What is the Difference Between Yoga and Yoga Therapy?

Yoga Therapy Can Change Your Life Forever. It Did For Me.

Isn't all yoga therapeutic?

​Although the lines between the practice and tradition of yoga may seem blurred, there are some subtle yet important differences between yoga and yoga therapy. 

Yoga therapy is different from yoga in a few special ways:

1. Yoga Therapy is designed for the individual. What that means is that sessions are created for the person who is practicing. 
These practices may address a specific health condition or illness. 
 
2. Yoga Therapy pools the wealth of knowledge from yoga tradition and philosophy and intentionally creates practices for specific health concerns.

3.. Yoga Therapy is a form of physical and psychotherapy. With self-study and discipline the practitioner of yoga therapy can overcome all limitations from structural, physiological and self-limiting beliefs. The goal is to be self-functioning and the means is unique to the individual. A yoga therapist takes a formal intake of each client much like a healthcare professional. 

4. Yoga Therapy looks at the cause of suffering. If it is a back problem, look at what makes it worse and what makes it better. Apply intervention practices to address the pain. If it is an illness like diabetes yoga therapy looks at behavioral patterns and uses the energetics of physiological balance to help regenerate and restore the body's innate power to heal. 

5. Yoga Therapy is uniquely for the practitioner. Although there may be yoga practices and classes that address a specific condition, these practices are generalized for a group. Yoga therapy not only helps to modify and adjust the practices to suit the individual but makes the practice just for the  individual who is multi-dimensional. 
 
6. A yoga therapist’s goal is to grant the client independence and to show them how to practice for themselves. A good yoga therapist helps the client understand how they have the power to influence change in their perception and to gain dominion over their life and choices. 
 
As a type 1 diabetic for over 20 years I rely on my yoga therapy practice to help me balance the inevitable challenges that follow chronic illness and autoimmune conditions. Yoga therapy is not a substitute for health care it is a supplement which grants the individual the ability to change the course of their lives. We all have challenges to conquer in this lifetime and yoga therapy is a means to live this beautiful life of yours fully. 

Learn more about starting a yoga therapy practice online with Evan. 

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