into that void steps yoga therapy. Here, you visit one-on- one with a yoga specialist so that all the postures and stretches are tailored specifically to your health complaint. It could take place in a yoga studio or a physical therapist’s office or a regular medical clinic. The therapist will suggest take-home routines, and then monitor your progress over many visits. The yoga will morph into different things as needed.
This therapy seems like a long time coming. After all, a 60- year-old carpenter and a 20-year-old dance student have different yoga needs. A class wouldn’t get to any real problems either might have. A yoga therapy visit would.
First, your doctor diagnoses a problem in your muscles, joints, or tissues. Then you head to a yoga therapist for special poses adapted specifically for you. Another way the therapy can help is by limiting stress and anxiety in people living with chronic illnesses (even illnesses as serious as cancer).
And if yoga therapy isn’t offered in a community near you, it’s only a matter of time. The New York Times reports that membership in the International Association of Yoga Therapists (based in Arizona) has risen from 760 members to 2,060 in just three years. Plus, yoga is being regarded increasingly by mainstream doctors as an effective therapy.
The only issue in all this is finding a good therapist. Anyone who knows yoga can hang a sign in the window saying “yoga therapist.” Before this happens, they need at least 200 hours of yoga teacher training. Ask for their credentials. Where did they go to school? Go home and research the school. There are many institutes now that certify yoga therapists.
You need to know, because there is a line between helping heal a health problem and making it worse. That line lies right in the middle of choosing one yoga stretch over another.
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