Yoga

Yoga is an ancient discipline that offers a broad range of tools which can be useful in promoting health, aiding in healing and refining the mind.

Yoga addresses the link between the body, the breath and the mind, recognizing that any conscious attempt to modify one of these factors can be used as an agent for comprehensive change in the entire system.

Although yoga is mainly associated today with the practice of physical postures and a few basic breathing techniques, it also offers a wide range of additional tools which include physical practices, special breathing techniques, powerful meditative practices, symbolic gestures and use of vocal sounds, guided self inquiry practices and more.

This is why, with the compassionate guidance of a skilled teacher, Yoga is as appropriate for the young as it is for the old, as appropriate for the stroke victim lying immobile in a hospital bed, as it is for the flexible, athletic dancer. This is why it may be said that Yoga is for everyone.

When appropriately administered, Yoga practices may be used in a wide variety of purposes such as

• in promoting and maintaining physical and mental health
• in serving as a complementary system of holistic health care -
  both preventative, and curative
• in relieving stress and promoting efficiency
• in aiding to face and deal with challenging life situations
• in providing and guiding us in spiritual transformation

Function Over Form

Yoga is taught in three basic contexts: the context of a group class (these vary from the very general to classes with a specific goal or designated for a specific group of people), private instruction for developing a personal practice, and Yoga Therapy.

The goals of each category of class (group, private, and therapeutic) vary. However, a principle that holds true for each of them is that when applying the tools of Yoga, function is more important than form. In other words, as teachers, it is our responsibility to adapt the tool to suit the needs and abilities of the student, so that he or she may get the desired benefit from it.

Typically, improvement in "form" will come with time and effort. Improvement does not imply that a perfect forward bend or perfect chanting pitch will be achieved for certain, but perfection is not the goal: improvement in the student’s health and sense of wellbeing is . . . 

“It is not the destination but the journey which is important”

Yoga Therapy

Like private instruction, Yoga Therapy is offered on a one-to-one basis. In this case, the teacher adapts the tools of Yoga to help heal the student of a specific problem. Where general Yoga keeps us on the steady path of wellness and regular practice provides the equanimity to cope with the stresses and various stages of life, Yoga Therapy specifically targets the root cause of affliction and aims to heal by curing or appeasing the symptoms, positively enhancing quality of life and thereby reducing suffering. Because it is not chemical, Yoga Therapy is a complement to other systems of treatment.

T. Krishnamacharya and the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM)

Krishnamacharya was the only master in the modern era to have been trained in the complete art of Yoga Cikitsa (Therapy). Helping people to heal through Yoga was his life’s work, and he devoted himself to this work for seventy years. His work is now carried on through the efforts of TKV Desikachar and the KYM, a renowned centre for Yoga Therapy practice, education, and research for thirty years.

The legacy of Krishnamacharya - our legacy as students and teachers of Yoga - is not a style of Yoga, it is Yoga - past, present, and future. Visit www.khyf.net for more information