Family Health through Yoga Therapy :Remember every Mama Guru needs a proper guide

The Belly Guru — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 17:58:00 GMT

Upgrading being Fit to being healthy through yoga education takes the proper guide. In 2006 when I began the "crazy" mission to bring the traditional medicine of yoga to Charlotte's fitness based yoga community I was "out of the mainstream". No studios in Charlotte promoted teaching yoga beyond making you strong or preety or flexible. Understanding the profound medicinal effects of combining western and eastern training tools takes a certain level of evaluation skill, spiritual and medical understanding and a smaller group or individual training format that is not as profitable in a model where large, power, hot classes that eliminate the spiritual connect prevail. As yoga therapy becomes more popular Charlotte has sloooowwwly broadened its style;0) I smile because many of the local studios are now more open to spiritual evolution by FINALLY promoting the INNER health effects of yoga. This is a great thing as I am personally on a mission to get more healthcare providers on board because our national health statistics are sobering. All three top killers like obesity are related to stress. All 50 states now having record breaking obesity numbers and US teens have hit diabetic epidemic numbers. Parents need to change our accepted hectic lifestyle that fails to value simple food, simple possessions or simple down time. As a physical therapist and yoga educator I see the poor coordination and body awareness physical fitness education and health program cuts are making. Now is the perfect time to find a yoga educator in your community to help keep your healthcare costs down and your family health needs a priority. It is low cost and highly effective but I am posting this because I want to make sure the public understands the difference between a group yoga teacher and an instructor that functions as a yoga therapist or educator.

All yoga can be therapeutic but not all Yoga classes are therapy or good for your age, goals or particular state of health

Belly Guru Yoga may now have the yoga community support to open the door of yoga for holistic well care here in Charlotte,NC but Mamas must be aware that yoga is big business here in the states. Nationwide yoga wellness programs are mixing with medicine with instructors who are not inherently qualified to apply it prescriptively without additional training. Beware yoga studios and health care centers that suddenly advertise therapeutic yoga as a line of profit by understanding and asking about a few key things:

What populations do they give classes for? Popular yoga teachers and programs that aim to act as a social outlet are just that and wonderful. They may condition the body or spirit but do not always equate to safe yoga if you have a certain contrindicated condition or desire to address specific therapeutic goals. If you are a parent interested in the use of yoga as healthcare for yourself or therapeutic services for your family these practices are best applied after an evaluation of some sort and properly prescribed by a trained eye.

Do they teach traditional Yoga or yoga fitness and exercise classes? On average how many teachers teach a traditional style class? Yoga is traditionally about self reflection and living a just life in body and mind. It is that science and art that makes yoga inherently therapeutic and not just an exercise modality.

How do the instructors meet the industry mimimum standards? The Industry standard for teaching yoga is a 200 hr certificate from the Yoga Alliance that educates on methodology , philosophy and postures but teacher training programs vary and instructors do not technically have to be certified to teach. Infact some facilities such as my own internally train their instructors at a higher standard regardless of the minimum guidelines of the alliance so ask. Furthurmore even though most teachers are registered with the Alliance, the Alliance is not a practice credentialing body . It aims to establish a practice standard by which the industry strives to maintain. Yoga alliance credential (RYT) Yoga instructors agree to provide services by ethical standards and minimal entry level group class instruction but may not have learned how to train individual concerns.

Are any programs being developedby instructors at the experienced level? ERYT-200 and 500 level means the instructor has taught and dedicated him or herself for hundreds of hours beyond intitial industry standard credentials. On the otherhandsome very good programs have chosen not to be part of the Alliance but when finding a teacher , he or she should have a personal practice and be able to educate you on the entire practice and not just the postures.

Ask what it is you will specifically be paying for? For example, Belly Guru Yoga considers Yoga educators to be educated at least at a 200 hour instructor level with an ability to communicate trainings on both the group and individual basis. I personally beliive working with an experienced level instructor (ERYT) or a yoga educator such as this is the most practical and safest way to experience yoga for the first time. You will then hopefully learn about the practice and your body enough by their experience so that if you take a class anywhere ,with any other instructor ,you will not only know you are in a popular class but will know what feels right for you.

How are the instructors using the term Yoga therapy? Therapy means the yoga is prescribed to the individual needs of a population or individual. This takes a trained eye and should involve some sort of skill in reading the body's needs. Therapists prescribe yoga practicesbased upon the expanding evidence towards a specific therapeutic goal or objective like "to reduce low back pain" or " increase a child's focus or balance". Right now educational standards vary and background is improtant. Anyone can call themselves a yoga therapist. I personally think my twenty years in the rehabilitation industry, 16 years as a licensed healthcare provider and decade of personal practice and therapeutic application qualifys me to prescribe yoga better than a group teacher that takes a weekend course about yoga for MS but you may feel differently. Obtaining certifications with only a weekend of training are leading educators and therapists such as myself to formulate credentialing programs that align with the research and 800 hrs of training recommendation set forth by the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Remember if you are being told yoga can affect your body, mind and spirit in a positive way than it can also affect it in a negative way.

It is helpful to decide your own guide through who you are comfortable with but I highly recommend one who can educate beyond just teaching a class. Look for individual instructors with strong personal testimonials, additional professional studies and do not just take the gold star recommendations of the studio which can be self promoted on websites such as Yelp or Yahoo.

Just like the bedside manner of a great doctor can affect your health, there with many different styles and professional yoga instructors. Here word of mouth and research pays off. Learn about the style of the teacher. Evaluate the level of education you will be getting. Visit where services are provided to get the vibe and remember the most effective yoga educators understand the many ingredients needed to create an experience and are not just hoping for you to pay and take a class.

Let me know your experience using yoga for family health. Did you realize the different levels of training available ? What advice from your experiences do you have to offer? Are you interested in learning more? Feel free to contact me or reply.

The Guru’s Belly Blog : yoga as medicine

Family Health through Yoga Therapy :Remember every Mama Guru needs a proper guide