Yoga As Medicine

As a member of Yoga Alliance (YA), an accrediting organization for yoga teachers, I believe strongly in the practice of yoga as a means to integrate, heal and strengthen and I was enormously encouraged by the proceedings  of the recent Medical Yoga Symposium in Washington, DC. Veronica Zador, a yoga teacher/writer and former vice president of Yoga Alliance,  reports that integrative medicine and therapeutic yoga along with  evidence, integration and sustainability emerged as leading themes of the meeting as presenters discussed empirical and clinical works as well as visions and directions for future alliances with the health care insurance industry.  If this conference is any indication, in the near future there will be a growing number of highly experienced, professional therapeutic yoga teachers poised to stand beside medical professionals in clinical, community and research settings as full partners. Following is a re-post of her article from last month's Yoga Alliance Newsletter (edited for length).

Will Yoga and Medicine Unite?       

          Yoga educators and medical professionals assembled for the Medical Yoga Symposium January 11-12, 2014 in Washington, D.C. to absorb ideas and research surrounding a simple premise:Yoga and medicine will ultimately unite.  The sold out crowd of 460 attendees consisted of yoga teachers, nurse practitioners and physicians, and leaders of two major yoga organizations: Yoga Alliance (YA) President and CEO Richard Karpel and Executive Director of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) John Kepner.

Evidence, Integration and Sustainability

          Dean Ornish, MD, (www.ornishspectrum.com) founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco, referred to growing scientific outcomes supporting of the application of yoga in clinical environments: “Part of the value of science is that we find we have more choices.” These include the ability to provide yoga at a growing number of healing institutions and the option for medical students to learn about the application of yoga in school. Presenters were able to show how yoga is beginning to be accepted as part of pre- and post-surgical protocols as well as a key component in rehabilitative programs promoting lifestyle changes. John Kepner noted that the body of evidence for yoga’s power to heal is quite small but he believes that the personal experience of physicians will have an enormous impact, encouraging more physicians to recommend yoga, regardless of the body of evidence. Prominent experts are conducting evidence-based studies, several of whom presented their work at the symposium. Richard Miller, PhD, E-RYT 500 shared a study completed by the Brooke Army Medical Center on “Compassion Fatigue”, in which healthcare workers used the Integrative Restoration (iRest®) technique to ease stress, insomnia, burnout and “loss of joy.”

Integration 

          Uniting yoga and medicine requires an interesting blend of evidence through research and the experiential, out-of-pocket conviction of patients. Both must work in tandem to help promote the integration of yoga into mainstream healing modalities. Speaking to the integrative aspects of the field, Ornish noted that the allopathic world is being steadily presented with evidence that supports the union of yoga and medicine.There are a variety of approaches for integrating yoga into health care settings, according to Kepner. He held that, “While I know some leading hospitals are starting to hold yoga therapy classes; my hope is that hospitals will also be open to collaboration with select yoga studios for therapy, lifestyle and wellness programs. There is something special about the healing power of yoga studios and the sangha that can develop there.”

Sustainability 

            According to Ornish, the Affordable Care Act helps provide more opportunity for yoga in medicine because it offers preventive aspects that help offset or even defer much more costly surgical procedures. He went on to add that medical education itself, so often described as “widget healing”, i.e.; healing by fixing the parts, has the opportunity to invert staid (and expensive) concepts of medicine through integrative processes.Sustainability of yoga practices within the health care system requires responsible oversight, as Kepner notes, “…over-reliance on the conventional evidence base and over-reliance on conventional third party financing of yoga therapy can be a trap and limit the healing potential of yoga and the healing power of relationships, just like they have with so many other healing disciplines.” With continued research to demonstrate the effects of yoga on health care costs, Miller believes that insurance companies will recognize the cost benefits of yoga and yoga therapy and offer reimbursement for yoga interventions. He states, “It's only a matter of time and the patience, persistence, and perseverance of yoga practitioners and organizations in bringing this to fruition.” 

A Better, Healthier Future

            Amrita (Sandra) McLanahan, MD was received with resounding applause as she envisioned, “there will be a yoga teacher at the bedside of every patient in every hospital.” McLanahan’s statement is one that will be taken to heart and is bound to provide serious and scholarly efforts as we observe, manage and contribute to the next iteration of yoga as an acknowledged form of health maintenance, care and recovery. Kepner added that, “This was a remarkable conference, a landmark event for the field, one of several complementary ‘coming of age’ events that are happening in the U.S. and around the world in these times, such as IAYT’s own Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR).”
For more information please visit:
• The Medical Yoga Symposium
• The International Association of Yoga Therapists
• Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care

Veronica Zador, B.Sc., E-RYT 500, is a promoter of yoga’s application in medicine. She is president emeritus of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, vice-president emeritus of Yoga Alliance and the Standards Committee of Yoga Alliance. She is a member of the Values task force of the National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Health Care (NED), on the editorial board of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC), and coordinated the first three IAYT Symposiums on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR). As president and school director of Yoga Developments, RYS 200/500, Veronica helped initiate and launch the Wayne State University School of Medicine Co-Curricular Program in Yoga Therapy.