Medical Yoga:
Medical Yoga Therapy or “Yoga Chikitsa” is the dynamic state of physical and mental ease, coupled with spiritual well-being. Yoga helps one to develop a positive state of health by not only treating illness, but also helping one to understand the underlying causes of disease. Medical yoga therapy, ideally, is an individualized, personalized and holistic approach that takes into account not only the patient’s mind, body and spirit, but also their family, support network, work situation, and culture, as part of the patient’s individualized treatment plan. As an example, if one is diagnosed with anxiety, a physician trained in medical yoga may prescribe specific breathing techniques (pranayamas), calming postures (asanas), mindfulness-based practices and/or meditation, as well as other lifestyle guidance. This type of therapy does not incur the potentially adverse effects of medications, and can produce benefits to the patient, long after their relationship with the health provider ends.
Yoga is most powerful when it changes the patient’s general health outlook, changing the emphasis from reactive to proactive health management. The yogic definition of health or “svastha” is when the functions of the body and mind are in harmony so that they can turn inward to reach the goal of Self-realization. In yogic terms, when you are really your “Self”, you are truly at “ease”. It is the loss of the Self that creates “dis-ease”. This is a bit different than the Western concept of health, which is often defined as “the absence of disease”. In contrast, the yogic concept is that “disease is the absence of vibrant health.” Accordingly, this way of thinking reaffirms the understanding that the nature of yoga is to find one’s eternal Self of health, peace and well-being.
