How does yoga therapy work

March 30, 2021 |

Read Time: 7 minutes

Yoga is the process of transforming our lives through physical, spiritual, and mental practices. The main purpose of yoga is to bring harmony, peace as apart from the stretching exercises, asanas also includes meditation, breathing exercises. Yoga needs no introduction as it is popular since ancient times and has gained recognition across the globe. The reason why yoga is effective today and will continue to be in the future is that it has many benefits and no side-effects. The primary focus of yoga was never just fitness. Yoga brings calmness to every individual and reduces anger issues. Just chanting ‘Om’ during meditation brings positivity and increases concentration. This is also a form of pranayama. The list goes on for the benefits of yoga as they are innumerable. Each asana in yoga has a benefit and focuses on the particular part of the body ‘Yoga Therapy’ is one such technique that includes the practice of asanas, meditation, and pranayama to achieve physical, mental, and spiritual goals.

Yoga therapy is the healing process for people who are facing health issues, ailments. It not only cures any physical diseases but also helps in fighting mental issues like depression, anxiety, anger issues, etc. It encourages overall well-being and promotes self-awareness in the body and mind. We can say, yoga therapy is a personalized session where there is a particular asana, meditation, posture, or a breathing exercise that provides relief from the pain.

Yoga therapy will help in the treatment and alleviation of physical ailments like 

• Back /Neck pain 
• Obesity
• Arthritis
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Insomnia
• Cancer 
• Asthma

Yoga therapy also helps in treating mental disorders like 

• Stress
• Depression
• Anxiety
• PTSD
• Autism
• Addiction
• Eating disorders 

A yoga therapist understands the need of the client/student and suggests specific yoga postures to cure the ailment. 

Yoga therapy is based on certain principles that include:

1. To teach an individual what is appropriate depending on his/her requirements.
2. Different people must be respected and the place they come from
3. Each individual must be thought the techniques according to age and occupation because an athlete will be thought differently from a non-athlete individual
4. Understanding the capacity of every student is important and must have personalized timings according to that.
5. Every individual’s interest must be taken into consideration.

How does yoga therapy begin?

• Firstly, you need to discuss the problems you are facing and what are you expecting from this session
• Second, the therapist will suggest you some basic asanas, breathing techniques, and meditation and understand your capabilities
• Third, considering everything there will be a course plan created that you need to follow for the time suggested

The yoga therapist will teach all the techniques as the session will continue for example.

• The therapist will teach different breathing exercises from normal and basic breathing to vigorous breathing
• The therapist will teach a few asanas and postures that will be effective in the problem areas.
• The actual meditation process through which one can improve the focus and concentration
• The therapist will teach how to calm the body and how to gain inner peace.
• The therapist will be giving you few asanas to practice at home apart from the therapy session that needs to be done without fail

Benefits of yoga therapy:

Physical Benefits:

1. Improves flexibility: For people who are unable to work out due to their routine and spend most of their time working on systems usually tend to get back pain, neck pain issues because of the stiffness in body parts, and due to immobility yoga therapy involves asanas that will be effective on the problem areas.
2. Build strength: For people who feel tired after climbing just a few steps or just walking for a few minutes makes them exhausted it implies that the stamina is low. Yoga therapy has asanas like tree pose, downward dog, upward dog, plank pose will build the upper body strength and increase stamina too.
3. Tones the muscle: Yoga therapy is the best way as it includes asanas that involve stretching which is most important for the body. With this, the muscle fibers get longer and give a shape to the legs, arms, and abdomen resulting in a toned appearance.
4. Improves the posture: A proper posture is important at the workplace for any other place for that matter. Having flexibility, strength, toned muscles helps in maintain a proper posture which in turn improves the blood flow and supports the muscles

Psychological benefits

1. Reduces stress: Yoga therapy involves breathing exercises from normal to rigorous breathing that will reduce the secretion of cortisol (primary stress hormone). This clears the mind and relaxes it.
2.  Improves focus: With meditation techniques, yoga therapy cleanses the mind from negative thoughts and allows us to concentrate on present things thus improves productivity at work.
3. Helps fight depression: people go into depression for various reasons but don’t admit it openly or they don’t share their thoughts with anyone. Yoga therapy works best to help fight depression and allow people to have a healthy mind and body.
4. Boost confidence: when the postures are correct and you have a healthy mind and body it improves self-esteem and helps us feel better. The asanas like balasana, ardha chandrasana, and meditation practices will increase our confidence and make us ready to face any challenges in life.

Ms. Mimi Partha Sarathy

Founder, Managing Trustee and Sr. Yoga Teacher Sri Krishna Wellness Yoga Centre

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India