Yoga therapy is whole-person care, which is, in general, a different approach than Western medicine takes. As the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) works to advance yoga therapy as an option in a healthcare system that approaches care as pieces or parts that need to be fixed, this year the yogatherapy.health blog described how yoga therapy works as a discipline—and how individual yoga therapists work as practitioners. Here we’ve rounded up both of these types of posts.
How do individual yoga therapists work?
- Full-spectrum care: Yoga therapy in gynecological oncology—Becoming a yoga therapist and learning the kosha model changed how this gynecological oncologist supports patients in her practice.
- How yoga therapists work: Supporting empowerment and agency in healing—A yoga therapist discusses her work at a pain clinic and an integrative health clinic.
- How yoga therapists work: Behind bars—The kosha model helps this physical and yoga therapist see the incarcerated people with whom she works with more empathy and compassion.
- How yoga therapists work: Somatics and yoga—A yoga therapist explains how somatic yoga helps relieve clients’ pain.
- How yoga therapists work: Yoga and ergonomics in the workplace––A dental hygienist, ergonomics consultant, and yoga therapist shares how she combines her experience to help people stay out of pain.
- The yoga therapy partnership: 50-50—A yoga therapist reflects on the nature of a productive working relationship.
How does yoga therapy work?
- How yoga therapy works: Part 1—How deep, slow breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and helps us manage stress.
- How yoga therapy works: Part 2—Frameworks for understanding—The kosha model, the three gunas, and polyvagal theory are key to understanding how yoga therapy works.
- The safety of yoga: Ahimsa—How and why psychological safety is critical to healing.
- How yoga works: Part 3—Increasing awareness—How awareness practice and meditation support healing.
- Creating space in our lives: Podcast with a yoga therapist—This podcast discusses yoga therapy as a system, a technology, and a roadmap for living.
Plus, practices to try yourself!
- Short movement and meditation practice
- 15-minute guided savasana that includes Himalayan singing bowls
- Simple breath practice
- Loving-kindness meditation
- Breathwork practice
- Yoga nidra for self-healing
- Practices to support compassion and self-compassion
Find an IAYT-certified yoga therapist to guide you through practices like these—and many others that can support your health and well-being.
