Clinic Systems

By Luna Kunst Yoga therapy often meets people at transitional moments—times when the body is relearning itself. One client with whom I worked, a senior who had recently...

Research indicates that meditation and other aspects of yoga can support healthy aging, including for those concerned about dementia. June is Alzheimer's and Brain...

  This past weekend, the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) held its 16th Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) in Costa Mesa,...

How comfortable are you with death? If you're like many Westerners, you may not be very comfortable at all—or you may not give your own inevitable final rest much...

By Meredith Phipps “I got a job!” The excitement in the client’s voice was palpable even over Zoom. We had started yoga therapy sessions months before, when her life...

By Dani Wasson Many yoga teacher trainings excel at creating dedicated practitioners and offering powerful experiences of personal transformation. However, they are not...

By Stacey Loop Over more than 20 years as a yoga therapist, I have deepened my understanding of what this profession entails in co-creating healing spaces and practices...

Research recently published in IAYT's International Journal of Yoga Therapy found that 3 months of a specific yoga program significantly improved balance, strength, and...

By Monica Le Baron When setting wellness goals, the clients I work with often overestimate what they can accomplish in an hour and underestimate what they can achieve...

By Denver Clark As a former yoga therapy school director, faculty member, and mentor, I have had the opportunity not only to build a thriving private practice, but also...

Open-heart surgery is a scary thing—a serious procedure with an intense, potentially lengthy, recovery. Some good news: A study recently published in the medical...

By Cheryl Albright When people hear the words yoga therapy, they often picture stretching or deep breathing in a quiet room. What they don’t picture is the admin work,...

By Anneke Sips When I entered nursing school in 1998, I also stepped into psychiatry—and, almost simultaneously, into yoga. Those early years were a strange kind of...

Chronic pain is a common reason people seek care with IAYT-certified yoga therapists. Affecting nearly 21% of U.S. adults, this kind of long-term pain is not just...

By Katie Hay Becoming a yoga therapist On my back, legs resting up the wall, blankets draped over me…“Breathe,”  instructed my yoga teacher. Relief. I was grieving the...

By Cheryl Albright You’re sitting in your doctor’s office, having consulted with them for a chronic problem you’ve had for some time. Toward the end of the visit, they...

You may already know that yoga therapy is a safe way of working with the natural capacity of your body and mind to optimize well-being. But how can this one practice...

By Stephanie Singleton If you had told me 10 years ago that today I would be a wellness entrepreneur—and a yoga therapist!—I would have certainly laughed. I was an...

Global Yoga Therapy Day is almost here! Every year on August 14, the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) honors the field of yoga therapy in a worldwide...

By Mounia Moalla As healthcare providers, we often encounter patients whose needs extend beyond the realm that traditional medical interventions can touch. A few years...

Yoga includes an array of techniques that can be tailored to literally anyone with the desire to practice. Can't move your arm or leg? No problem. Don't HAVE an arm or...

The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), which publishes yogatherapy.health, works to support yoga as a therapeutic option for physical health,...

Therapeutic yoga, including meditation, brings a range of benefits for those seeking to increase or preserve their neurological health. Here's a look at some of the...

Although they have gone on to receive additional specific training, all yoga therapists are also yoga teachers. And when you go to a yoga therapy session, you might...

When you think of getting older, do you automatically picture a life of less mobility and more pain? Maybe you remember grandma's perpetually sore back or Uncle Joe's...

By Beverly S. Price I started my career as a registered dietitian in the mid-1980s, hoping to bring evidence-based nutrition to the public. After working at a small...

By Noriko de Guzman My role teaching yoga to military personnel in a mental health clinic on a U.S. base represents a unique opportunity that requires sound knowledge...

By Janus Tsai When someone suffers from chronic pain (persistent pain), why might yoga therapy be a worthwhile option to consider adding to their conventional...

By Petra Fibrichova  Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition with a wide range of symptoms that can vary from person to person and day to day....

By Melissa Aguirre My work as a yoga therapist has taken many forms, shaped by my environment, the communities I serve, and the evolving needs of those who seek my...

By Kristine (Kaoverii) Weber Change is hard. Everyone knows that it takes time, practice, energy, and commitment to change your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and...

Join yoga therapist Julie Shaw, MEd, LMT, C-IAYT, for an accessible yoga practice of alternate-nostril breathing in this 5-minute video. Julie explains how she used the...

As yoga therapist Denise Druce, C-IAYT, says on the website for her nonprofit, Yoga Forward, "In a prison setting, yoga can be a refuge inward, away from the external...

By Michelle A. Thielen One morning in 2009 while watching television, I heard a story about 5-year-old girls who “serviced” up to 20 men a day. I was horrified at this...

By Monica Le Baron In Part 1 of this post, we explored the stress cycle and how everyday pressures like traffic, receiving a phone call, and work can trigger it,...

October is celebrated internationally as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Beyond shining a spotlight on prevention and screening for this second most common of all...

By Anandra George My mother would say that I have been practicing sound yoga therapy since I was a small child. She used to hear me humming to myself and would ask me...

As this blog has previously highlighted*, a conference that brings together yoga therapy professionals is an event like no other! The annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy...

August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day And the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) designates September as Recovery Month...

By Rebecca Quigley During my last term of graduate school, I started working at a large private psychiatric hospital as a yoga instructor, transitioning to yoga...

Dr. Catherine Justice is an integrative physical therapist, an IAYT-certified yoga therapist, and the program manager for the Division of Integrative Medicine at...

We've updated the yogatherapy.health Research page with new studies, which you can browse by area of concern. The list emphasizes good-quality reviews and randomized...

By Ainka J. Fulani I was initially drawn to movement for fun and to cope with my own sports injuries, then later to manage stress and heighten self-awareness. As I’ve...

By Joanne Hader In 2023 I received a grant from the Seniors’ Secretariat in Prince Edward Island (PEI) to share an 8-week yoga for self-care program for hospice...

By Julia Romano A central tenet of yoga therapy as I share it is that awareness is healing in and of itself.  New mothers, who make up the majority of my client work,...

Innovative researchers studied the relationship between practicing yoga and violence in a public housing community. Can practicing yoga change how violent societies...

By Deborah King Part of my yoga therapy practice is supporting survivors of intimate partner violence. Anyone who has experienced abuse is a survivor—whether they are...

Yoga, often seen as supporting mental and physical health, is perhaps the best practice for delivering a spiritual dimension to health care. And a number of studies...

By Tonia Kulp Yoga therapy is fully integrated into the care model at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where I work. As a yoga therapist in the integrative...

By Erin Ehlers For 14 years, I owned a small yoga studio and cultivated my yoga therapy business from my long-term presence in my community. I taught small-group yoga...

What touches our hearts—and how and why we love—at times seems mysterious. Research, however, is helping us to understand more clearly how to take care of our cardiac...

By Smitha Mallaiah When I arrived in the United States, I was astonished to find that yoga is perceived as a very physical practice, often stripped of its...

Many people think of yoga as an activity that helps them become more flexible in their bodies. More recently, yoga practices have been associated with the health...

This post, part of our “how yoga therapists work” series, is about how a physical therapist (PT) and current yoga therapy student recognized yoga’s healing potential...

The effects of war, on those who survive it, can be horrific. In recent years we have learned a lot about trauma, and especially about how this condition deeply affects...

By Lois Ramondetta I’m a gynecological oncologist. Doctors in this specialty have long-lasting relationships with patients, and although many are cured, those who...

We can measure countless processes in our bodies to get a picture of our overall health. Heart rate variability (HRV), the very small fluctuations in the time between...

The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) designates October 10 as World Mental Health Day. In honor of efforts like these to raise awareness, promote access to...

By Carrie Meyer Yoga therapy is mind-body medicine with a basic—if not always simple—understanding at its heart: True healing encompasses the mind, body, and spirit....

A recent article in The New York Times declared that yoga “really is as healthy as people say,” listing a convincing number of potential health benefits including...

By Gabriella Barnstone Whenever I tell someone I am a yoga therapist I usually get one of several responses. “What is that?” “I need to do more yoga/get back to my yoga...

By Richelle Muscroft The foundational idea of mind-body therapies is that all parts of us—emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and physical—affect our health. The...

By Santiago Buompadre Lifestyle is now the main driver of mortality and morbidity in the world. In other words, our habits, activities, and how we treat ourselves have...

LoveYourBrain was founded by two brothers, one of whom, Kevin Pearce, was an elite snowboarder and sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a snowboarding crash....

By Asya Haikin Chronic and persistent pain is one of the main reasons people seek out a yoga therapist. When I talk to prospective clients with chronic pain, they often...

By Caitlin Parsons My work as a yoga therapist started because I was seeking relief for my own chronic pain and injuries related to my career as a dental hygienist. I...

By Bren Ohta At the peak of a fulfilling career, my seemingly normal world fell into chaos initiated by a devastating cancer diagnosis and its aftermath. I turned to...

For more than 30 years, the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) has been committed to supporting research, a crucial component of establishing the field...

In this hour-long podcast, IAYT-Certified Yoga Therapist and IAYT Editorial Director Laurie Hyland Robertson discusses yoga as a system, a technology, and a roadmap for...

Treatments for cancer have advanced rapidly over the past 50 years, and people are surviving many cancers and surviving for longer. However, many of the treatments come...

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide—AND the leading cause of morbidity (illness) and disability, according to the World Health Organization....

Yoga therapy is an emerging profession in the West, so perhaps the most common question yoga therapists receive is "What IS yoga therapy, anyway?" (yogatherapy.health...

By Kat Robinson You may be surprised to learn that the internally focused practice of yoga and the externally oriented art of circus have a lot in common: Both include...

Have you made resolutions for the new year? In the United States 38% to 65% of people make them, yet 45% to 92% don’t stick to their resolve.  If you don’t make...

IAYT-certified yoga therapist Sonja Rzepski specializes in yoga for cardiac care. Partnering with cardiologists at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, she designed a...

Western science and medicine professionals are increasingly researching yoga. Robust research not only helps yoga practices to be accepted in Western healthcare (and...

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology has given us tremendous insight into ourselves by producing images of how our brains change in response to how...

When you think of yoga, what comes to mind? Most people in Western cultures think of yoga as a kind of exercise practiced at gyms and yoga studios. Yoga therapy, on the...

New research shows that yoga is equally as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety in older adults. Participants showed lasting improvement in...

By Sarah Garden Yoga is uniquely positioned to help people suffering from chronic pain. As a yoga therapist whose primary role is treating chronic pain—in both clinical...

By Alicia Barmon Breathing is one of the fastest ways to mitigate stress in the autonomic nervous system. It gives us direct access to a system that is involuntary and...

In the Summer 2022 issue of Yoga Therapy Today, a team of yoga professionals summarized the latest Cochrane Review on stroke rehabilitation and yoga, assessing yoga’s...

By Sowmya Ayyar In the West, yoga therapy is often an adjunct treatment for chronic conditions. In India, however, there is a different understanding of yoga as...

Research shows that yoga can have a wide range of benefits for those living with and recovering from cancer. These include improvements in sleep, digestion, fatigue,...

What is the “stress reset button” and how can we access it?  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently updated their resource page for health information and...

Yoga research has grown exponentially in recent years, and with it a more complete understanding of why yoga is beneficial for both clinical and healthy populations. ...

Is yoga just a form of exercise? Is it a religion? What lies beyond the physical postures?  “The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, which means union, or to...

By Cheryl Albright Limited language can be caused by a variety of disabilities—including developmental disabilities such as autism, Down syndrome, and cerebral palsy;...

By Maureen Grosse When most people think of yoga, they think of physical flexibility: the foot behind your head or handstand postures you see in magazines. Those poses...

By Monica Le Baron Sleeping is important—more important than we can imagine. But it can be disrupted by anxious thoughts, physical pain, or those tedious trips to empty...

The Cleveland Clinic recently announced the launch of a new study that will investigate the effect of multiple lifestyle interventions on seizures in adults with...

“We know yoga is a 5,000 plus-year-old tradition,” says Dr. Manjunath N. K., director of research at S-VYASA University in Bengaluru, India. “How do you make it as a...

By Denyse Le Fever When COVID-19 first appeared, many organizations and healthcare providers quickly adapted in-person programs to an online setting. Life with Cancer,...

By Beth Hughes I worked in an adult day health care program for years teaching daily yoga classes and iRest yoga nidra meditation. All clients had some sort of...

By Nicole DeAvilla Many people who have contracted COVID-19 report symptoms that linger beyond the normal recovery time or develop new symptoms over time. This is...

From August through November of 2021, we saw yoga therapy and research presented at conferences focused on COVID-19 challenges, integrative medicine, accessibility, and...

Each year yoga research contributes to holistic, innovative ways of approaching health and well-being. Research conferences throughout the year showcase progress in the...

As the 2021 calendar year draws to a close, many might be taking a step back to contemplate where they’ve been, what they’ve been through, and what hopes they might...

Yoga can support individuals with MS through decreasing fatigue, improving muscle strength, and improving quality of life.  In this article Mindy Eisenberg, MHSA, E-RYT...

How do yoga researchers report on yoga interventions? Why does this matter for students, clients, and patients?  In a recently published article, yoga researchers share...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we’re sharing an in-depth look into how one yoga therapist worked with a client undergoing treatment for breast cancer. ...

Yoga nidra can support people in reducing stress, soothing pain, and promoting a deep sense of well-being—it can also help ease anxiety and improve sleep.  In an...

Yoga therapy can inform care across a range of disciplines—from rehabilitation to diabetes care to learning self-care through the yogic map of mind. Here are nine books...

By Nathalie de Meyenburg As a yoga therapist, I have been with clients through good times, difficult and bewildering times, and yes, the process of dying. This...

Yoga therapy is the specific application of yogic tools like breathwork (pranayama), posture (asana), and meditation to boost whole-person health. While a yoga therapy...

By Kimberly A. Searl Yoga therapy tools that facilitate mindfulness, grounding, compassion, and stress regulation  can give teachers and students the gift of full...

By Sadie Grossman I represent The Wellness and Integrative Oncology Program at Hillman Cancer Center—part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center—as their...

Last month the International Association of Yoga Therapists hosted its annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research. Known as SYTAR, the 3-day event was held online...

Millions of people experience chronic pain worldwide, and yoga therapy can help. In this article, yoga therapist Marlysa Sullivan, DPT, PT, C-IAYT, discusses how yoga...

Research shows that yoga interventions yield a wide range of benefits for health and well-being. But what specific components of these interventions facilitate such...

By Addie deHilster Mindfulness practice can be an effective method for reducing stress, improving sleep, enhancing quality of life, and even changing one’s relationship...

By Beth Gibbs Times are tough right now. COVID-19 is having a serious impact on mental health—an impact expected to be with us long after the pandemic is over. In...

By Evon Stone Rubenstein Some say that stress is at the root of all disease. What if you could change how you feel about stress?  We have always been told that stress...

Yoga therapy can help relieve stiffness and pain for individuals with arthritis.  In this short guided practice video, Steffany Moonaz, PhD, C-IAYT, teaches yogic...

By Ingrid Yang, with Laurie Hyland Robertson Give Back Yoga University and the International Association of Yoga Therapists have partnered on an initiative to support...

By Asya Haikin Mental health professionals increasingly appreciate the benefits yoga can bring to clients, and yoga and meditation are becoming more popular as an...

By Denyse LeFever, with Sherry Zak Morris A year into our collective COVID experience, bright spots may seem few and far between. As pandemic casualties mount, worry...

Here on the yogatherapy.health blog, we love to showcase the stories of clients who have experienced the effects of therapeutic yoga. Garth McLean, C-IAYT, is one such...

By Judi Bar  Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when I considered offering yoga therapy sessions online rather than face to face, I felt sure something would be missing....

Roughly half of those who practice yoga say they do so for health reasons. And although yoga is not a cure-all for physical or mental problems, research is beginning to...

By Mary Duryea As a retired medical doctor, I often muse about how my patients could have been helped by having a yoga therapist contribute to their care....

Watch Steffany Moonaz, PhD, C-IAYT, explain how yoga therapy can support wellness regardless of physical condition—and even in the face of significant health...

By Kelly A. Hurley  A  therapeutic yoga practice really only requires the intention to show up. No fancy equipment or special yoga clothing required! That said, your...

By Dharma Singh Khalsa Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss and impaired cognition, a decline in ability to...

Meet the 2020 finalists for IAYT’s Seva Award Seva (selfless service) is recognized in yogic traditions as a key to personal and spiritual transformation. As an act...

By Nazaahah Amin I have practiced yoga therapy in my hometown of Baltimore City for nearly 10 years. Within that time span the city has seen over 2,700 homicides, most...

By Shirley Telles The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed our social and work environments. Most people are increasingly spending time online to get in touch...

As reported in this CNN article, a new study shows that yoga may decrease symptoms of depression:  "The results showed that yoga moderately eased depressive symptoms...

Review by Pamela Stokes Eggleston As a yoga therapist, I work with clients who have chronic conditions such as MS, diabetes, and PTSD. All of these issues can...

By Robyn Tiger Dial 911! You or a loved one is in need of emergent care. There is a life-threatening situation. Within minutes, trained “first responders” are there to...

The Harvard Health Blog has listed yoga, meditation, and controlled breathing (which we might call pranayama) as helpful strategies for coping with anxiety related to...

By Ann Swanson During challenging times, stress takes a toll on the mind and the body. Stress can lead to compromised immunity, increased inflammation, poor sleep, and...

By Roshini Ranjit Deepa,* a software consultant in her mid-20s, had been suffering from wheezing and breathlessness while climbing the stairs for more than a year. She...

By Elaine Oyang Brittany* is a cheerful, attractive woman in her late 20s with thoughtfully curled blond hair tinged fairy-tale pink. From the outside, she looks like...

By Patience Kaltenbach A lack of mobility is often a barrier to receiving healthcare. Decreased mobility may be caused by aging, injury, or chronic conditions such as...

Pranayama, or yogic breathing exercise, is a tool for working with the energies of the body-mind-spirit. As described in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and other historical...

In this quick video, hear from psychiatrist Gregory Scott Brown on some of the recent research into yoga's therapeutic potential in mental health. As Dr. Brown says,...

By Robyn Tiger As a physician, I spent many years in diagnostic radiology. My job was to help clinicians identify what was causing their patients’ symptoms, and...

By Ann Swanson So you think you might like to become a yoga therapist? Great! The world needs more professionals who have effective ways of addressing suffering,...

By Michael Kuang As in so many conditions, the progressive degenerative disease multiple sclerosis (MS) shows up differently in each individual case, partly because it...

By Smitha Mallaiah I work in a cancer hospital, supporting both patients with life-threatening illnesses and their caregivers with therapeutic yoga practices. I’ve seen...

As the yogatherapy.health blog regularly describes, yoga's practices are not confined to the physical work of postures (asana)—in fact, asana is just the beginning of...

Holistic medicine, alternative medicine, complementary health...What these fields encompass has shifted over time along with the terms used to describe them. Today, the...

  By Claire Whittleston Merging yoga and healthcare: A long-time dream Offering yoga therapy for those with pulmonary issues is close to my heart because my own...

As yoga researcher Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, PhD, C-IAYT, explains in this short video, peace begins with each of us as individuals. This idea may ring true intuitively,...

By Vasanthi Srinivasan Next year, I’ll reach the half-century mark—the Big 5-0—and I can probably look forward to plenty of “over the hill” messages to mark the...

Clients often arrive at yoga therapy after they've tried seemingly everything to alleviate their pain and suffering. As yoga therapist Cheryl Gordon, C-IAYT, notes in...

Could yoga therapy really save money for hospitals and health systems? Research is beginning to indicate that the answer is "maybe so!" but a better question from the...

Did you know there's a yogic technique in which you don't actually DO anything? Although it's referred to as "yogic sleep" or "conscious sleep," in yoga nidra you're...

By Sherri Koehler This past winter, when I told Vickie* she could participate in therapeutic yoga classes, she was a little dubious at first. I met Vickie in the lobby...

Check out this short video on yoga therapy, shot at the annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research this June in Newport Beach, California. The yoga therapists...

As members of an emerging healthcare profession, many yoga therapists are determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past as we integrate into sometimes-challenging...

By Kelsey Underwood “Yoga has taught me that I can acknowledge my fear, and then begin to understand and transform it.” —Cancer Patient at IU Health Simon Cancer Center...

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is incorporating complementary healthcare, including yoga therapy, into programs for both patients and medical students: “There...

By Jeff Kaminski Do you race and bounce daily between destination points? Home, work, carpooling kids, grocery shopping, last-minute errands...Factor in flipping...

IAYT-certified yoga therapist Veronica Zador, featured in this video, puts it like this: “When we relax our body, oftentimes we find it’s easier to relax the way we...

By Kristine Weber “Low back pain? Neck and shoulder issues?? Come try some yoga therapy!” I’m standing in a white marble hallway on the second floor of the Rayburn...

By Cheryl Hurst Patients taking psychotropic medications—prescription drugs like antidepressants and antipsychotics—shouldn’t suddenly stop taking them because of their...

Ann Swanson, MS, LMT, C-IAYT, adapted these recommendations from “Yoga as a holistic treatment for chronic illnesses: Minimizing adverse events and safety concerns,” by...

Yoga therapists are a prolific bunch, partly because we often have been so changed by the practices ourselves that we want to find ways to share them with as many...

By Tyla Arnason Imagine hearing, “It’s cancer,” come across a desk at you. Now imagine that the doctor is speaking about your child. Although it may be impossible to...

One aspect of an illness usually takes center stage in our awareness, so it can be easy to forget that physical conditions have mental/emotional components and vice...

By Neil Pearson We don’t know why, but sometimes when pain persists—becomes chronic—helping people feel the sensations of their bodies and spending time each day doing...

By Robyn Tiger Did you ever stop to wonder how the cells in your body get their energy? Just like you, your cells need food—for them, that comes in the form of a sugar...

A friendly reminder: Yoga isn't a workout, and it's definitely not about achieving ever more "advanced" physical postures. If we remember the wide-ranging philosophical...

By Sundar Balasubramanian Saliva is a basic fluid found in organisms ranging from insects to humans, and it contains several molecules needed for normal physiological...

In a first for both professions, physical therapists and yoga therapists Neil Pearson, Diana Perez, and Shelly Prosko presented a session on integrating the two fields...

By Judi Bar Before I answer why yoga therapy is at the Cleveland Clinic, I need to tell you why it’s in my own life: At the age of 45, I was diagnosed with a chronic...

By Shelley Goldman In light of increasing awareness around trauma and resilience, a groundbreaking study from 1998 is getting renewed attention. The Centers for Disease...

By Allie Middleton Even if it’s your first time, yoga or other mind-body practices can shift how you feel, maybe even helping you tap into your creativity! In addition,...

By Lee Majewski As I recognized from my own cancer experience, there is a huge gap in medical cancer care—a gap yoga therapy can fill nicely. (Read more about how yoga...

By Lee Majewski My friends often ask me, “What is yoga therapy?” Initially, I struggled to find the words to explain this emerging healthcare field. From years of...

Matthew Taylor, a past president of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, offers a brief history of contemporary yoga therapy as part of 30 Years of Social...

By Ann Swanson When I tell people I am a yoga therapist, they inevitably ask, “Wait, what is yoga therapy?” They want to know how it differs from other yoga classes....