Читать книгу Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health онлайн

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However, we need to keep in mind that yoga therapy is not a prescriptive science. No specific prescription can be made for yoga for cancer or yoga for diabetes or yoga for X for that matter, although this kind of thinking is very common as we have been brought up in a culture of “a pill for every ill.” Such an attitude defies the essence of yoga therapy. When we consider applying yoga therapy, we need to change the paradigm completely in two respects. First, we have to stop focusing on a medical diagnosis of disease with just its symptoms. We need to consider and assess a deeper cause of the imbalance of human existence that resulted in the manifestation of disease in the body. We describe this process in detail in ssss1.

Second, following our assessment, we need to consider the whole human being and focus on health—what can bring balance back to this particular client? It may be yogic tools dealing with attitudes and ethics (yamas and niyamas). It may be higher practices like yoga nidra, chanting, or meditation. It may be breathing management and techniques, kriyas, or asanas. It may be diet and the way food is consumed. It may also be an irregular circadian rhythm. Or it may be all of the above. The determination of the most appropriate path will entirely depend on the client, their goals, and the level of ownership of responsibility for their own health, and how much they are prepared to implement. I often get asked about what yoga (usually meaning asanas) I use for cancer. Invariably I will answer—none! I use yoga therapy tools to assist human beings to heal the disease conditions by bringing balance to their life.