Archived Articles
Embracing Wellness ↑↑
EMBRACING WELLNESS IN RECOVERY THROUGH YOGA
Leslie Kalechman, LCSW, RYT
Auraria Campus, Metropolitan State College and University of Colorado-Denver
March 9, 2002
My Goals: To assist you to experience and understand how the practices of the science of Yoga can be used to create a
comprehensive program of Recovery from Addictions; and/or form a sensible and effective adjunct to more traditional treatments.
This information is based on over 20 years of the clinical experiences of myself and others, and experimental research which shows how
the practices of Yoga provide an effective, cost-effective multimodal approach to treating and preventing addiction; producing lasting
effects on addictive behavior.
Why Yoga?
Yoga is a natural biobehavioral and psychospiritual approach, which holistically addresses the psychosocial, physiological, and spiritual
aspects of addiction. The practices of Yoga important to rehabilitation involve postures, breathing, relaxation, and meditation.
They provide a reliable structure for quieting a compulsive mind and the anxious energies that accompany it; and also open new
opportunities and solutions for dealing with life. Always the question, is Yoga a Religion? The answer is no. Yoga is a set of practices
and universal, ecumenical philosophies which were codified in the Vedas and are also called Vedic Psychology; which lead one to better health,
psychosocial functioning, and towards ones own spirituality, whatever it may be. Yoga means Union; or Unity; union of the body, breath, mind,
and spirit. Yoga consists of a set of balanced practices within an integrated philosophy of living which systematically leads us towards
health and wholeness, an original, traditional, "Holistic Therapy".
"Chemical dependencies are now believed to arise from multiple interacting domains including biological, psychological, spiritual, and social
factors. The addictions field recognizes the complex nature of chemical dependency and the need for a multidimensional approach that addresses
the many components of the addictive process." (O'Connell, Alexander, Introduction: Recovery from Addictions Using Transcendental Meditation
and Maharishi Ayur-Veda; ATQ, Vol 11; p1). Research by Greenstreet, 1988, and others concludes that "broad spectrum" treatment approaches
which include techniques for reducing stress and improving self-efficacy, appear to be the most useful, probably because their effects cover
the widest range of factors contributing to addiction and relapse.(Alexander, Robinson, and Rainforth, ATQ). People use addictive substances
and behaviors in the effort to reestablish balance and internal comfort, and often feel (illusion) while under the influence of the substance,
that they are optimally functioning. Unfortunately, addictive substances and behaviors invariably throw the system out of balance leading instead
to a vicious cycle of escalating stress. A popular way, in our fast-paced, stressful lives to reduce stress is through addiction - we remove our
consciousness of the problem, but unfortunately this doesn't remove the problem. Yoga has everything to do with being conscious, in all aspects of life.
There is a growing body of rigorous empirical research on the benefits of Yoga and mental health in general, and addictions specifically.
A lot has focused on a Yoga path known as TM. There have been more than 30 rigorous studies over 20 years. Yoga practices targeting addictions
are effective in decreasing substance usage; at least as effective as such traditional addictions approaches as cognitive-behavioral and dynamic
psychotherapies, and possibly have more long-lasting treatment effects. Yoga practices are a wonderful adjunct to AA. The research overall
presents amazing results. What accounts for the positive outcomes? Multidimensional, interacting factors appear to underlie the emergence
of addictive behaviors: genetics, environmental stressors, past and present; etc. Techniques of Yoga work at all levels of the individual,
from the deep to the more superficial.
Relapse rates in addiction remain alarmingly high. It may be because current approaches to the treatment of addictions are "generally
fragmentary and based on incomplete and often erroneous knowledge of health and full human potential." John Hagelin, PhD, Foreward, The Alcoholism
Treatment Quarterly Vol 11, No.1 / 2; 1994. Factors underlying relapse are similar to those thought to underlie addictive behavior itself:
physical withdrawal distress, negative emotional states, interpersonal conflicts, social pressure, and stressful environments.
(Cronkite and Moos, 1980; Cummings, Gordon, &Marlatt, 1980; Gorski & Miller, 1986).
Barbara Yoder (1990) The Recovery Resource Book, states "The process of addiction begins with shame and low self-esteem...(and is) based on a
fallacy - the notion that something outside of us can make us whole, (can fix whats wrong, make us feel better." This can be: a substance that
enhances our mood; another person who makes us feel good; an outcome that brings us "success"; an activity that distracts us from our lpain
(working, eating, sexing). Individuals at risk for addiction often do not cope well with environmental and interpersonal demands, which are
experienced as stress, leading to chronic states of physiological arousal and mental anxiety. This may be due to either genetic and/or
environmental factors. In an effort to diminish uncomfortable emotions (anxiety, depression, anger, fear)related to these stressors; and to
restore the perception of personal efficacy, individuals turn to means external to themselves to compensate for a lack of inner resources.
So, the solution is to provide an intervention that does the following:
1. provides a replacement behavior for the "place" of the addiction in the addicts life. If you remove a habit, you need to replace it with something.
2. develops a structure for growing that internal "locus of control" or inner resourcefulness and sense of self-trust. Teaches how to look within,
uncover, develop, utilize, and TRUST one's own internal resources.
3. creates (immediate) short and long term thinking, feeling and behavioral outcomes that are reinforcing; providing a sense of serenity and
satisfaction; empower the individual; and underpin healthy self-definition and esteem.
A balanced, regular Yoga practice does this.
In conventional treatment, "we want the person to give up something that gives him pleasure and/or relieves stress while we offer little in return
except vague, distant promises of either a better life and improved self-esteem ..(or dire predictions of early death and/or insanity.)"
(Greaves, 1980). Ayurveda, the traditional health care system of India, and sister science to Yoga says that the practices of Yoga strengthen our
own "Bliss Molecules". Have you ever practiced Yoga? if you have you may know what I mean. What initially draws most people to Yoga is the sense
of Peace and spaciousness that one feels during/after a practice. And it often happens during/after the first practice! My experience is that
addicts really like Yoga. Perhaps this is why. So initially there is this lovely, comfortable Peace; and then as one practices consistently
deeper changes also occur. Yoga provides a proven antidote to the stress/addiction cycle. Each experience of a complete Yoga practice
(what I will be teaching) provides the body detoxification and a deep relaxation, neutralizing accumulated stress and restoring
psychophysiological balance. "Research indicates that TM (Yoga practices) ... enhance resistance to stress during daily activity by promoting
more rapid mobilization, habituation and stability of autonomic response to stressful stimuli"(Brooks & Scarano, 1985). This means that regular
Yoga practices inoculate us against the effects of stressors in our daily lives, by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our
psychophysiological responses. The same amount of stressors may occur, but we become much more adept at coping with them, physiologically
as well as psychologically and socially. Swami Satchidananda always says, "You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf!" And so life,
overall, becomes much less stressful and much more fun.
Chronic Stress, Addictions and Yoga
Physiologically, chronic Stress causes long-lasting neurochemical and endocrine imbalances, (see hand-out, Physical Reactions to stress.).
These imbalances then act as further stressors to the system, prolong psychological distress and impair coping abilities. A vicious cycle.
Studies implicate these stress factors as a major component weakening coping (homeostasis) mechanisms; which may be the most prevalent influence
causing addictions. Yoga practices appear to reverse these effects (see article by Trish Lamb-Feuerstein); and with only positive side effects;
thereby offering a natural, beneficial intervention providing the effects addicts (and all of us) ore looking for and need: relief from distress
and enhanced sense of well-being. The founder of the TM program, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi provides us with a framework for how drug use arises and
how TM practice (a Yoga technique) counters it: (Walton & Levitsky, ATQ, Vol.11, 1994, p.90).
1. Stress-related experiences can disrupt or prevent optimal psychophysiological function and balance.
2. Substance abuse is an attempt to gain or regain optimal psychophysiological function and balance, but because either the types or quantities
of the abused substances are unnatural, in the long run they give rise to further dysfunction and imbalance. (Vicious Cycle)
3. TM (or Yoga!) is a simple and natural way to optimize psychophysicological function and balance, thus removing the impetus for
artificial attempts to do so through drugs.
A major effect of a balanced, regularYoga practice is to restore optimal psychophysiological functioning. This occurs because of the nourishing
and cleansing effects of the physical postures, breathing techniques, and also the repeated experiencing of what TM calls, "transcendental
consciousness" or what I call "resting in the Self". In the science of Yoga, we will define consciousness as the ground or substrate of
awareness on which all the other activities of the "mind" and behaviors depend. Think of very fertile soil on which all the thoughtforms,
sensory reactions, emotions grow. Through various practices, which we will experience here, the mind is guided towards settling down effortlessly
into this wakeful but deeply peaceful and restful state of pure, present, consciousness. "Subjectively, this state is experienced as a conscious
state without thought." This state experience provides deep physical and psychological rest, deeper than most of our sleep states. It is in this
state, and only in this state, that deep physical, psychological, and spiritual healing and restoration can occur. (refer back to hand-out on
physical reactions of Stress).
According to Vedic Psychology, the Yoga practices allow the practitioner to experience a peaceful silent inner consciousness, being-ness;
the Self; often lost to us amidst our frenetic lifestyles. This is that sense of peace and spaciousness; the release of our "Bliss Molecules."
According to my teacher, Sw. Sat, this is our True Nature, said to provide the foundation for all aspects healthy life. I call this, "Coming Home",
to our own true Self. This experience is not only immediately gratifying, but is said to holistically nourish all the more manifest levels of life
(ego, feelings, thought and action, physical body). Thus, Yoga "waters the root of Being", and the self is said to be profoundly nourished from
its foundation." (Alexander, Robinson, Rainforth,ATQ, Vol 11, p. 25). "Only by experiencing (this) most basic, underlying level of existence,
the ... Self, can all levels of life - physiological, psychological, spiritual, and social - be simultaneously nourished and healed from within."
(Hagelin, ATQ, Vol 11, pxx).
How does this remove the motivation for addictions?
1. Enhanced balance of the neuroendocrine system (the nervous system and the endocrine or hormonal system work very closely and integrally.)
gives rise to increased behavioral efficacy and inner contentment, and thus to a reduced urge for instant mood elevation or tension relief.
2. Enhanced neuroendocrine balance reawakens the body's natural healing mechanisms; enhancing the abilities to cope effectively with stressors;
thus preventing the build-up of distress and frustration.
3. Enhanced psychophysiological balance and inner contentment appear to increase one's sensitivity to, and desire to avoid the damaging
side-effects of substances of abuse. (Walton & Levitsky, ATQ, Vol 11, 1994; p94) As we get into a more healthy balance we spontaneously begin to
lose the cravings for the for substances, activities, people, and/or behaviors that might disrupt the balance.
(TM and smoking; my coffee addiction).
"Therefore, because ....(Yoga) restores homeostatic balance and optimizes the psychophysiological state naturally and holistically, it appears to
eliminate the vicious cycle of substance abuse, replacing it with a "virtuous cycle" of ever-increasing balance, integration and resistance to
disruptive influences".(Walton & Levitsky, as above). This is supported by research in TM. Some of the neuroendocrine balance is related to the
neurotransmitter, serotonin, with increased serotonergic activity acting as a natural means of reducing anxiety, fear and anger; and also playing
an important role towards regulating the autonomic nervous systems responses of fight-flight-freeze and relaxation. (Walton & Levitsky, p 102).
Decreased availability of serotonin, which arises from chronic stress, could explain increased feelings of anxiety, anger, fear and frustration
which contribute to the vicious cycle of chronic stress and drug use. Research in TM examines neurochemical changes resulting from the practice of
TM. There is reliable evidence over many studies that TM practice causes: 1.an increase in serotonin levels during TM practice; and 2.higher
average serotonin availability with regular practice of TM over long periods.3.Also evidence that Tm practice causes cortisol
(a stress chemical)(see Stress hand-out) levels to drop acutely during TM practice, and averages lower over long periods of time in regular
practitioners. Decreased baseline cortisol and increased serotonin availability reflect a more adaptive, healthier neuroendocrine profile than
the opposite. (Walton & Levitsky, p106). It should come as no surprise that there is evidence that most or all drugs of abuse either directly
inhibit (opiates, nicotine) the activity of the fear/anger (loecus coeruleus) center, or have at least a short-lived ability to raise serotonin.
(Walton & Levitsky, p110). This may imply that regular, balanced Yoga practice could reduce chronic stimulation of the anger and fear centers.
And the practices trigger positive balance of the neuroendocrine system, enhancing the feelings of peace and well-being which occur during/after
practice and account for a decreased desire for drugs of abuse.
Yoga uses physical/energetic practices which detox and purify the physical and energy bodies; meditation, in which "awareness experiences
increasingly refine and settle states of the mind" and psychospiritual restructuring to modify and eventually eliminate addictions. Positive
lifestyle changes often effortlessly occur; involving the ways we live: food; work; rest; exercise; relationships; spirituality. The practice of
Yoga gradually detoxes and brings the body/mind back into balance; then gradually eliminates the root causes of addiction by creating and
solidifying healthy, balanced lifestyle choices and behaviors.
Leslie Kalechman, LCSW, RYT. Embracing Wellness Integral Therapies
website: embracing-wellness.com
email: leslie@embracing-wellness.com
Bibliography:
- Alexander, C.N., P. Robinson, and M. Rainforth. Treating and preventing alcohol, nicotine and drug abuse through Transcendental Meditation: A review and statistical meta-analysis. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 1994, Vol. 11; pp13-88..
- Calajoe, Anne. Yoga as a therapeutic component in treating chemical dependency. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, Winter 1986, 3(4):33-46.
- Chauhan, S.K.S. Role of yogic exercises in the withdrawal symptoms of drug addicts. Yoga Mimamsa, 1991, 30(4):21-23.
- Cope, Stephen, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, 1999, Bantam Books
- Ishananda Saraswati, Swami. Yogic Intervention in Rehabilitatin Communities for Drug Addicts. Yoga (Sivananda Math), Jan 2001, 12(1):10-21.
- Galle, Susana A. The Awareness/Energy Connection through hypnosis, Yoga and neurofeedback. International Journal of Yoga Therapy No.11(2000) p.77.
- Niranjanananda Saraswati, Swami, Managing Addiction, Yoga (Sivananda Math), Jan 2001, 12(1), pp4-9.
- Niranjanananda Saraswati, Swami, Yoga and Addiction, Yoga (Sivananda Math), November, 2000, 11(6), pp.2-7.
- O'Connell, David, Alexander, Charles, Recovery from addictions using Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Ayur-Veda, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, Vol.11; 1994, pp1-10.
- O'Murchu, FatherDiarmuid, Spirituality, Recovery, and Transcendental Meditation, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, Vol.11; 1994, pp.169-184.
- Price, Mahima and Hand, Gillian, Addiction-a systems approach, issues for Yoga teachers, Yoga (Sivananda Math), Jan 2001, 12(1), pp8-29.
- Shaffer, H.J., LaSalvia, T.A., Stein, J.P. Comparing Hatha Yoga with dynamic group psychotherapy for enhancing methadone maintenance treatment: a randomized clinical trial. Alternative Therapies Health Medicine, 1997, 57-66.
- Sharma, K., and Shukla, V. Rehabilitation of Drug-Addicted persons: The experience of the Nav-Chetna Center in India. Bulletin on Narcotics, 1988, 40(1):43-49.
- Swami Satchidananda, The Living Gita: The Complete Bhagavad Gita 1988, Integral Yoga Publications, Buckingham, Virginia
- Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , sixth printing, 1997, Integral Yoga Publications, Buckingham, Virginia
- Taub, Edward, et al, Effectiveness of broad spectrum approaches to relapse prevention in severe alcoholism: a long-term, randomized, controlled trial of Transcendental Meditation, EMG biofeedback and Electronic Neurotherapy, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, Vol.11; 1994, pp. 187-220.
- Walton, Kenneth, Levitsky, Debra, A neuroendocrine mechanism for the reduction of drug use and addictions by Transcendental Meditation, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, Vol.11; 1994, pp.89-117.
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12 Steps and Yoga ↑↑
Embracing Recovery Through Yoga
Leslie Kalechman, LCSW,RYT
Auraria Campus, Denver
March 9, 2002
The 12 Steps, and their Relationship to The Yamas and Niyamas (The Universal Vows) of the Ashtanga (Raja) Yoga Path
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
Satya, truthfulness, first and foremost with the self. Acceptance, surrender: Yoga teaches us how to physically, energetically, and mentally experience these difficult, ego-involved concepts and move through them towards greater growth, integrity and wholeness. In Yoga we are always resolving the dynamic dance of willful effort and radical surrender.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
How does one get here if one is a non-believer?? Yoga hastens the transformation. Practices of Yoga open us up to a very real and tangible experience of a transcendent consciousness whatever we wish to call it, the higher Self, the Universal Mind; God; Allah; Christ-consciousness; Higher Power.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
This saying, "Help, I can't do this all myself", is a very real point in the Yogic path, as described in the Bhagavad Gita, part of the Mahabharata, one of the seminal pieces of Yogic literature . In a key scene, the hero, Arjuna, is on the battlefield, (metaphorically the battle for the control of the mind over the senses); he must do battle with his own relatives, friends, teachers. He knows he devoutly wishes to avoid this battle, and doesn't know what to do. He turns to his Higher Power, Lord Krishna, who is in the war chariot with him and says: (Ch2:7) "I am weighted down with weakmindedness; I am confused and cannot understand my duty. I beg of you to say for sure what is right for me to do. I am your disciple. Please help me for I have taken refuge in you." This is the "conversion experience" referred to by Jung.
Ishvara Pranidhana - the 8th limb of Ashtanga. The challenge here is to cooperate with our higher, or spiritual selves in a more positive and creative way. "Instead of using ego-power-trying to dominate and control everything for selfish gain, the type of compulsiveness that drives people to drink, drugs, and other destructive forms of behavior - each of us must come to be aware that we are accountable to an "inner dimension" that continuously invites us to be more loving, caring and responsible." (O'Murchu, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, Vol.11, 1994, p. 177.)
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
This is Satya, the path of being completely honest, first and foremost, with ourselves. Tapas, or self discipline, effort. Also Svadhyaya, self-inquiry. In AA this is looking at various "character flaws" and other difficult aspects of ourselves, eg. jealousy, anger, fear, sexuality; etc. Yoga teaches us how to witness ourselves having these "character flaws" (Yoga calls them citta vrittis, or fluctuations of the mind, and just assumes that these are the nature of the uncultivated, untrained mind) with neutrality and self-compassion (equanimity). Stephen Cope, in his book, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self does a wonderful job of talking about the importance of The Witness, necessarily being comprised of both Awareness and Equanimity.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
The importance again of Svadhyaya, or self-study; Satya, or truthfulness, Saucha, cleanliness: doing some spiritual housecleaning! Satsang (an aspect of svadhyaya, or fellowship) as the profound experience of finding that others will accept us as we truly are, imperfections and all.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Working with surrender and acceptance, Ishvara Pranidhana. Also Santosha, contentment, equanimity, ready to accept whatever is necessary for our own growth.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Surrender and acceptance of help.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Shaucha, cleanliness, cleaning up the messes we have made! Also Satya, truthfulness,; and Asteya, non-stealing in the form of returning, if possible, whatever we might have taken (on a psychological dimension.) Tapas, self-discipline.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Ahimsa, non-harming. Asteya, non-stealing: returning something that we took for ourselves. Tapas, self-discipline.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Continuous Svadhyaya, or self-study, self inquiry. Assumption is that the practices are for life. Tapas, the self-discipline required for this practice.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
While encouraging meditation, the 12-Step Program does not give specific recommendations or instruction on how this is done. "In the absence of a systematic, effortless meditation technique to direct awareness deep within, many recovering addicts have felt frustrated in their attempts to become attuned to this profound inner dimension of life."(O'Murchu, ATQ, p. 177). Yoga gives very clear steps on how to meditate through study of the last four limbs of the 8-Limb Path: Pratyahara ability to focus within, control of the mind over the senses; Dharana, one-pointed concentration; Dhyana, Uninterupted concentration/meditation; Samadhi, absolute tranquility.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
This gives a beautiful example of the Yama of Aparigraha, non-hoarding; once we have achieved peace and serenity for ourselves we must share it with others. In an Ashtanga Yoga sadhana, or practice, we offer chants of peace to the world at the end, after we have connected with our own "bliss molecules", or own inner peace. We don't keep it only for ourselves; we share it with the rest of the universe.
Leslie Kalechman, Embracing Wellness In Recovery Through Yoga 2002.
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Yoga Psychology / Western Psychology ↑↑
Leslie Kalechman, LCSW,RYT
Yogas Citta Vrtti Nirodhah: The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga.
(The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda, 1978.)
Yoga is defined in the Yoga Sutras (1.2) as the control of the turbulence in the mind.
It is a tradition of psychospiritual growth, a technology for the exploration of the inner world,
bringing personal growth and eventual Self-realization. Today, in the U.S., Yoga is usually
pursued as a discipline for physical fitness and health and is highly effective as such. While Yoga's
comprehensive methodology includes many techniques that serve the goals of enhancing or restoring physical
fitness and health, its real potency lies in the domain of psychospiritual maturation. This is very similar
to the goals of Western Psychology. Patanjali's definition as the control of the thought waves is not
meant as censorship or repression, but as a heightened awareness of the modifications/movements of the
mind and the use of discernment to distinguish the real from the unreal towards realization of the peace
that is our true nature, or Unity. As a practicing psychotherapist for the past 20-plus years and also a
30-plus year student of Yoga, I am fascinated by the similarities of Yoga and psychology, and the ways they
complement and are compatible with each other.
The first and second limbs of Patanjali's Ashtanga (8-Limbed) Path, the Yamas and Niyamas, provide a
reliable template for right living, forming a foundation for Yoga Psychology. The fourth Niyama,
is Svadhyaya: Education of the self; self-inquiry or study of the self/Self; study of spiritual books.
I love thinking of the self as a spiritual book! Yoga gives us many wonderful practices towards self-inquiry;
as does western psychology. Both disciplines have benefits and areas of limitation; however I have found
that when used together as needed a powerful synergy occurs that produces effective results.
Yoga teaches, heals and grows us: physically, energetically, mentally, spiritually. The goal is remembering
ourselves and all of the universe as aspects of the Divine. I don't know about you, but for me, this isn't
always as easy as it sounds. For example: you are late for an appointment and because of road construction
and traffic every route you take to get there is blocked; your high tech company goes under and you find yourself
unable to provide for yourself and your family; you are the victim of crime or violence, etc. The manomayakosha
(sheath of the lower mind), can easily forget our Divine connection. Painful emotions such as fear, loss, and
anger get stirred up. They can disturb your meditation. The Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita speak to ways of healing,
and directing the manomayakosha back to this Unity. "Much of the discipline of Yoga and the process of meditation
is aimed at transforming awareness through a gradual but persistent reshaping ÉofÉhabits of attention." (Ballentine,
Swami Rama and Swami Ajaya,Yoga and Psychotherapy, The Evolution of Consciousness,1976.) But, as pointed out earlier,
sometimes your meditation, and your sadhana gets disturbed. Or, you may spend more time in meditation because it
feels so good and neglect to deal with the worldly problem. This happened to me just the other day; I really wanted
to stay on the cushion rather than leave and attend to some unpleasant duties I had that day. Western psychology works
very effectively with the manomayakosha; teaching us about our "thinking errors" (citta vrtti) and learning to challenge
them and replace the unreal with what is real. And, Western psychology excels at teaching us how to work compassionately
and thoughtfully with our emotions. In fact, Western and Yoga Psychology even employ many of the same techniques:
pratipaksha bhavanum (affirmation and reframing); dirgha swasam (diaphragmatic breathing); Yoga Nidra (relaxation and guided imagery).
Psychotherapy teaches, heals and grows us: mentally and emotionally. Western psychology treatment goals are typically
about the healthy development of what I refer to as the "little-s" self: the solidification of the sense of
individuality; self-esteem; and the healthy relationship of the "little-s" self to other little-s selves (other people).
Also referred to as the individual ego, as differentiated from the "Big-S" Self or True Nature or Atman in Yoga.
Some say that this is a major difference between Yoga Psychology and Western Psychology: that Yoga is more focused on
realizing the Self, considering the self to be less important, because of its ensnarement with maya, or illusion.
My belief is that without the strong foundation of the "little-s self" (the self relating to ego), one is unable to
authentically move into the transcendent realities and fully realize the "big-S" Self. My experience is that we need
to embrace both little-s and big-S selves. We need the energies/foundation of the lower chakras in order to ground us
in our lives in the world as well as to provide a strong foundation for the ascent into the higher chakras and higher
consciousness. I have seen many (including myself!) try to somehow "by-pass" (deny/repress) the issues of the self believing
that this is somehow more "Yogic", and it seldom seems to work. It doesn't work because "that which we hold unaware in our
unconscious will eventually come to us as fate"(Carl Jung). By using the powerful techniques of Yoga Psychology and Western
Psychology we facilitate our own healing. We learn to acknowledge, accept, experience, and bear all the parts of our lives,
and ourselves so that we can be with "The Full Catastrophe" of our life! (Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living).
"In Yoga, as in psychotherapy, the real is discovered within the unreal through a gradual process of discrimination (viveka).
In Yoga, as in psychotherapy, only reality is wholly safe." (Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self)
2002. Leslie Kalechman, LCSW, RYT. Embracing Wellness Integral Therapies.
website: embracing-wellness.com
email: leslie@embracing-wellness.com
Bibliography:
- Ballentine, Rudolph; Swami Rama and Swami Ajaya, Yoga and Psychotherapy, The Evolution of Consciousness,1976.
- Cope, Stephen Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, 1999.
- Kabat-Zinn, Jon Full Catastrophe Living, Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness, 1990
- LePage, Joseph, Integrative Yoga Therapy Training Manual 1994.
- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda,1978.
Biofeedback Research and Yoga ↑↑
Scientific studies of meditation and other forms of contemplative experience have only recently become a subject of scientific interest
within the last half century. In 1931 Kovoor Behanan, an Indian graduate student in psychology at Yale, was awarded a Sterling Fellowship
to undertake what has since been recognized as the first empirical study of yoga and meditation. Supported in this research by Walter Miles,
an eminent professor of psychology, Behanan wrote a book about yoga that described quantitative studies of his own yogic breathing. During
72 days of experiments at Yale, he found that one breathing exercise, or pranayama, increased his oxygen consumption by 24.5%, a second by
18.5%, and a third by 12% (Behanan, 1937, Miles, 1964). This study helped stimulate interest in meditation research by showing that the
physiological effects of yoga could be examined in the laboratory (Behanan, 1937). Unlike many tales by travelers to the East, Behanan's
straightforward, well-observed account of his laboratory research was free of exaggeration and mystification.
Behanan also studied Indian yogis. He was guided in this work by Swami Kuvalayananda, who promoted yoga research at a center for meditation
practice he founded in the 1920s at Lonavla, a hill station near Bombay. Kuvalayananda developed a system of physical culture that included
asanas and pranayamas, and he established a yogic therapy for many afflictions. His work was supported by several Indian states, two
provincial governments of British India, Indian health agencies, and American foundations. For many years, the results of his laboratory
research were published in a quarterly journal, Yoga Mimamsa, which also provided instruction on postures, breathing exercises, and other
disciplines. Many people interested in yoga research visited Lonavla, among them psychologists Basu Bagchi of the University of Michigan
Medical Center and M. A. Wenger of UCLA, who gave new impetus to meditation studies in the 1950s. From the 1920s into the 1960s, Swami
Kuvalayananda did much to promote the scientific study of yoga.
In 1935 a French cardiologist, Therese Brosse, took an electrocardiograph to India and studied yogis who said they could stop their heart.
According to Brosse's published report, readings produced by a single EKG lead and pulse recordings indicated that the heart potentials and
pulse of one of her subjects decreased almost to zero, where they stayed for several seconds (Brosse, 1946). Her finding was criticized,
though, by Wenger, Bagchi, and B. K. Anand in their later, more thorough studies of yogic adepts (see below). Brosse also studied a yogi
who was buried for ten hours, and described other examples of self-control she had witnessed. Like Behanan and Swami Kuvalayananda,
she helped promote the idea that yogic feats could be studied with scientific instruments.
The instrumented study of yogic functioning was expanded by Bagchi, Wenger, and Anand. Anand was then chairman of the Department of
Physiology at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. Their landmark studies during the late 1950s were reported in
American scientific journals. Along with studies of Zen masters by Akira Kasamatsu and Tomio Hirai in Japan (see below) the Indian
studies gave new momentum to meditation research. For five months in 1957, Bagchi and Wenger traveled through India with an eight-channel
electro-encephalograph and accessory instruments to record respiration, skin temperature, skin conductance, and finger blood-volume changes.
During their trip they established experiments in Calcutta, Madras, Lonavla, and New Delhi, and conducted further tests in homes and a
mountain retreat (Bagchi and Wenger, 1957; Wenger and Bagchi, 1961; Wenger et al., 1961; Bagchi, 1969). Among the subjects they examined,
one could perspire from his forehead upon command in his freezing Himalayan retreat; a second could regurgitate at will to cleanse himself
(Wenger & Bagchi, 1961). Three others altered their heartbeats so that they could not be heard with a stethoscope, though EKG and
plethysmographic records showed that their hearts were active and their pulses had not disappeared. [28] In tests to compare relaxation
in a supine position with seated meditation, Bagchi and Wenger found that four yoga students had faster heart rates, lower finger temperatures,
greater palmar sweating, and higher blood pressure during meditation, though their respiration rates were reduced. Five yogis given similar
tests exhibited even faster heart rates, lower finger temperatures, greater palmar conductance, and higher blood pressures during meditation
than the students, though their breathing was slower. Such differences suggested that for these yogis meditation was an active rather than a
passive process (Wenger and Bagchi, 1961).
Bagchi and Wenger also studied the effects of breathing exercises and found that some of their subjects, especially experienced ones,
could produce bidirectional changes in every autonomic variable that the experimenters measured. Though the two psychologists found that
their subjects exhibited some dramatic physiological changes, they were cautious in drawing conclusions about yogic claims in general.
"Direct voluntary control of autonomic functions is probably rare among yogis," they wrote. "When such control is claimed, intervening
voluntary mechanisms are usually employed." They made this qualification, however: "We have met many dedicated yogis who described
experiences to us that few Western scientists have heard of and none has investigated. It is possible that the mere presence of a
foreigner precludes optimum results"(Wenger and Bagchi, 1961).
Other researchers have confirmed the discovery by Bagchi and Wenger that some subjects exhibit more than one pattern of physiological
activity during their yogic practices. N. N. Das and H. Gastaut studied seven Indian yogis, who registered no muscular electrical activity
during periods of complete immobility though their heart rates accelerated in almost perfect parallel with accelerations of their brain waves
during moments of ecstasy. The most accomplished among these seven subjects, moreover, exhibited "progressive and very spectacular modifications"
in their EEG records during their deepest meditations, including recurrent beta rhythms of 18-20 cycles per second in the Rolandic area of
the brain, a generalized fast activity of small amplitude as high as 40-45 cycles per second with occasional amplitudes reaching 30 to 50
microvolts, and the reappearance of slower alpha waves after samadhi, or ecstasy, ended. In summarizing their study, Das and Gastaut concluded that:
The modifications [we] recorded during very deep meditation are much more dramatic than those known up till now, which leads us to suppose that
western subjects are far from being able to attain the yogi state of mental concentration.
It is probable that this supreme concentration of attention . . . is responsible for the perfect insensibility of the yogi during samadhi; this
insensibility, accompanied by immobility and pallor often led people to describe this state as sleep, lethargy, anesthesia, or coma. The
electroencephalographic evidence here described contradicts such opinions and suggests that a state of intense generalized cortical stimulation
is sufficient to explain such states without having to invoke associated processes of diffuse or local inhibition (Das and Gastaut, 1955)
Das and Gastaut's conclusion does not contradict the widespread findings of subsequent meditation studies that many or most meditators experience
the trophotropic or relaxation response described by E. Gellhorn, W. Kiely, Herbert Benson, and other researchers (Gellhorn and Kiely, 1972;
and Benson, 1975). Most subjects in meditation studies do not experience yogic ecstasy and so do not exhibit the cortical excitement that Das
and Gastaut observed. Furthermore, different kinds of religious practice produce different types of experience accompanied by different types of
physiological change. Kasamatsu and Hirai's Zen masters, for example, exhibited high-amplitude alpha and theta waves, not beta waves, during their
deepest meditations (see below).
Further evidence that contemplative practice produces different physiological profiles was provided by B. K. Anand, G. S. Chhina, and Baldev Singh,
who found that four yogis exhibited persistent alpha activity with increased amplitude during trance. These four yogis exhibited no alpha-wave blocking
when they were bombarded with loud banging, strong lights, and other sensory stimuli, and two of them showed persistent alpha activity while holding
their hands in ice-cold water for forty-five to fifty-five minutes (Anand, Chhina, and Singh, 1961a). The yogis in this experiment exhibited
physiological differences during meditation from at least two other groups of accomplished meditators. They did not exhibit alpha blocking in
response to strong stimuli, in contrast to the Zen masters studied by Kasamatsu and Hirai (see below). Nor did they exhibit the beta waves that
appeared on the EEGs of Das and Gastaut's subjects. The difference from the Zen masters probably resulted from a basic difference in focus between
the two groups, the yogis having withdrawn their attention from external stimuli, whereas the Zen masters remained aware of their external environment.
Their difference from Das and Gastaut's yogis, on the other hand, might have been due to differences between their styles of meditation, the conditions
of the experiments, or the qualities of their experience. The strong stimuli Anand gave his subjects, for example, may well have prevented the more
ecstatic absorptions experienced by Das and Gastaut's yogis. The published reports of the Das-Gastaut and Anand-Chhina-Singh experiments do not provide
enough detail to fully explain their different results, but they remind us that there are different kinds of contemplative experience. Roland Fischer,
Julian Davidson, and other researchers have proposed some ways in which internal states might be correlated with different physiological profiles
(Fischer, 1971; and Davidson, 1976).
In a study published in 1958, the Indian researchers G. G. Satyanarayanamurthi and B. P. Shastry described a yogi whose heart kept beating for thirty
seconds even though his radial pulse could not be felt and his heart could not be heard with a stethoscope. This yogi's EKG showed no abnormalities,
moreover, and finger plethysmography showed that his pulse was present though greatly reduced. The two researchers claimed that fluoroscopy conducted
while the yogi was lying down showed that for several 30-second periods the beating of his heart was just a "flicker along the left border below the
pulmonary conus and in the apical segment of the left ventrical." They concluded that he achieved this control through the Valsalva maneuver. [29]
Elmer and Alyce Green, with their colleagues at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, also observed exhibitions of yogic heart control. Their
subject, Swami Rama, while sitting perfectly still, produced an atrial flutter of 306 beats per minute that lasted for sixteen seconds. During a
fibrillation of this kind, a section of the heart oscillates rapidly while its chambers do not fill and its valves do not work properly, but Swami
Rama gave no sign that the maneuver caused him any pain or heart damage. The swami also produced an IIF difference between the left and right sides
of his right palm. While he did this, the left side of his palm turned pink and the right side gray (Green and Green, 1977).
Yogis frequently use abdominal contractions to slow their heart rate rather than intervening more directly through the central nervous system. Curiously,
though, an earlier study had examined a man with no yogic training at all who could stop his heart without such maneuvers, simply by relaxing and "allowing
everything to stop." By this procedure, he could induce a gradual slowing of his pulse until he started to faint, at which point he would take a deep breath.
When EKG tests showed that his heartbeat did indeed disappear, the doctor who examined him concluded that the man's cardiac arrest was induced through some
mechanism which, although under voluntary control, is not known to the patient himself. Careful observation did not reveal any breath-holding or Valsalva
maneuver. Apparently the patient simply abolished all sympathetic tone by complete mental and physical relaxation (McClure, 1959).
Like heart stopping, the live burial of yogis has excited the interest of several researchers. A physician, Rustom Jal Vakil, published an account in the
British journal Lancet of such a confinement that was witnessed by some 10,000 people near Bombay in February 1950. According to Vakil, an emaciated sadhu
named Ramdasji sat cross-legged in a subterranean 216-cubic-foot cubicle and remained there for sixty-two hours. His pulse remained steady at eighty beats
per minute; his blood pressure was 112/78; and his respiratory rate fluctuated from eight to ten breaths per minute. Though he had some scratches and cuts,
Vakil wrote, Ramdasji appeared "none the worse for his grueling experience.'' (Vakil, 1950).
In June 1956, a more closely observed study of yogic confinement was conducted under the auspices of the All-India Institute of Mental Health in Bangalore
with a Hatha yogi, Krishna Iyengar. Hoenig, a psychiatrist from the University of Manchester, witnessed the experiment and described it in a review of
yoga research published in 1968 (Hoenig, 1968). According to Hoenig's report, a pit some two by three by four feet was dug on the institute's grounds and
covered with wire meshing, a rubber sheet, and cotton carpet. An electrode junction box connected to an EEG and an EKG was placed in the pit along with
instruments to measure temperature and concentration of gas. The yogi was confined for nine hours. When he was released he immediately walked about the grounds,
according to Hoenig's firsthand account, and demonstrated athletic feats including a headstand with his legs in the lotus position. The percentage of carbon
dioxide in the air in his enclosure, which was 1.34% at the beginning of the experiment, was only 3.8% at the end, lower than would normally be expected.
Iyengar's heart rate gradually slowed from 100 to 40 beats a minute in recurring twenty- to twenty-five-minute cycles, but his EKG record did not register
any other abnormality and the cycles did not coincide with his breathing or brain-wave patterns. The yogi's EEG showed a normal waking record for the full
nine hours, characterized by a stable alpha rhythm of 50 microvolts with no evidence of sleep or interference caused by physical movement. From these records,
the experimenters concluded that their subject lay motionless and wide awake, without the active cognition that would have reduced or eliminated his alpha
rhythm. Iyengar said he had maintained the shavasana, or corpse pose, using ujjaya breathing while remembering the names of God. He was surprised that his
heart had speeded and slowed, and could not explain why it had done so. It beat normally, however, after the experiment.
Because the earthen pits used in most yogic confinements leak oxygen and carbon dioxide, Anand, Chhina, and Singh tested a yogi named Ramanand in an
airtight glass and metal box, once for eight hours and again for ten hours. The yogi's average oxygen use during the first experiment decreased from
the basal rate of 19.5 liters per hour to 12.2, and during the second experiment to 13.3 liters per hour. His carbon dioxide output went down during
both experiments. Ramanand, moreover, did not exhibit any rapid breathing or speeded heart rate as the oxygen in his box diminished and carbon dioxide
increased. "Sri Ramanand Yogi could reduce his oxygen intake and carbon dioxide output to levels significantly lower than his requirements under basal
conditions," Anand and his colleagues wrote. "It appears from this study that [he] could voluntarily reduce his basal metabolic rate on both occasions
he went into the box." [30]
During a remarkable experiment reported by L. K. Kothari and associates, a yogi was buried for eight days in an earthen pit and connected by leads to
an EKG in a nearby laboratory. After the pit was boarded up, the subject's heart rate sometimes went as high as fifty beats per minute, until a straight
line appeared on the EKG tracing when the yogi had been in the pit for twenty-nine hours. There had been no slowing of his heart immediately before the
straight line appeared, nor any sign of electrical disturbance, but the experimenters proceeded with certainty that their subject had not died. Suspecting
that their EKG leads had been deliberately or accidentally disconnected, they checked their machine and continued to monitor its tracings. To their
astonishment, it started to register electrical activity some seven days later, about a half hour before the yogi's scheduled disinterment. "After some
initial disturbance," they wrote, "a normal configuration appeared. The [speeded heart rate] was again there but there was no other abnormality." When the
pit was opened, the yogi was found sitting in the same posture he had started in, but in a stuporous condition. In accounting for his remarkable EKG record,
the experimenters argued that a disconnection of the EKG lead would have produced obvious markings on the tracings in their laboratory, as they found when
they tried to simulate ways in which the yogi might have tinkered with it.
Furthermore, the yogi was ignorant about such machines, and the pit was completely dark. If the machine had malfunctioned in some way they could not
ascertain, it seemed an extraordinary coincidence that it started again just a half hour before their subject's scheduled release. Apparently, the yogi
was operating with some kind of internal clock that did not depend upon the daily cycles of light and darkness, for the most likely cause of the straight
line on his EKG tracing was a dramatic decrease in the activity of his heart. Kothari and his colleagues finally could not account for this remarkable
cardiac record (Kothari et al., 1973).
Studies of Zen Buddhist Monks
In a study that attracted much attention among meditation and biofeedback researchers during the 1960s, Akira Kasamatsu and Tomio Hirai, physicians at
the University of Tokyo, studied the EEG changes exhibited during meditation by Zen teachers and their disciples (forty-eight in all) from Soto and
Rinzai centers in Japan. For experimental control, they studied the EEGs of twenty-two subjects with no experience at meditation. They made EEG recordings;
recorded their subjects' pulse rates, respiration, and galvanic skin response; and tested their responses to sensory stimuli during meditation.
The recordings on the Zen monks were made during a weeklong retreat, or sesshin, at a Zendo, except for a few tests at the experimenters' laboratory.
The Zen teachers and their most experienced students exhibited a typical progression of brain-wave activity during meditation, which Kasamatsu and Hirai
divided into four stages:
- Stage 1: Characterized by the appearance of alpha waves in spite of opened eyes.
- Stage 2: Characterized by an increase in amplitude of persistent alpha waves.
- Stage 3: Characterized by a decrease in alpha frequency.
- Stage 4: Characterized by the appearance of rhythmical theta trains (Kasamatsu and Hirai, 1966).
Not all four stages were evident in every Zen practitioner, nor in any of the controls, but a strong correlation existed between the number of stages a
given student exhibited and that student's length of time in Zen training. This correlation was supported by a Zen teacher's evaluation of each student's
proficiency. The teacher ranked the students in three levels, without seeing their EEG records, and his rankings correlated well with Kasamatsu and Hirai's
assessment of their EEGs.
The Kasamatsu-Hirai study also revealed significant differences between four Zen masters and four control subjects in their response to repetitive click
stimuli. Like the Zen masters, the controls exhibited a blocking of alpha when a click sound first occurred, but they gradually became habituated to such
stimuli so that their brain-wave activity no longer responded when a click was made. The Zen masters, however, did not become habituated, but continued to
exhibit blocking as long as the stimuli continued. This finding indicates that Zen practice promotes a serene, alert awareness that is consistently
responsive to both external and internal stimuli (Kasamatsu et al., 1957; Hirai, 1960; and Kasamatsu and Hirai, 1963).
Difficulties of Research with Religious Adepts
Though people testified under oath before the Congregation of Rites that they had seen Saint Teresa of Avila or Saint Joseph of Cupertino defy gravity,
no scientific studies have recorded instances of levitation. There are at least three possible reasons for this lack of evidence. First, of course, it might
be that levitation has never happened. Second, the contemplative traditions might have lost their power to evoke the phenomenon. Third, levitation might only
occur during rare and spontaneous ecstasies that cannot be programmed to meet the requirements of a scientific experiment. Superordinary lifting from the ground,
if it in fact occurs, would require an improbable set of circumstances which a scientist would be lucky to witness. Levitation, like other holy powers, would
have to be caught "in the wild." In a laboratory, with wires attached to his head and a thermometer up his rectum, a yogi or lama is unlikely to exhibit a
capacity that is rare in any case. In studies of extraordinary functioning there is a trade-off between robust results and scientific precision. Uninhibited
by recording machines and safety rules, for example, the Maharaja Runjeet Singh could bury Haridas for forty days. More recent studies of yogic confinement,
however, have been constrained by procedural controls and humane considerations.
Furthermore, there is often a disjunction between a scientist's attitude toward exceptional powers and an adept's ideas about them. Elmer Green, for example,
described differences he had with the healer Jack Schwartz in interpreting Schwartz's intuitive diagnosis of illness. According to Schwartz, the question was:
Are the auras one sees always radiatory patterns of energy from the human body . . . or are they automatic mental projections of one kind or another
that are used psychologically to interpret a "knowing"? Sometimes when we "know" something in this way we tend to "see" it in the same way that we see a
memory (Green and Green, 1977, p. 240).
Green was sympathetic to Schwartz, however, realizing that a scientist's constant doubt can inhibit or destroy a psychic's intuitions. This fundamental
difference between scientists and psychics, Green wrote:
Need not cause problems if each takes time to understand the framework in which the other necessarily operates. If the psychic tries to pull apart every
perception in order to find out if it is incorrect, so as to better determine the "truth," what is most likely to be pulled apart is the faculty of "seeing."
The talent for perceiving might well fade away. On the other hand, if scientists stopped trying to find alternate explanations for the facts, they might get
lost in a maze of [incoherent] ideas. For both scientists and mystics, however, the area of facts rather than interpretations is common ground. Excluding the
opinions of fanatics, most of the arguments that we are aware of between the two camps have revolved around interpretations. Because psychics almost always
have idiosyncratic factors in their frames of reference, scientists often do not understand them. And psychics do not understand what seems to them to be a
destructive attitude on the part of scientists (Green and Green, 1977, p. 242).
Sympathy between scientists and adepts was evident in Swami Kuvalayananda's projects noted above, and in other experimenter-subject teams described in the
preceding pages. Even the stern mutual challenge between Haridas and Maharaja Runjeet Singh exhibited an exemplary, if somewhat perverse, cooperation.
Productive study of extraordinary functioning requires understanding between accomplished subjects and imaginative experimenters.
Contemporary Meditation Research
Meditation research increased dramatically during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the United States. This burgeoning effort was stimulated in part by
the studies of yogis and Zen masters noted in the previous section, and in part by the publication of landmark studies by Herbert Benson and Keith Wallace
in Science, the American Journal of Physiology, and Scientific American between 1970 and 1972 (Wallace, 1970; Wallace et al., 1971b; Wallace and Benson, 1972).
The Transcendental Meditation Society supported much of this work, though its enthusiastic claims and advertising efforts caused doubts among some researchers
about the highly favorable outcomes in studies it sponsored (Shapiro, 1982). These doubts led to further research, which has either contradicted, tempered, or
confirmed the TM-sponsored claims. Since the early 1970s, more than a thousand studies of meditation have been reported in English-language journals, books,
and graduate theses. The range of outcomes included in this research has grown considerably since the studies of yogis and Zen masters by Bagchi, Wenger,
Kasamatsu, and Hirai. Cardiovascular, cortical, hormonal, and metabolic changes, several behavioral effects, and alterations of consciousness resulting
from meditation have been explored in recent years. The medical instrumentation, psychological tests, and methods of analysis used in such experiments have
been improved, and the range of subject populations has been enlarged to include different kinds of subject groups. This growth in sophistication of method
is gradually improving our scientific understanding of meditation in ways that complement the insights contained in the traditional contemplative literature.
However, the overall picture of results on the subject of meditation produced by modern research remains uneven. Some effects have appeared consistently, but
others have not.
The apparent inconsistencies defining the effects of meditation can be accounted for in various ways. Some physiological processes, perhaps, are unaffected
by meditation, no matter how proficient or experienced the meditator might be; or perhaps they are affected to an insignificant degree. For some changes,
such as amino acid concentrations in the blood, there has not been enough research to establish a consistent picture, partly because there has not been as
much interest in these variables as in the effect of meditation on blood pressure, heart rate, and other indices that have an obvious bearing on health.
Taking blood samples during meditation, moreover, is harder to accomplish than recording blood pressure or skin responses.
Individual differences also present a special problem for understanding the results of meditation studies, because subject populations have included people
of both sexes, all ages, various levels of education, and different kinds of social background. Many subjects have been college students with no previous
experience at meditating; others have been recent converts to religious groups; but only a few have been highly skilled in spiritual practice. The incentives
to concentrate during experimental sessions have also varied. Some subjects have wanted success for religious or other reasons, while others seem not to
have been well motivated. And differences between meditation styles also complicate the results of such research. Though most studies have used some type of
quiet concentration, some have used active methods such as rapid breathing. Julian Davidson, Roland Fischer, and others have distinguished between two classes
of meditation, those that relax and those that excite, associating their effects with the trophotropic and ergotropic conditions of the central nervous system
modeled by Gellhorn and Kiely (Davidson, 1976; Fischer, 1971, 1976; Gellhorn and Kiely, 1972).
The results of scientific research on the subject of meditation are accumulating now, forming a publicly accessible body of empirical data that can
serve generations to come. Unfortunately, however, these data are derived mainly from beginning practitioners of meditation, and taken as a whole do
not reflect the richness of experience described in traditional contemplative teachings. They are also limited by the conventional scientific insistence
that results be repeatable. Certain important experiences occur only rarely in meditation, and a science that disregards them loses important empirical
results. For these reasons, contemporary research does not illumine the full range of experience described in the contemplative scriptures and the oral
traditions from which they come. Modern studies give us only a first picture of the foothills, with a few glimpses of the peaks. Still, what they give us
corresponds in several ways with traditional accounts.
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Interview with Michael Lee, the founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy ↑↑
By Laura Douglass, Sevika
Introduction: Michael Lee, is the founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, the primary school that integrates Yoga for the emotions
and psychological wellbeing in America.
What is Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy: "Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is a combination of classical yoga and elements of
contemporary mind-body psychology that facilitates a powerful release of physical and emotional tension. A Phoenix Rising Yoga
Therapy Session is a one-on-one process lasting one-and-a-half hours. Through assisted yoga postures and non-directive dialogue,
practitioners guide clients to experience the connection of their physical and emotional selves. Using guided breathing, this
connection is held and explored, fostering release, personal growth and healing."
For more information and current training schedule on Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy:
Phone: 413-232-9800
Address: PO Box 286 West Stoxbridge, Ma. 01266
Websiet: pyrt.com
Laura (L): I haven't had much luck in interviewing people who come from a Yoga background but are doing work with the
emotions, except people with a Phoenix Rising Yoga training...
Michael Lee (M): Yes - I think we are more, well I don't want to use the word unique, but we are probably the most significant
group that is bridging the two worlds.
L: What would you say are the unique benefits to using Yoga in areas of the emotions and the mind - that from a western
perspective- have been the primary domain of psychotherapists?
M: Well I think all of us are growing, changing, evolving and learning whether we are classified as healthy or unhealthy.
Particularly those of us who would be diagnosed as "healthy" - when you look at the people who go to psychotherapy there are a lot
of people like that. People who are healthy human beings who engage in the practice of psychotherapy because it helps them grow and
learn and become better human beings.
I think the same is true of Yoga. And the form of Yoga therapy we practice, Phoenix Rising Therapy, is very much geared towards
that end. It's saying "if you are willing to engage in these practices and take a deeper look, you can get information that you
can use to change the way you are present with yourself and your life." And it is optional. There is no one saying you have to do it.
You can make the choice yourself once you go there. "Would you like to engage in this journey?" And a lot of people do. So I have had
something to offer.
Particularly in the context of the modern world that we live in, I don't think it is any accident that normal people are getting
involved in the practice of Yoga because it really offers tools for coping better with all of the stresses, issues and lifestyle
problems that are presenting now in our so called modern lifestyle.
L: Would you say that Phoenix Rising is not appropriate for people in mental health settings, clinics and in-patient units?
M: Not necessarily. I think it has to be very carefully monitored and it requires conjunctive work. They still need to
be seeing a psychotherapist. It isn't a replacement for psychotherapy. But it is a useful adjunct if the person is stable enough
to engage in the process. Yoga therapy requires quite a lot of focus and in some ways a fairly high level of commitment and ability
to engage awareness with some degree of clarity and acceptance. So it is really - those are the kind of issues that need to be
considered when deciding if his is appropriate for someone or not.
L: Have you ever felt stereotyped or dismissed by those with a more psychological approach?
M: Oh there are some people in the field who think they are the ownership of this whole domain and that we shouldn't go
there. But generally this is disappearing. We are all geared towards helping people live healthier and better lives. If we
come from this place and don't try to be all things to all people. That is why Phoenix Rising practitioners don't have problems
engaging in conversations on both sides because they aren't trying to move in on psychotherapist's territory, we are basically
saying "We have something that works. Would you like to use it to - or explore it as an option."
L: In your paper "Yoga Therapy vs Psychotherapy" - there is a quote from Quinn Sale that says "I do not attempt to
integrate the modalities because they are quite dissimilar." Is there more of an emphasis on keeping the fields separate rather
than on the integration of the two?
M: It depends on the style of practice of the psychotherapist. If someone who is using a fairly clinical, diagnostic,
treatment approach then they really are better off keeping them separated. If someone is working in a Rogerian, Gestalt kind
of way there is a better fit. It depends on the paradigm out of which the practitioner is working.
L: What seems different to me about Phoenix Rising Therapy practitioners is their clarity about how specifically they
are using Yoga with their clients, as well as an excellent awareness of boundaries.
M: Exactly.
L: Is there a vision that you hold for the integration of Yoga and psychology or Yoga for the emotions?
M: 30% of our student population comes from the psychotherapy world, so it is happening at that level. I think if it
does fit in to the psychotherapy world it is a particular branch of it, it is not all encompassing. I would like to see Phoenix
Rising have a place in that world. And respect in that world, but not necessarily completely integrating into all of that world.
It has its own unique identity. It is like in psychotherapy there are so many branches of psychotherapy, ways of practicing among
different practitioners. I think that is healthy. It is healthy to have diversity within a profession.
L: One of the things you mentioned was that you would like to see Phoenix Rising keep a sense of its uniqueness and identity -
be one of the modalities among diversity. Do you have any concerns or mixed feelings about a total integration of Yoga within Western
psychology?
M: ...What concerns me is taking either Yoga or psychotherapy too lightly. In terms of lets say a psychotherapist saying to
their patient do these yoga postures and it will fix your depression. It is a very trident and off the cuff kind of approach that
doesn't really respect the depth of yoga. By the same token if a Phoenix Rising practitioner started to act like a clinician and
offered advise about how to deal with their depression I would be equally appalled. I think it is really - there is no way that
this won't happen - it will happen. People don't always go to the depths that they need to have a full appreciation of the modality
they are working with. By and large the bottom line is that it will all come out in the wash because people will know what works
and what doesn't.
L: Do you think in some ways the Yoga community fosters the idea that Yoga is anecdotal remedy, by magazines that might run
an article that says "Yoga for Anxiety" and then has a list of eight postures as a remedy?
M: That is the popularization of Yoga at its worst.
L: ...There are some misunderstandings (between disciplines).
M: Oh there is. And a lot of it is fostered by the Yoga world. I think a lot of people feel in some way looked down upon by
the mainstream medical community. So in order to try and step up they need to have a treatment oriented approach. They have to have
answers, solutions. That is really in a way antithetical to what Yoga is all about. Yoga is more of a process rather than a
prescription...
...most Yoga teachers really don't have a training that accounts for the emotional, affective domain. Most of it is technique oriented.
Most of it goes into the Yoga background of scriptures, and the ancient texts. So there is a lot of transitional training and technique
training in the Yoga world, but there is not a lot of depth training. Especially in the area that bridges the practice and the inner
workings of the human being beyond the physical level.
L: What would you most want others to understand about who you are and the work that you do?
M: ...I think that we have something that really works and is valuable. It can be learned, but it is different from what people
might think it is.
L: Thank you this has been very helpful.
For current training schedule or for more information on Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy please contact pyrt.com. Also trying
searching our archives for Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.
This interview was conducted by Laura Douglass, a Yoga teacher in the Boston area. If you or someone you know does work that joins Yoga and
psychology and is interested in being interviewed please contact e-mail laura@yogapsychology.org
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