A growing number of clinic systems, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities integrate yoga therapy in a variety of ways. Following are just a few examples. (Although each is listed once, some facilities may fit into multiple categories.)
Hospital and other clinical settings
Many hospital and stand-alone clinics now offer gentle group and individual yoga sessions. These may include mindfulness and other types of meditation, individual yoga therapy sessions, and small-group classes. Therapeutic yoga may be part of clinical care for specific health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, chronic pain, headaches, and more; it may also be used to help patients and providers cultivate personal stress-management practices.
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine
- CHI Health Care
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center
- Cleveland Clinic
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Duke Integrative Medicine
- Geisinger Medical Center
- Howard County General Hospital
- Inova
- Mayo Clinic Health System
- Mount Sinai Health System
- Northwell Health
- Beaumont Health
- University Hospitals Connor Integrative Health Network
Cancer care
Yoga and yoga therapy in these settings is often aimed at reducing symptoms or improving quality of life for oncology patients and, sometimes, caregivers. Sessions may also support survivors, filling gaps in post-treatment support and promoting long-term maintenance of healthy lifestyle changes.
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre Group
- Simon Cancer Center
- University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health
- UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
Mental health
Yoga can be a helpful adjunctive inpatient or outpatient therapy to promote nervous system modulation, self-regulation, and improved bottom-up processing. Individual and small-group sessions may be geared toward stress-coping, self-directed tools for anxiety and depression symptoms, insomnia, and more.
Military settings and public health initiatives
- VHA Whole Health Initiative
- Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and other U.S. military healthcare facilities offer individual and small-group yoga therapy as part of their Mind-Body Medicine programs
- The U.K. National Health Service is exploring yoga to support staff and has formed a working group to consider the inclusion of yoga in NHS benefits
- A number of Swedish hospitals now use yoga programming, including as part of cardiac rehab methods
- Learn more about yoga and integrative medicine on our blog