"Yoga must be made to suit the individual,
not the individual to suit the yoga."
- Sri. T. Krishnamacharya
What is Yoga Therapy?
Krishnamacharya is considered the Father of Modern Yoga. Underlying all of his teachings was the principle: “Teach what is appropriate for an individual.” Krishnamacharya was not only a yogi, but more specifically, a healer who drew from both Ayurvedic and Yogic traditions to heal and restore health and well-being to those he treated. He believed the path of yoga would mean different things for different people and that each person should be taught in a manner that he or she could understand clearly.
"Yoga Therapy" follows his teachings and this tradition of taking a holistic and customized approach to healing.
Here's how some of the world's leading Yoga therapy experts and scholars define Yoga therapy:
We are all similar yet unique. Therefore our processes for healing will be similar yet unique.
"Yoga therapy adapts the practice of Yoga to the needs of people with specific or persistent health problems not usually addressed in a group class."
- Larry Payne, Ph.D.
"Yoga therapy is a self-empowering process, where the care-seeker, with the help of the Yoga therapist, implements a personalized and evolving Yoga practice, that not only addresses the illness in a multi-dimensional manner, but also aims to alleviate his/her suffering in a progressive, non-invasive and complementary manner. Depending upon the nature of the illness, Yoga therapy can not only be preventative or curative, but also serve a means to manage the illness, or facilitate healing in the person at all levels."
- TKV Desikachar & Kausthub Desikachar
"Yoga therapy consists of the application of yogic principles, methods, and techniques to specific human ailments. In its ideal application, Yoga therapy is preventive in nature, as is Yoga itself, but it is also restorative in many instances, palliative in others, and curative in many others."
- Art Brownstein, M.D
"Yoga therapy may be defined as the application of yogic principles to a particular person with the objective of achieving a particular spiritual, psychological, or physiological goal. Yoga therapy respects individual differences in age, culture, religion, philosophy, occupation, and mental and physical health. The knowledgeable and competent yogin or yogini applies Yoga therapy according to the period, the place, and the practitioner's age, strength, and activities."
- Richard Miller, Ph.D
"Yoga therapy, derived from the Yoga tradition of Patanjali and the Ayurvedic system of health care refers to the adaptation and application of Yoga techniques and practices to help individuals facing health challenges at any level manage their condition, reduce symptoms, restore balance, increase vitality, and improve attitude."
- Gary Kraftsow
"Yoga therapy is the application of Yoga to individuals to empower them to progress toward greater health and freedom from disease."
- Ganesh Mohan