Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health. Lee Majewski
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yoga therapy is foundational to this tradition and is based on Maharishi Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. The steps involved in the process are: a complete and comprehensive understanding of the problem and the individual having the problem (heyam); establishment of the cause of the problem (hetu); the therapeutic goal of healing (hanam); and the selection and utilization of tools to bring about the desired goal (upayam). These are established through four ways of evaluation (pariksha) that involve: observational analysis of the client (darsanam); palpation and touch-based analysis (sparsanam); a detailed interview with the client (prasnam); and pulse examination (nadi pariksa).
Gitananda model
Swami Gitananda Giri claimed that yoga therapy is virtually as old as yoga itself—the “return of mind that feels separated from the Universe in which it exists” represents the first yoga therapy. Yoga therapy could be termed “man’s first attempt at a unitive understanding of mind-emotions-physical distress and is the oldest wholistic concept and therapy in the world.”19 To achieve this yogic integration at all levels of our being, it is essential that we take into consideration the multidimensional aspects of yoga: a healthy life-nourishing diet, a healthy and natural environment, a holistic lifestyle, personal and social behavioral ethics (yamas and niyamas), bodywork through asanas, mudras, bandhas, and kriyas, breath work through pranayama, and the cultivation of a healthy thought process through Jnana Yoga and Raja Yoga.
Swamiji has written extensively, from the point of view of both a medical doctor and an accomplished yogi, about the relationship between health and disease:
Yoga views the vast proliferation of psychosomatic diseases as a natural outcome of stress and strain created by desire fostered by modern propaganda and abuse of the body condoned on all sides even by religion, science and philosophy. Add to this the synthetic “junk food” diet of modern society, and you have the possibility of endless disorders developing…even the extinction of man by his own ignorance and misdeeds.20
He explained the root cause of disease as follows:
Yoga, a wholistic, unified concept of oneness, is non-dual (or adwaitam) in nature. It suggests happiness, harmony and ease. Dis-ease is created when duality (or dwaitam) arises in the human mind. This false concept of duality has produced all conflicts of human mind and the vast list of human disorders. Duality (dis-ease) is the primary cause of man’s downfall. Yoga helps return man to his pristine, whole nature. All diseases, maladies, tensions, are manifestations of divisions of what should be man’s complete nature, the “Self” (atman). This “Self” is “ease”. A loss of “ease” creates “dis-ease.” Duality is the first disease, the unreasonable thought that “I am different from the whole… I am unique.” It is interesting that the one of the oldest words for man is “insan.” A return to sanity, “going sane,” is the subject of real Yoga means of accomplishment (sadhana) and Yoga consistence spiritual practice (abhyasa). Yoga therapy is one of the methods to help insane man back onto the path of sanity.21
One of the specialities of the Gitananda tradition is the use of 12 diagnostic methods (dwadasha rogalakshna anukrama) in the process of yoga therapy assessment. These can be contemplated as a method of self-analysis (swadhyaya) that not only enables the therapist to understand the client better, but also enables the client to understand themselves better too. This is explained in detail in Chapter 4.
SVYASA model
This model is based on Yoga Vashista,22 which describes the cause and manifestation of disease in detail—both psychosomatic as well as non-psychosomatic ailments. It attributes all psychic disturbances and physical ailments to the five elements (the pancha mahabhuta) in a similar manner to other systems of Indian medicine. Commonly seen diseases or disorders of a psychosomatic nature (samanya adhija vyadhi) are described as those arising from day-to-day causes, while the essential “disease” of being bound to the birth–rebirth cycle (sara adhija vyadhi) may be understood in modern terms as congenital diseases. The former can be corrected by day-to-day remedial measures such as medicines and surgery, whereas the essential disease of lifetime-to-lifetime bondage to human birth (sara adhija vyadhi) does not cease until knowledge of the Self (atma jnana) is attained.
It is interesting to note that traditional Indian thought views the very occurrence of birth on this planet as a disease and as a source of suffering! Tiruvalluvar reiterates this when he says, “It is knowledge of the ultimate truth that removes the folly of birth” (pirappu ennum pedaimai neenga chirappu ennum chem porul kaanbadhu arivu; Thirukkural 358).
Yoga understands that physical ailments that are not of a psychosomatic nature can be easily managed with surgery, medication, prayers, and lifestyle modifications, as required. Various yoga techniques may also be used to help prevent or correct physical ailments and restore health, with regeneration, recuperation, and rehabilitation as necessary.
Yoga Vashista gives an elaborate description of the mechanism by which psychosomatic disorders occur. It starts with mental confusion, which leads to agitation of the life force (prana) and a haphazard flow along life force channels (nadis), resulting in depletion of energy and/or clogging up of these channels of vital energy. This leads to disturbance in the physical body, with disorder in metabolism, excessive appetite, and improper functioning of the entire digestive system. Natural movement of food through the digestive tract is arrested, giving rise to numerous physical ailments. Yoga Vashista is many thousands of years old, and the concept of psychosomatic disorders in modern medicine has only recently been realized and accepted.
Iyengar model
“Yoga cures what need not be endured and endures what cannot be cured,” said B.K.S. Iyengar. The approach to therapy in Iyengar’s tradition is through the asanas and pranayama. The body, mind, breath, and emotions of an individual are closely integrated. A problem with one of these affects the other factors. So, through the body, we can also access and alter the condition of the breath, mind, and emotions.
The fundamental principle of yoga therapy in this system is to understand the alignment of the body, not only in the basic standing, sitting, and supine positions, but also in the range of asanas.
Iyengar created specific sequences of asanas for different conditions, which forms the basis of yoga therapy. Further individualized modifications are given depending on the age, health, and condition of the individual. “Asanas are not prescriptions or descriptions,” said B.K.S. Iyengar, “thus, it is not just what asanas are done but how they are done that is important.” This is the reason much emphasis is given in this system on precision and alignment in practice. For those who are unable to attain such precision, props or supports such as blankets, belts, pillows, chairs, bolsters, ropes, and other wooden props are used.
Kaivalyadhama model
According to Swami Kuvalayananda, founder of Kaivalyadhama, positive health does not mean mere freedom from disease but is a jubilant and energetic way of living and feeling that is the peak state of wellbeing at all levels—physical, mental, emotional, and social. He says that one of the aims of yoga is to encourage positive hygiene and health through the development of the inner natural powers of the body and mind. Thus, the adaptation and adjustment of the internal environment of man [sic] helps him enjoy positive health and not just mere freedom from disease. He emphasizes that yoga produces purification of all channels of communication (nadi shuddhi) and eradication of factors that disturb the balance of body and mind (mala shuddhi).
According to Swami Kuvalayananda, yoga helps cultivate positive health through three integral steps:
• Cultivating the correct psychological attitudes based on friendliness, compassion, cheerfulness, and indifference (maitri, karuna, mudita, upekshanam) towards those people, places, and events that are at ease, suffering, virtuous, and non-virtuous,