In recent years yoga has managed to spread in our country as a practice and a philosophy that ensures wellness. Alongside yoga as a method of fitness and attitude of life, another branch of it begins to gain ground, which we call therapeutic yoga.
In the context of the proliferation of holistic health services, therapeutic yoga finds its place in the complementary tools of the medical industry. In the sense of therapeutic yoga, we mean utilizing yoga attitudes and practices to heal or prevent a health problem.
Therapeutic yoga provides holistic healing because it treats man as a unity of body, spirit, and mind. After all, the word yoga means precisely the bonding, the bonding, and ultimately the harmonious union of all the elements that make up our personality.
The highest goal of therapeutic yoga is for the practitioner to lead individually in deeper awareness, greater understanding and action towards his ongoing care.
Using yoga for therapeutic purposes is nothing new, as in India it is a tradition that has been lost for centuries.
The "tools" of yoga!
Therapeutic yoga programs can help with motor and musculoskeletal problems, neuromuscular disorders, autoimmune diseases, asthma, psychological problems, insomnia, and more.
Yoga can act both therapeutically and proactively. Of course, every type of yoga is curative. However, the main difference between therapeutic yoga and other types of yoga is that it can be adapted to the particular needs of the patient.
The success of therapeutic yoga is due to the fact that it treats every person individually. That is, in drawing up a therapeutic strategy it takes into account the different temperaments, specificities, symptoms and causes of the disease. Remember that every person is different from the rest.
For example, pain in the waist is usually a symptom of a mechanical injury associated with posture and negative internal emotions. Thus, healing yoga can re-educate the whole human body, align it, "program" it to work properly. At the same time, however, it will help to discover the deeper causes of this problem and to remove these negative feelings.
The tools possessed by the therapist are body postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayamas), meditation and meditation techniques, hymns and sounds (mantras and mudras), therapeutic gestures that facilitate the energy system , as well as a variety of personalized relaxation techniques.
It helps the whole organization
The therapist will first be informed about the lifestyle and the problems that result from it. Then, after evaluating the situation, he will suggest completely customized specific postures and therapeutic movements, breathing exercises, meditation and meditation tools.
Harmonious utilization of all these tools can have a positive effect on all systems of the body, not just the muscle. It is a mistake to think that healing yoga is just physical exercise (asanas). In countries such as the US, many doctors recommend yoga to treat mental problems (chronic stress, depression, etc.).
Do not forget that stress is responsible for dozens of diseases and adversely affects the immune system. Numerous scientific studies have shown that yoga and meditation can suppress the feeling of stress by working on the relevant mechanism that causes stress.
Yoga tools suppress areas of the brain responsible for fear, aggression, and anger. On the contrary, they strengthen the centers of the brain that create feelings of pleasure. This results in less stress, but also lower heart rate, breathing rate and pressure.
Of course, the first and most obvious benefit of yoga is to increase flexibility. Ongoing practice results in gradual relaxation of the muscles and connective tissues surrounding the bones and joints.
This is a key reason that therapeutic yoga can reduce pain, especially for the elderly.
Another aspect is that yoga helps to strengthen or maintain muscle mass. In this way it acts as a preventive against conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis and back pain.
The beneficial effect of yoga is on every cellular structure of the body. For example, the increase in blood flow it causes, releases more oxygen to the cells. Therefore, it enhances cellular function. Unblocking the energy creates well-being and balance.
BY Dr Angel,
Aggeliki Koskeridou
Holistic Doctor – Counseling Psychotherapist
Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine
MSc Health Psychology
insta: dr_aggelikikoskeridou_official
Bibliοgraphy:
Arora S, Bhattacharjee J., (2008), Modulation of immune response in stress by yoga. Int J Yoga. 2008;1:45–55. Pubmed.gov, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21829284.
Collins C., (1998), Yoga: Intuition, preventive medicine, and treatment, Pubmed.gov, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9773368.
Raub JA. (2002), Psychophysiologic effects of hatha yoga on musculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary function: A literature review. J Altern Complement Med. 2002;8:797–812, Pubmed.gov, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12614533
