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Showing posts with label yoga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yoga. Show all posts

Thursday, 12 April 2012

Yoga as a corrective therapy for disease

Today I want to talk about Yoga and how it is used in India as a way of creating balance when an illness or dis-ease is present.
At the Centre where I worked in India, Soukyam,  whatever the patients complaint, there would be many facets to their treatment (all natural), there would be a combination of nutrition, hydrotherapy, fasting, massage, oleation, herbs, but everyone, no matter who, was given a Yoga programme individually tailored to them.
I did not come across one person who did not benefit from their daily yoga practice in a few short days.
In my training, I was taught that Yoga is not just a set of random exercises picked to improve general flexibility. It is far more serious than that. The exercises for each person are picked specifically based around their problems and symptoms. It is given as a prescription as much as herbs and medicines are prescribed.
Energy flow, oxygen, flexibility, improving subtle energy systems (nadis), chakras, breath, mental clarity, and spirituality are all incorporated into a yoga practice, a few simple moves and postures can do so much seems simplistic, but I have seen it and experienced it for myself.
Diabetes patients are gicen pancreas and digestive stimulation exercises. Hypertensive patients are given cooling breathing techniques, people with back problems are given postures that will specifically stretch the area of the back which has become painful, according to the capability of the patient. Yoga supports and underpins all other treatments.
Pranayama - yogic breathing techniques - typically taking 10 minutes or less - are also prescribed for each person - used to stimulate or calm depending on whether they are showin signs of over-stimulation or depression.
The beauty of Yoga is not just that it is free and easy, but also that once someone has been taught and learned, it can be continued easily from home, and will ensure that once health is returned, the person stays healthy.

Saturday, 3 March 2012

Yoga as a therapy

Today I want to talk about Yoga and how it is used at the Centre. When someone comes to Soukhyam hospital, whatever the complaint, there are many facets to their treatment. Hydrotherapy, nutrition, fasting, massage, physio - but everyone is given a specific programme of yoga. Here, yoga is used as a therapy, it is not just a random set of exercises, picked out of a hat to improve general flexibility. The exercises for each person are chosen specifically based around their abilities and their problems, and symptoms they are presenting.
Diabetes patients are given exercises to energise the pancreas and the digestion, hypertensive patients are given breathing to calm and relax, people with back problems are given specific exercises that will stretch the area of the back that is causing pain. Yoga supports and underpins all other treatments.
Yoga is a therapy for which each patient is given a prescription of exercise to do every day and it is treated as a central part of the treatment.
Pranayama - breathing techniques - are also prescribed for each person, depending on whether they are showing signs of over stimulation (eg hypertension) or depression (eg low thyroid, or low anything) - the opposite pranayama exercises are given - calming breathing exercises for the overstimulated, and stimulating exercises for the depressed organs.
The beauty about yoga is that firstly, it gives the person some power to take positive action to improve their health, and secondly, it is something that people can carry on doing after they leave here.
It is something that I am learning about and seeing in action and looking forward to applying when I get home.