Introduction
In medical yoga therapy, yoga practices will be used to prevent and treat medical conditions. Along with yoga poses that strengthen the body, appropriate breathing techniques, meditation, and mindfulness may also be incorporated to achieve extreme benefits. Medical yoga therapy, also called Yoga Chikitsa, uses mental, physical, and spiritual angles to cure medical conditions.
Yoga can regulate blood sugar levels and can improve cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health. Along with the use of the person's mind, body, and spirit, it also requires support from the family, acquaintances, environment, culture, and work situation.
What Are the Benefits of Yoga Therapy?
Yoga is an ancient practice that increases flexibility and muscle tone. It focuses on proper postural alignment and helps increase musculoskeletal strength and balance. Stress is the primary causative agent for many non-communicable diseases, which can be relieved by practicing yoga, mindfulness, and meditation. Such practices help regulate blood glucose levels, keep the cardiovascular system healthy, and improve mental health. Yoga can bring positive feelings, increase alertness, and decrease depression, anxiety, and aggressiveness.
How Is Medical Yoga Therapy Practiced?
Medical yoga therapy can be practiced in different formats. It can be mingled with physiotherapy, psychotherapy, or rehabilitative treatment. Yoga therapy sessions can be conducted as one-on-one or small group sessions. Medical yoga therapy will either be done alone as yoga or as a mindful practice to cure some conditions, especially mental health-related, or combined with other forms of treatment. Ideal medical yoga therapy includes breathing techniques, yogic poses, meditation, a healthy diet, caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, and drug intake reduction, healthy sleeping habits, and most importantly, support from loved ones.
Medical yoga therapy should be started gently and as a complement to the treatments that the patient is receiving. Yoga alone might not cure the medical condition, and combining it with ongoing medical treatment or psychotherapy is essential. If the patient does not require intensive treatments, yoga alone can be considered to prevent worsening the condition.
What Conditions Get Cured by Medical Yoga Therapy?
-
Mental Health Problems: Depression, insomnia, stress, and anxiety are the leading mental health reasons for which people seek treatments like medical yoga therapy. Yoga helps to take slow and quality breaths and encourages the patient to relax. It also helps to focus better on the present and brings calm and restoration. It can lower the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.
-
Musculoskeletal Conditions: Yoga therapy can improve flexibility and loosen the muscles and connective tissue surrounding the bones and joints, thus reducing pain and inflammation. Conditions like back pain, osteoporosis (a condition where bones become brittle and weak), and arthritis (pain and swelling of one or more joints) can be managed by doing yoga therapy, as it increases muscle strength and mass. Due to the performance of a wide range of motion, blood circulation improves, thus reducing pain and inflammation. Medical yoga therapy helps to balance the body properly.
-
Neurological Conditions: Neurological disorders are cured by the combined effects of stress reduction, meditation, yoga poses, and exercises to improve limited mobility. Yoga therapy can decrease the chances of seizure (symptoms due to abnormally excessive neuronal activity within the brain) due to the effective reduction of stress. It decreases memory decline in Alzheimer's (a neurological condition where the brain shrinks and the cells die) patients. Medical yoga therapy helps reduce symptoms like pain, stiffness, sleep deprivation, and fatigue. It decreases the symptoms due to diabetic neuropathy, the nerve damage occurring in patients with diabetes (a metabolic condition in which blood sugar levels increase), by increasing nerve conduction velocity.
-
Cardiovascular Problems: Yoga therapy can reduce blood pressure and heart rate. By managing cholesterol levels, it prevents the occurrence of atherosclerosis (narrowing of the blood vessels due to the buildup of cholesterol and fats). Due to the increased blood flow, medical yoga therapy decreases the episodes of angina (chest pain due to reduced blood flow to the heart).
-
Metabolic Conditions: Medical yoga helps control blood glucose levels, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and body weight, thus managing diabetes, obesity, and dyslipidemia (imbalance of cholesterol or fats in the blood).
-
Cancer: The growth of tumors gets exacerbated by stress. Thus, cancer patients must take proper steps to manage anxiety and fear. Yoga is not a cure for cancer but can be combined with other treatments to improve physical, spiritual, and emotional wellness. Yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises can relieve stress, promote healing, and improve the patient's quality of life.
-
Immunity: Stress is the magnet that attracts infections and abnormalities. By reducing stress, immunity improves, reducing the chances of getting infected or diseased.
How Does Medical Yoga Therapy Work?
Yoga postures and movements, along with meditation and breathing techniques, promote vagal tone (activity of the vagus nerve, 10th cranial nerve) and increase heart rate variability (HRV), the variation in the interval between heartbeats. It gradually improves the functioning of the heart muscles. Breathing exercises stimulate the secretion of hormones that reduce stress and bring happiness and calmness. It is also responsible for the reduction of the levels of stress hormones. The practice decreases the levels of norepinephrine (high levels of which can cause stress and anxiety) and manages the respiratory and heart rates.
What Are the Risks of Yoga Therapy?
Medical yoga therapy poses only minimal risks. The basic rule of medical yoga therapy is to do no harm to the individual. The medical yoga therapist ensures that the techniques done are accessible and safe. The method may be faulty if the person feels pain or discomfort while doing stretching activities. There is a mild chance of getting injured while performing yoga therapy. However, the possibility is the most minimal compared to other forms of exercise or physical activities.
Conclusion
Practicing yoga is challenging and time-consuming, but its benefits are worth the effort and investment. Medical yoga therapy is the best way to cure medical conditions by building a reconnecting bond with the mind and spirit. It also helps the patient know about the disease's causes and will help to focus on adopting lifestyle changes to prevent the risk factors.
