Yoga Therapy vs Yoga

No. Yoga teachers and yoga therapists are not having a fisticuffs fight out the back of yoga studios across town over who is better or more important.

Yes. Yoga classes are a great opportunity for people to come together to connect with each other, move, breathe, and keep the body and mind maintained in good health. Even I love going to a great class!♥

Yoga Therapy (cikitsa) however, is all about the bigger picture of the person. In yoga therapy we individualise yoga practices based on issues that someone is presenting with. It is a holistic modality that when used proactively puts healing, health and wellness back into the hands of the individual.

Yoga Therapy is part of the larger yoga and is therefore neither separate from, nor greater than yoga.

A yoga therapist will use the traditional tools of yoga such as body movement, breath work, chanting, mudras, visualisations, relaxation and combine them in a way to suit the student present to help support a person to move from suffering to health and wholeness at every level of the body, mind and spirit. 

To become a fully qualified yoga therapist, a yoga teacher has to complete many hundreds of hours of specialised training, practical experience and mentoring, before being able to then uses these skills to work with students and support them on their path to healing.

Bhavanani, Ananda & Sullivan, Marlysa & Taylor, Matthew & Wheeler, Amy. (2019). Shared Foundations for Practice: The Language of Yoga Therapy.

Only in recent years western medicine doctors are conducting studies which have been showing positive effects for people using eastern traditional yoga and meditation methods. Finally we’re starting to catch on!

Yoga Therapy is able to offer you targeted techniques for a vast array of issues - not just for a good stretch. I am talking musculoskeletal, hormonal, sleep issues, anxiety and depression, digestion… and the list goes on. It is required that a student be willing to commit to a regular practice so they’re able to facilitate healing from within themselves.

The design of a yoga therapy practice for a student is a co-creative one and can be created as an adjunct to other allied health modalities and other cultural models of medicine. During a thorough assessment a therapist becomes deeply aware of your circumstances and individual needs. You won’t be given a practice that cannot fit into your schedule, is not appropriate to your beliefs, or is painful. You don’t get a cookie-cutter program, that just isn’t in your best interest as you move, change and shift towards your own best health.

“Yoga Therapy is a self empowering approach that involves the professional application of the principles and practices of yoga for the individual to address specific concerns in a multi-dimensional way. Yoga Therapy aims to alleviate suffering and enhance overall health and wellbeing, in a progressive, non-invasive and complementary manner”.
- Australasian Association of Yoga Therapists”

Yoga Therapy loves yoga and yoga loves yoga therapy. Both useful and beneficial to people, however one joins an individual on their personal journey to back to balance and wellbeing.

no fighting!

we love each other

Credit to Bhavanani, Ananda & Sullivan, Marlysa & Taylor, Matthew & Wheeler, Amy. (2019). Shared Foundations for Practice: The Language of Yoga Therapy. From the IAYT Yoga Therapy Today Magazine 2019 edition.

Counter poses, what are they and why do we do them?

Paschimatanasana as a counter pose

A few times now my students have asked me why do we do the counter poses?

Have you noticed that you already counter pose naturally in everyday life?

A stretch backwards after being hunched over the computer or perhaps you feel like standing tall on tiptoes if you have been squatting. Have you been aware in a yoga class when your body has wanted to take some movement or stretch after a difficult pose? Remember that wide leg forward bend you tried, I bet you wanted to bring your legs back together afterwards!

The sankrit term for counter pose is pratikriyasana, which means opposite action or movement. A counter pose is not necessarily an opposite posture but it is a compensatory movement to bring the body (or breath) back to balance.

Cakravakasana counterpose. Starting from child pose, on inhale, leading with the chest, coming forward to hands and knees, on the exhale coming back to starting position.

It is a great counter pose for salabasana (locust pose) or it can be used in a sequence of multiple counter poses from headstand.

The main qualities of counter poses are:

• A counter pose is almost always done dynamically, moving in a out of the posture. It is not usually static,

• Preserves the effect of the previous pose/s while releasing tension and restoring balance to the area,

• Symmetrical,

• Simpler, easier and more relaxed than the goal pose,

• Same plane - In most cases a counter pose will be done on the same plane as the pose/s previously. So, a standing pose will have a standing counter pose,

• Immediately after a goal,

• There can be multiple counter poses within a practice especially if there are multiple goals,

• Rest can be a counter pose. Take time to examine the effect of the previous posture/s while you rest,

• You can use a counter pose in between two difficult postures allowing you to perform the second posture with renewed strength, preventing injury from fatigue,

Dvipada pitham as a counter pose. Can be used to counter supine forwards bend such as happy baby or a laying twist.

Uttanasana is a common counter pose for most standing postures. From a twist it brings the spine back to symmetry, from a wide leg pose it brings the legs back together creating balance for the body.

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“He has also given to us the concept of Pratikriyāsana, the idea of compensation and counterpose.

Since all actions have some reactions, we have to compensate for the reactions.”

– TKV Desikachar from lectures on ‘The Yoga of T Krishnamacharya’, given at Zinal, Switzerland 1981.

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Apanasana counter pose. A wonderful balancing pose for laying postures, as well as in a combination of other multiple counter poses coming back from a goal pose. This movement can also have a good effect on the flow of the fluid around your spinal cord.

Note the symmetry, ease, and simplicity. It is a great dynamic pose to really be aware of and get feedback from the body and mind and how it feels after a goal pose.

Above are just a few of the counter postures that can be used in an intelligently sequenced class. My aim as a yoga therapist and teacher is to have my students leave me uninjured, as well as balanced and calm in the body and the mind. Having counter poses placed correctly within the sequence of the class is the perfect way to do so.

YOGID-19, Quarantoga, Downward Corona Dog.

Yes, while the Corona Virus is a very serious situation, sometimes the best thing to do is laugh… and continue practising.

Here is how to get your home studio organised so you can do yoga at home.

1. Hang your OM symbols, burn some incense, turn your salt lamp on (optional)

2. Get the kids to clear their junk out of the lounge room. You could even yoga outside where you may have to ask the kids to move the trampoline (optional)

3. Grab your vacuum cleaner and create a dog hair free zone (optional)

Creating a dog hair free space.

3. Missed the opportunity before you got stuck at home to go to Kmart and buy a mat, a block and a strap? Don’t worry. Search in the back of the pantry for the bottle of chutney that great Aunt Beryl gave you two Christmases ago, or take out one of the many pasta sauces you stocked up on recently. If you panic bought toilet paper you could use one of the many rolls you still have, or if you missed out and are using the shower after you have done your business, you can simply place your hand on your shin, your thigh, a book, a chair, a child, your dog. Use a tea towel or a belt as a strap and without a mat you can lay directly on the floor or a towel.

If you don’t want to vacuum don’t even get down on the floor, stay standing or sit in a chair. (props are nice but optional)

4. Get online and search for a video to yog-along to. (optional)

5. Just do something! Doing nothing is not an option. You don’t need to follow anyone - do what movements feel nice, take notice of your breathing. Have a go of what you tried in a class previously. Be still, notice. Flow with your breath. Try something less active and relaxing before bed and something more active in the morning. (NOT OPTIONAL)

6. Dogs, cats and children will join you. (this is not optional - they have a way of knowing when you are trying to yoga)

7. Post multiple photos to social media showing everyone what you have done. (optional - but I’d really like to see you all so send them to me :-) )

I know this is a teeny bit funny but I take continuing on with a yoga practice at home really seriously, especially in these stressful times. If you do however want a personalised yoga practice please email me. If you can wait until next week I will be starting online classes for you.

Seriously, I want photos of you and your pets doing yoga!!!

Sandra

Yoga Therapy For Back Pain

According to research, back pain is only second to the common cold as a health complaint for Australians. 

http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/6871-back-pain-common-complaint-for-aussies-20160630091

I can always remember dad having to regularly go to his chiropractor and physios for his back pain after years of physical hard work as a carpenter left him with zero cartilage and fused vertebra in his lower back. I remember his stories of carrying excessively heavy loads as well as jumping down from the tops of ladders because it was faster than stepping down.

During my last year of Yoga Therapy training due to not finding enough time (read: making too many excuses) to do my own yoga practice as often as I should as well as not recovering fully from a running injury and overdoing it playing hockey, led me to experience my own year-long struggle with back pain. 

For 6 weeks all I could do was lay down and cry, the pain was EXCRUCIATING. I recall when having to drive the kids somewhere, the seat warmer would be on as hot as possible to help sooth the pain in my lower back while I was crying at the wheel with pain. Fisiocrem was my best friend, and my choice of aromatherapy was Dencorub. 

I was in a mental state of despair. I couldn’t think straight, I forgot all my therapy training, I was in a fog of pain, I wanted my mum to come and make it all better! I can now have some idea of what my dad must have been going through all those years with his back pain.

Someone mentioned an osteopath and I got myself in to see one as soon as I could muster the courage to drive myself there. After my initial treatment I could have married that osteo right there I loved him so much (sorry Dave)! Such a relief to be pain-free, even though it lasted only 15 minutes initially, I could see a light at the end of the tunnel. My mental fog briefly cleared.

I did the exercises given and integrated a few Yoga Therapy moves, breathing and meditation to complement the treatment. Over the next month, I was able to walk and sit for short periods of time, I made sure to continue with my daily yoga therapy practice. At my last module of Yoga Therapy training, Dr NC gave me a practice which helped bring me back to a large range of movement with no pain. 

While it has been glorious to finally be without back pain again, I had gained 10kg and became incredibly weak being inactive and mega stressed. I have now finally returned to walking, added in weight training, taken up swimming and do an occasional run. I most certainly make sure to include a yoga practice every damn day!

What I hated about that time aside from the pain, was the total despair that I felt. 

A feeling of uselessness, I felt that no one understood what was happening to me, to my body. 

How would I ever go hiking again?  

I felt guilty for not being able to look after my children properly and I certainly didn’t want to hear anything that my husband had to say. 

Was it going to be like this forever, if so I was not going to cope!

I am proud to say after the years of Yoga Therapy training it TOTALLY WORKS! My studies have not been in vain. Don’t only take my word for it, there are plenty of studies to prove it as well.

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.iayt.org/resource/resmgr/docs_Research_Summaries/12.Summaries_LBP.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23246998

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23387504

I can honestly say I now feel total empathy for those living with pain on a daily basis. I am making it my mission to help other people with back pain whether it be from disc issues, arthritis, scoliosis or any other undiagnosed symptoms. 

• Could you one use some help with back pain? 
• Does your back pain stop you doing the things you love?
• Are you in an all consuming mental fog because of your pain? 
• Would you like integrative practice which works alongside your physio, osteo or other health professional to keep you on track to heal?
• Would you prefer something that is created specifically for you, that sees you rather than just your pain?

I believe I can help you with your back pain.

If you, or a loved one is ready to try Yoga Therapy please get in contact with me. I am always ready to help.

Bye for now.

Sandra