Yoga Therapy
Yoga therapy is not a yoga class, although it can be. Yoga therapy is a combination of tools, from movement and breathing techniques to mantra and a meditation.
Yoga therapy is a totally individual experience. Each session may vary as we respond to what is presenting on the day.
Yoga therapy is for everyone, no matter nationality, religion, gender or size. We are all one.
The pancha kosha energetic approach
Pancha kosha refers to the five body theory of life. We all live in our physical body, which utilities energy for movement and life. We have our emotional responses to our situations and we have our inner knowing. Ultimately we all seek joy in life.
Dis-ease may arise in anyone of these layers of our being. Yoga therapy uses a variety of techniques to tap into each layer with the aim of reducing suffering.
The chakra approach
More popular in the west is the knowledge of the chakras.
The western chakra system was acknowledged and popularised by the Theosophists in the 1880s. It is a useful tool for assessing and responding to ailments whilst appreciating that everyone will have their own response to each chakra.
Chakra means wheel or cycle. Chakra work may involve the wheel of life, the cycle of karma of the wheel of energetic points of the body from the plexus centres to other marma points as well as energy points outside the physical self.
The yoga sutras & Samkhya Philosophy
Using Samkhya Philosophy we look at health from the principles of universal creation of consciousness into matter. It is from Sankhya philosophy that the sutras have been form. Self knowledge, self development whilst also having some base in the Vedas (Vedic philosophy).
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are a set of aphorisms, or sayings, which draw from a few distinct philosophies. I focus on the first two books mainly and in particular, book 2 and the system of Astanga or the eight limbs of yoga. These are yama (moral practices), niyama (self discipline), asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption).
Vedic Philosophy
The primary Vedas are the mantric texts of the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas.
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These different aspects of Vedic knowledge are summarised in Vedantic texts, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, which deal primarily with the knowledge of the Self or pure consciousness.
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