Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health. Lee Majewski
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He also invokes the yogic concept of Mitahara by advising that “eating a medium quantity of agreeable foods produces health and wellbeing” (maarupaaduillaatha undi marutthuunnin oorupaadu illai uyirkku; Thirukkural 943).
Living traditions of yoga therapy
Different regional and linguistic parts of India have been well served by the illustrious traditions of yoga. The visionary founders of these centers of excellence realized that in order to serve humanity in this modern day and age, the ancient traditional wisdom of yoga needed to work alongside modern medical science, with mutual respect and collaboration, leading to the wholesome integration of healthcare. Major centers flourishing in the new millennium include the tradition of Paramahamsa Madavdasji through the Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute, the Krishnamacharya tradition through the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM),10 the Rishiculture Ashtanga Yoga tradition of Swami Gitananda Giri through the International Center for Yoga Education and Research (ICYER),11 the Vivekananda Kendra tradition through the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (S-VYASA or SVYASA),12 and the popular Swami Ramadev Baba’s work through the University of Patanjali.
Swami Kuvalayananda (1883–1966) founded the Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute13 in 1924 and began the first scientific research on yoga in the journal Yoga-Mīmāṃsā,14 which is published to this day. Swami Kuvalayananda was also largely responsible for yoga becoming a subject in yoga colleges and universities, replacing traditional ashrams. Many eminent personalities such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru used to take his advice regarding yoga and yoga therapy. Swami Digambarji succeeded him, and now Swami Maheshanandaji is the director while Shri O.P. Tiwari is the secretary—Shri O.P. Tiwariji is acknowledged as one of India’s most senior yoga experts. Today, Kaivalyadhama is known worldwide for its research work on ancient yogic texts. Its college offers yoga training courses up to a Bachelor of Arts in Yoga Philosophy.
Shri Yogendra founded The Yoga Institute at Santacruz East in Mumbai in 1918. He was a pioneer in taking yoga to the West by founding probably the first ever yoga institute in the US, in Harriman State Park, New York, in 1919. A student of Paramahamsa Madhavdasaji, his emphasis was on “Householder Yoga,” with “Yoga for the modern world” one of the teachings. The Yoga Institute has published many books on yoga, four of which have been preserved in The Crypt of Civilization at Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven, Georgia, to be opened after 6000 years, in 8113.
The Southern Peninsula of India has been the abode of a great many yoga masters. Yogacharya Shri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888–1989) was a great master who lived in Mysore in Karnataka. A traditionalist to the core, he felt that yoga must be adapted to the individual. He had three main disciples, K. Pattabhi Jois, T.K.V. Desikachar, and B.K.S. Iyengar, and it is interesting that each one, although of the same lineage (Krishnamacharya), has codified quite different systems of yoga:
• His son and disciple, T.K.V. Desikachar, founded KYM in Chennai, and developed a system that adapts yoga to the individual (the Viniyoga of Yoga). T.K.V. Desikachar elevated KYM as the place of excellence in yoga therapy.
• K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore codified the system of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. It has become very popular in the West, with its challenging athletic nature, ideal for those who want to achieve something! His grandson is continuing his work in taking forward this system of vigorous Hatha Yoga.
• B.K.S. Iyengar founded the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune in 1937. Today, his system of yoga is known as Iyengar Yoga. His book, Light on Yoga, remains one of the best instruction manuals for yoga still in print, and it is the standard textbook for asanas, translated into 28 languages.15 He innovated the way students could attain precision in their practice of asanas by developing yoga props, including the now famous yoga mat. These props have helped those with an illness, those with a disability, older people, and weaker people to practice asanas efficaciously. There are about 75 scientific research papers from universities across the world about the efficacy of Iyengar Yoga as a therapeutic modality for health disorders.
Dr Swami Gitananda Giri, medical doctor and accomplished yogi, founded the Ananda Ashram16 at Pondicherry, India, in 1968. Known as the Lion of Pondicherry, he also founded ICYER and Yoganjali Natyalayam, which are involved in teaching yoga to the young people of Pondicherry. His son and successor Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani is continuing his work, and also currently serves as director of CYTER,17 the Centre for Yoga Therapy, Education and Research, in Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth. Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, a Deemed-to-be-University in Pondicherry, is rated in the top 100 universities of India in the NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework). It runs one of the rare yoga therapy centers operating from within a medical institution. CYTER offers yoga therapy to patients of the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (MGMCRI); provides yoga training to all the university’s medical, dental, and nursing students; and facilitates postgraduate courses in yoga therapy ranging from certificates and diplomas up to doctoral degree (PhD) level. CYTER is also a member school of the IAYT in the US, and the first university-based yoga therapy center in India to be on this list. It has completed two dozen research projects, with 106 papers published in high-impact journals.18
SVYASA is a university in Bangalore led by Dr H.R. Nagendra, and is based on the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. SVYASA specializes in yoga research and yoga therapy. Its research department has been associated with top organizations around the world, including the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), KWA (Kuratorium Wohnen Im Alten), Karuna Trust, and many others. Since 1985 VYASA and S-VYASA have accounted for more than 350 papers on yoga in standard, peer-reviewed, and indexed national and international journals. SVYASA offers postgraduate courses and a Master of Science (MSc) in yoga therapy, as well as a PhD in yoga. In conjunction with the Indian government it offers special subsidized yoga teacher training for young Indian people from other countries.
Traditional models of yoga therapy
There are half a dozen major models of yoga therapy in India. These are based on concepts, principles, and practices that are prominent among specific centers, and one or more of these approaches would normally be used in Indian yoga therapy practice.
Krishnamacharya-Desikachar model
The Krishnamacharya-Desikachar model is based on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. There is an understanding of the different stages of life and the different processes involved in each. By distinguishing needs and goals with reference to the individual, this tradition emphasizes the individualization of the approach to yoga and yoga therapy as a practice. The application is based on a broad segregation as follows: the growth process in children (srsti karma), the maturation process in older teenagers and young adults (siksana karma), a maintenance process preventing future complications (raksana karma), a spiritual process, especially in older people (adhyatmika karma), and as a healing modality and process in individuals with health issues (cikitsa karma).
In this classical tradition, yoga therapy is elevated to a highly sophisticated healthcare discipline. It is practiced as a client-empowering process, where the client is responsible for their healing process. It is done in an individualized, one-to-one setting with a multidimensional approach, often utilizing many tools of yoga. The client-centric process is context-sensitive and respects the age, occupation, ability, and other parameters of the individual. It is considered an evolving process, and is not used as merely a quick-fix solution. It is adopted as a personal and spiritual development path, as a process to develop one’s own unique strengths, and hence it fits in ideally as a collaborative and complementary system of self-healthcare.
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