Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health

by Lee Majewski, Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani

Overview

In this book, Lee Majewski and Ananda Bhavanani define yoga and yoga therapy as a whole person practice, demonstrating how it can help the individual to heal through their own mechanisms. The authors bring yogic concepts from theory into everyday life, exploring how yoga therapy can work with all levels of a human being at the same time (physical, energetic, emotional, intellectual and spiritual) and demonstrating that, when applied correctly, it can assist healing and facilitate an improved quality of life.

The book covers deep yogic work and how it applies to cancer patients, as well as a range of other chronic conditions including respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. For each of these conditions the authors explore how yoga therapy can go beyond alleviating symptoms and work to heal the whole person.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787750937
Publisher:	Kingsley, Jessica Publishers
Publication date:	05/21/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Lee Majewski is a Yoga Therapist certified by International Association of Yoga Therapists with designation C-IAYT at Marsden Centre for Integrative Medicine, Vaughn, Canada and visiting Senior Yoga Therapist at Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute, India. She is a cancer survivor and since 2006 has worked with cancer and psychosomatic chronic disease patients, including running intensive yogic retreats for cancer patients in Europe, North America, India and Australia. She lives in Ontario, Canada.

Ananda Bhavanani is Director of the Centre for Yoga Therapy Education and Research (CYTER) and Professor of Yoga Therapy at Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University. He is also Chairman of the International Centre for Yoga Education and Research at Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry, India and Yoganjali Natyalayam, the premier institute of Yoga and Carnatic Music and Bharatanatyam in Pondicherry. He lives in Pondicherry, India.

Table of Contents

Foreword Stephen Parker 9

Part 1 Understanding Yoga as Therapy 13

1 Beginnings of Modern Yoga Therapy 17

2 Yoga Therapy and its Application 29

3 Yoga Therapy and Spirituality 51

4 Yogic Tools for Assessment and Health Evaluation 73

5 What Makes a Good Yoga Therapist? 107

Part 2 Chronic Disease and the Role of Yoga 121

6 Chronic Respiratory Diseases 129

7 Cardiovascular Diseases 135

8 Diabetes Mellitus 143

9 Cancer 149

10 Coping with Cancer-A Personal Journey 173

Part 3 Application of Yoga Therapy 197

11 The Healing Process 199

12 Yogic Practices 215

13 Yogic Protocol 219

Appendix 1 Guided Meditations 261

Appendix 2 Yoga Nidra 270

Appendix 3 Mudra Practices 291

Appendix 4 Home Plan, Template 308

Appendix 5 Sample for an Individual Asana Sequence 312

Appendix 6 Kirtan Kriya 316

Appendix 7 Feelings Wheel 319

Appendix 8 Life Mandala 320

Bibliography 324

Endnotes 327

Index 340

Editorial Reviews

This book is the collaborative effort of well-known yoga therapists and practitioners Lee Majewski and Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani. Their intensive research and clinical experience working with persons afflicted with non-communicable disease (NCD) conditions have contributed to the development of a comprehensive, authoritative work on the process of yoga therapy. I consider this book to be valuable and timely to those who work in clinical and non-clinical set up in providing yoga support to people with NCD as well as those who work in preventive processes.

Dr Latha Satish

A brilliant healing paradigm! Majewski and Bhavanani have presented a wealth of accessible information for holistic healing through applied yoga philosophy. Their comprehensive approach offers accessible practices for enhancing spiritual health and empowering patients towards improved health and well-being. Be it the history of Yoga or the many practical tools offered in this book, Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health is surely an invaluable resource for all yoga therapists.

Yogachemmal Dr. Lori Rubenstein Fazzio

I have been reading the book for the past few days and my heart is singing. It was so good to see words declaring the sophistication and intelligence of yoga therapy as the holistic science that it undoubtedly is. This book helps to empower yoga therapists to stay true to our teachings and not feel that we need to break yoga into compartments of western scientific models, to feel that it is valid. May all yoga therapists behold this book as a reference in contemporary times to practice with full confidence this traditional science.

Leanne Davis

'Yoga
Therapy
as
a
Whole—-Person
Approach
to
Health
by
Lee
Majewski and
Ananda
Balyogi
Bhavanani is elegant,
concise and accessible book that brings to light not only the history of yoga therapy and its applications but also the very specific techniques required for integrative interventions for the modern world.
This is a
book for every person
-
it empowers the individual by elucidating age—-tempered tools and templates that can be adopted in everyday life.
At the same time,
it balances intellectual yogic concepts into distinct experiential modes both in terms of health and disease weaving in a
holistic spiritual approach.
Through the three distinct parts of their book,
the authors have presented a
singular and distinct intellectual framework which addresses
"the cultural paradigm of our understanding of what it is to heal and how to go about it",
the significant opportunities that yoga therapy can bring in the field of health care,
specifically for chronic and widespread diseases while providing the
"detailed protocol,
practices and yogic tools"
that can be used by practitioners and therapists.
The book distinguishes itself to be the textbook for the training of yoga teachers and yoga therapists.
The book draws out the impactful and significant correlation between the spiritual,
mental and emotional alongside the physical
(i.e.
the
"mind—-body"
connect)
versus simply the traditional physical health care construct.
It parses the common misconception of mistaking for spirituality and religiosity.
It provides a
road map on how to implement yogic practices and tools alongside spirituality in order to transform one's own self as well as heal.
Yoga
Therapy
as
a
Whole—-Person
Approach
to
Health
by experienced yoga therapists
Lee
Majewski and
Ananda
Balyogi
Bhavanani is a
book to read over and over again.
Reading the book promises
"ananda"
to all those who are interested in developing conscious connection with our source and find attainable results for health and happiness!'

Usha S Nayar Ph.D.

Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health provides a comprehensive overview of the history of yoga therapy and its many applications for optimizing health of mind, body and spirit. Patients, health care practitioners and yoga professionals alike can learn much from this book, which details the vast scope of yoga therapy and its evidence-based benefits. The authors include many healing tools and techniques to maximize the integration of the individual and lead them on a path to health and wholeness.

Marianne Cirone

This book takes
Yoga
Therapy to the next level where it deserves to be.
It explores its roots,
depth and potential as a
powerful healing art that is complete in its approach.
It treats with the whole person focusing on dealing with root issues and not just the relief of symptoms.
It is a
must read for all those seeking to understand the field,
to appreciate the amazing science that underlies it and to be a
master of the art.

Sri Vasudeva -­- Spiritual Head of the Blue Star Yoga Ashram Claxton Bay

If you only read one book on yoga therapy, it should be this one. This book is what the field of yoga therapy needs to help us explain "what is yoga therapy?" to the rest of the world. The book begins by outlining the historical background of yoga therapy and clearly states that this is India's gift to the world. The book helps us to refine the language to describe what we do as yoga therapists. It clearly outlines how we assess the client or student from a yoga perspective and that we have a unique scope of practice and specialised skill set. The book reviews the science on the physiological effects of yoga practice and how these simple practices can reduce the symptoms of chronic disease.

Amy Wheeler

Our lives today are progressing at a rapid pace. So also various aspects related to our existence, including health. Largely, when we speak of health, the prime focus is on the physical aspect. Which of course is important. However, somewhere, we miss out on the mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions.

This book written by Lee and Ananda, portrays and reflects the symphony of various dimensions of Yoga and its application as a therupatic tool. It is very rich in content, since it is a reflection of authors who have immersed themselves in the practice whicih they preach. This book is manifestation of the success of Ms.Lee to have overcome helth conditions herselves and healed many others, of Dr.Ananda , who as a medical doctor and born in a Yoga family has been able to look at the patients and provide them with answers for their holistic wellbeing.

I find this book to be a valuable source of an experiential information towards better health at all levels.

Subodh Tiwari

Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health is a text that should be part of every yoga teacher and therapist's professional library. Ananda and Lee bring together their decades of personal and professional wisdom and experience to create a comprehensive guide suited to both novices and the more experienced practitioner. The text acknowledges the many traditions that inform contemporary yoga therapy and is replete with extensive appendices of suggested practices including yoga nidra and mudras. This is a must have!

Leigh Blashki

Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health is a beautifully written and masterful guidebook that eloquently shows us how to embody health and wholeness at every level of our body, mind and spirit. A joy to read, Majewski and Bhavanani's book offers us an information rich resource guide of yoga therapy wisdom that weaves together easy to understand, health-focused practices rooted in time-tested interventions that reveal our underlying nature as already whole and healthy. Their book offers us practical and inspired lifestyle interventions to heal our personal imbalances and dis-eases that enable us to restore boundless health and vitality to our daily lives. This is a must read for everyone who wants to lead a natural healthy and joy-filled life. Both profound and practical, this seminal work reveals the road we all must travel to embody our potential as fully alive, healthy and authentic human beings.

Richard Miller

As yoga rapidly gains popularity in the general population internationally, its use as a therapeutic intervention for diseases has grown apace. The authors, who are both deeply ingrained personally and professionally in the practice and application of yoga for health and healing, have delivered a comprehensive text on the theory, science and application of yoga therapy. Their emphasis on the importance of the application of yoga practices in an integrative and holistic manner to address the whole person and not simply the disease or its symptoms is highly crucial to the success of yoga as therapy.

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa

Lee Majewski and Ananda Bhavanani have unique strengths, with their years of intensive yoga practice, informed, empathetic use of yoga as a therapy and a blend of medical with traditional wisdom. These combined strengths are apparent in their book Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health. Here they take the reader through details of yoga therapy and unique concepts such as the role of spirituality in yoga therapy, 'yogapathy', a yoga diagnosis to complement conventional diagnoses and what makes a good yoga therapist. This informative and very readable book - which has well thought illustrations and compelling case histories - is a must read for everyone involved in holistic healing.

Shirley Telles MBBS

This is an exceptionally engaging, comprehensive and indeed inspiring guide to the theory and practice Yoga therapy, well supported by the authors' depth and breadth of experience, as well as their extensive review of relevant modern Yoga research. Cautions about an allopathic, symptomatic management approach to Yoga therapy - called yogopathy - are balanced with principles and multiple examples for taking a whole person approach to addressing the root causes of an individual's dis-ease. There is a practical focus on four major non communicable disease areas Yoga therapists work with; chronic respiratory diseases, cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and cancer. Their articulation of how and why to adopt a holistic approach to each individual's personal situation will be quite helpful to the Yoga therapist trying to explain what they do and why in conventional healthcare context. Being able to express the whole person approach of this emerging discipline may be especially important these days, as various physical and mental health disciplines are seeking to incorporate Yoga into their therapeutic practices, but too often without deep personal training and experience in Yoga and Yoga therapy, and hence there can be a tendency to simply fall back upon general protocols as opposed to a incorporating a wide range of unique individual considerations needed for healing.

John Kepner

This book takes
Yoga
Therapy to the next level where it deserves to be.
It explores its roots,
depth and potential as a
powerful healing art that is complete in its approach.
It treats with the whole person focusing on dealing with root issues and not just the relief of symptoms.
It is a
must read for all those seeking to understand the field,
to appreciate the amazing science that underlies it and to be a
master of the art.

Sri Vasudeva -­- Spiritual Head of the Blue Star Yoga Ashram Claxton Bay