Yoga Therapy simply explained is a form of comprehensive and integrative working model to address all aspects of health and well-being – both for maintaining health and resolving conditions of ill health. Traditionally, it combines Yoga and Ayurveda – my style of Yoga Therapy includes the former two, Meridian Acupressure Therapy, Myofascial Release, CBT, and Mindfulness. The basis of this model explains how six factors – diet, environment, lifestyle, Asana, Pranayama and CBT – can be used to restore balance to both body and mind.

The focus is salutogenesis, the process of becoming healthy and whole on the multiple layers of the human system.
Yoga deals primarily with the mind. It explains in great details how we can increase our metal balance and clarity. Much confusion in the field of Yoga arises from considering the form of an Asana as the goal – to be an end in itself. This belief is usually based on the assumption that a particular body position confers some mystical or occult belief. This assumption in turn stems from a literal interpretation of ancient yoga texts, many of which describe the final form of various Asanas and the benefits they confer. The cause-effect relationship between the Asana and their benefits, and the nature of the benefits itself, are not defined in terms of modern medical science in the ancient yogic texts. In truth, the cornerstone of the approach of yoga is the model of the three Gunas (see blog: What are the Maha Gunas?). 

Ayurveda on the other hand, is concerned mainly with how to maintain and restore balance in the quantities and functions of the body. For this, it uses the model of the five elements and the model of the three Doshas (see blog: What is Tridosha?). It explains how food and environment affect the qualities and functions in the body on the basis of these two models.

Although Yoga does not explain the effects of food and environment on the body and mind in detail, it does suggest broad guidelines for a healthy diet and lifestyle, based on the same model that Ayurveda uses.

Similarly, Ayurveda focuses on healing the body, but it also deals with the treatment of psychological disorders using the same model of the three Gunas that yoga does.

The approach that I do in my Yoga Therapy Treatment draws on the knowledge contained within several ancient text – the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, the Caraka-Samhita, Yoga Yajnavalkya, Gheranda Samhita, Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Yoga Rahasya– my education and training in Psycholgy and Psychotherapy, the Myofascial Meridian, Nuad, Mindfulness and Functional Anatomy. 

Health is a balance between the various structures and systems in the body and its qualities and functions. Yoga and Ayurveda suggest that Sattva is the human’s natural state. It is the goal of Yoga therapy to keep this natural sattvic state by balancing the Rajas and the Tamas in our lives.

Learn more about Yoga Therapy and how to develop and keep a balanced and healthy body and mind. Book a Yoga Therapy treatment here.