What is Yoga Therapy?

By Laura Lee Douglass, Sevika

"Yoga therapy is of modern coinage and represents a first effort to integrate traditional yogic concepts and techniques with Western medical and psychological knowledge. Whereas traditional Yoga is primarily concerned with personal transcendence on the part of a "normal" or healthy individual, Yoga therapy aims at the holistic treatment of various kinds of psychological or somatic dysfunctions ranging from back problems to emotional distress. Both approaches, however, share an understanding of the human being as an integrated body-mind system, which can function optimally only when there is a state of dynamic balance."
Georg Feurstein

When Yoga is used to heal it is known as "Yoga chikitsa," or Yogic therapy. The use of Yoga to heal is distinct from its practice for liberation or enlightenment, which is known as "Yoga sadhana." There are many healing modalities currently being used as ÒYoga therapyÓ for mental health in the West. These include:

• Combining Yogic Meditation with Western Psychiatry
• Combining Yoga postures (Asanas) with Methods of Pycho-Analysis
• Use of Yogic Lifestyle to Affect Long-Term Mental Health Benefits