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Introduction to Yoga Therapy
Yoga therapy works on body-mind and spirit. Yoga therapy can be applied to both physical and psychological conditions, and can be used to remedy psycho-spiritual crises. It addresses the physical, mental and spiritual levels of our existence. Yoga therapy can work both on symptoms and on the deeper underlying cause.
The theory of yoga therapy derives mainly from Yoga, Ayurveda, Samkhya, Tantra and Vedanta. The yogic techniques used for healing are derived mainly from Hatha, Mantra and Raja Yoga and from Tantra. Modern sources, such as modern medicine and scientific research, help us to further complete our understanding of how yoga therapy works and how it can be applied.
Yoga and Ayurveda
Yoga and Ayurveda are sister sciences and share a common background and language. Yoga does not have its own theory of disease causation or pathology and traditionally was not a therapeutic system. Rather, yoga was seen as preventative and health promoting. It is Ayurveda that provides the theoretical understanding of how disease is caused, the nature of the illness, and how it can be treated both by Ayurvedic and yogic means.
The tri-doshic theory of Ayurveda, for example, provides the means to understand how various yogic techniques will affect the body-mind in order to create a specific, desired outcome. For example, if we know that a certain disease is caused by excessive vata then yogic techniques, such as yoga nidra and a number of forms of asana and pranayama, can be applied to remove excess vata.
Samkhya and Tantra
Samkhya and tantra are powerful philosophies that, by describing the elements that make up the human being, form the basis of yogic physiology and psychology.
Both Samkhya and Tantra describe the influence of the maha-gunas: sattwa (luminous balance and intelligence), rajas (momentum, desire and dissipation) and tamas (inertia, darkness, ignorance and decay) on the body-mind.
Excessive tamas or rajas in the body-mind leads to disease, restlessness, ignorance, selfishness and various forms of pain, suffering and misery.
Yoga therapy teaches us how to increase sattwa so that it dominates rajas and tamas allowing us to cultivate health, happiness, knowledge and wisdom. To achieve this yoga therapy utilizes lifestyle and diet, asana, cleansing and breathing techniques, and various forms of meditation. These techniques increase the natural intelligence of the body and thereby aid recuperation and health.
Hatha yoga
The most practical theory in yoga therapy comes from hatha yoga which states that many illnesses are formed by imbalance or deficiency in prana and agni (the digestive fire). Many systems of yoga teach that most illnesses begin in the ‘stomach’. According to hatha yoga if we can correct this imbalance or deficiency and strengthen the digestive fire along with prana we can manage or cure illness and build inner strength.
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika states (Ch. 1.17) that ‘postures (asana) give steadiness (firmness) of body and mind, lightness (flexibility) of the limbs and absence of disease.’ It further states that specific postures such as the Spinal Twist (Matsyendrasana) and the Forward Bend Pose (Paschimottanasana) can increase the digestive fire to such an extent that they can remove many forms of disease.
Yoga Therapy Practices and Techniques
Yoga therapy uses a broad range of techniques and processes, including techniques to purify the body-mind, to increase prana and vitality, and meditation techniques to engage the power of the mind and consciousness in healing.
Each branch of yoga has its own utility in supporting therapeutic intervention. The most commonly used techniques come out of hatha yoga, mantra yoga and meditation.
Techniques used include:
- postures - asana
- breath work - pranayama
- hatha yoga cleansing techniques – shatkarmas
- relaxation techniques
- meditation techniques
- karma yoga
- bhakti yoga
- jnana yoga
- mantra yoga
- kriya yoga
- tantric practices
Hatha yoga, the starting point for most yoga therapy, works on the physical organs of the body and on our prana, the energetic systems of the body. Asana and pranayama recondition the physical body-mind, remove tensions, and support rebalance and realignment. Asanas also act on subtle channels that connect psychic centres and allow subtle energy, prana, to flow more smoothly and appropriately. It is the ability to manipulate prana that makes asana and pranayama so effective as tools for healing.
The hatha yoga shatkarma are 6 groups of lesser known techniques that powerfully affect the body-mind. They include techniques that utilize water, air and heat to cleanse the body, nervous system and subtle energy.
Meditation practices are powerful methods for healing and include: relaxation techniques, meditations that employ breath and mantra, awareness development (antar mouna), and more powerful tantric methods to cleanse the deeper, causal and elemental levels of our being (tattwa shuddhi, chakra meditations). Tantric systems employ mantras along with the visualization of yantras, symbols and images, and mudras and bandhas.
Yoga Therapy to Manage Disease
Yoga therapy is most commonly used to manage a broad range of chronic disease conditions. Chronic conditions are those that are long lasting and that do not heal quickly or of their own accord. Yoga is rarely used in acute illnesses, such as coughs and cold, as the best thing for these is bed rest and soup. The body will usually heal itself in time.
In the west the most common chronic conditions are:
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Psychosomatic illnesses, in which psychological and social factors, such as stress play a major role in physical illness, for example, in diseases such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, asthma, eczema, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis.
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Chronic degenerative diseases - illnesses in which body organs deteriorate over time, often due to poor diet and lifestyle, for example, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, cancer. The body organs affected begin to breakdown and may eventually fail. Other body systems which rely on those organs are detrimentally affected.
Yoga therapy is extremely good at managing both these types of chronic diseases and there can be an overlap between these two forms, for example, a psychosomatic disease can lead to chronic degeneration over time, and many degenerative illnesses have strong psychological factors associated with them.
Yoga therapy is sometimes useful as an adjunct to modern medical treatment and in some cases can be the primary therapeutic modality.
Yoga therapy has been found to be effective in the treatment and management of the following problems and diseases:
- Heart disease, such as coronary artery disease
- High blood pressure
- Back pain
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Sinusitis and hay fever
- Headache
- Certain endocrine diseases
- Digestive disorders, such as heartburn and ulcers, constipation, colitis, diabetes and many other conditions.
About the Author(s):
Dr Swami Shankardev Saraswati is an eminent yoga Acharya (authority), medical doctor, yoga therapist and internationally acclaimed author. As a direct disciple of Swami Satyananda Saraswati, he lived in the Bihar School of Yoga India for 10 years (1974-1985), where he trained to teach the highest practices of yoga-tantra.
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