Yoga Rx: An Ancient Discipline in Modern Mainstream Medicine

By Kathryn Boland

Yoga Rx: What does it mean and where is it going? Have you noticed that yoga is coming more into our Western culture’s medical “mainstream”? Do you wonder where you might factor in, as a yoga instructor, in this trend? My father practiced for several decades as an orthopedic surgeon specializing in hands and shoulders. While in my 200 hour CYT training, I forwarded him an article about keeping the wrists safe in weight-bearing yoga postures. The article also explained how the same postures, in an overall balanced asana practice, can help to alleviate many hand and arm medical complications. In his response e-mail, he enthusiastically replied “Thanks, now I will specifically recommend yoga as an option for my patients with wrist pain!”

That’s one isolated example, and my father might be more open-minded to so-called “alternative” therapies than other medical professionals. On the other hand, evidenced-based research is increasingly demonstrating that yoga can offer many clinical benefits (when combined with traditional treatments, for the most part). More and more, clinicians are listening to what that research has to say – and their treatment recommendations, referrals, and other care aspects are following suit.

How to objectively, empirically discover if that claim is accurate? In a true evidenced-based framework, researcher Marcy McCall investigated the prevalence of yoga in medical journals from 1950-2007. She found that there was limited discussion on yoga until 2000, then a further increase from 2007 onwards (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4097914/). What could account for such an increase? With the new millennium came new energy, yet also new challenges, in several areas of life.

Along with that, some individuals felt the need for a new wellness paradigm. Burnout and stress can wreak havoc on our bodies and minds, and conventional medicine has sometimes failed to offer us satisfying solutions. Concurrent with these trends were shifts in fitness and psychotherapy, and cultural movements that followed those. More and more people were taking up yoga because of all of those trends, experiencing its benefits, and telling their family and friends. More and more mats were slung over shoulders and in car back-seats, commuters ready for classes before or after work. Those practitioners would tell their doctors how good yoga made them feel. To be more enlightened about Yoga Rx: An Ancient Discipline in Modern Mainstream Medicine visit www.aurawellnesscenter.com.