My Approach...
Yoga is a spiritual discipline that involves mental, physical and behavioural processes and practices. All methods aim to create harmony between the body and mind, elevate and expand the spirit, and realise our ultimate nature. Plus, Yoga practice provides countless side-benefits.
While traditional Yoga is primarily concerned with healthy individuals, the main concern of modern Yoga therapy, or Yoga chikitsa is correcting the mental and physical issues of ailing individuals to a state of holistic balance. Today Yoga therapy is an emerging field, in the process of defining itself both in India and the West. Around twenty years back Yoga therapy was accepted by the Government of India, Ministry of Health, as an indigenous Medical System.
While there are many schools of Yoga (Raja, Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, etc), Yoga therapy, with its emphasis on integration of mind, breath and body is most aligned with Hatha Yoga, the “forceful Yoga” that aims to perfect the physical body as a pathway to the Divine. In everyday terms, Hatha Yoga and Yoga therapy aim to develop power, purity and harmony between all bodily and mental functions, especially via the nervous system and subtle channels. They aspire to create a joyful, adaptable, vibrant way of feeling and living across all levels of being—physical, vital, mental, emotional, social and spiritual.
As short-term therapeutic tools and long-term lifestyle practices I primarily work with Hatha Yoga processes taught by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, founder of the Bihar School of Yoga, in Munger, India; B.K.S. Iyengar, founder of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India; and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, living Yogi and mystic, and founder of the Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore, India.
As a physical therapy, I teach Yoga to help improve flexibility, strength, stamina, digestion, immune function, blood pressure, heart health, relaxation and sleep; and decrease bodily weakness, discomfort, imbalance and disease. I also use Yoga practices to facilitate natural processes such pregnancy and ageing, and nurture mental benefits including higher moods, more stable emotions, and greater peace and clarity. I help individuals to apply skills selected from Yoga’s eight-limb path, including:
- Social restraints (yama)
- Personal observances (niyama)
- Physical postures (asana)
- Breathing exercises (prānayāmā)
- Practices to calm and focus the mind (prātyāhāra and dharana), and
- Meditation (dhyana).
Associated methods include:
- Mantra (repetition of a syllable or sound)
- Mudra (hand and body gestures)
- Yoga Nidra (psychic sleep), and
- Kriya Yoga (actions/practices that concentrate and master the vital life-force).
Other important aspects of Yoga therapy include:
- Food and dietary patterns
- Choices of lifestyle and daily routine
- Managing the mind
- Developing self-awareness
In Yoga, true healing begins with self-awareness. In addition to diagnosis and individualised guidance, as a therapist I hold space for people to delve more deeply into themselves, perceive more clearly their internal environment, understand their personal needs, build self-empowerment and motivation, and actively release and take on what the mind/body system requires in order to rebalance. Beyond physical and mental healing, Yoga is a life-long inwardly transforming and self-realization tool.
As a sister science of Āyurveda, Yoga is an integral aspect of Ayurvedic therapies, and knowledge of Ayurveda strengthens Yoga practices. All Yoga therapy approaches are chosen based on each person’s unique Ayurvedic dosha or constitution, and individual health and lifestyle needs. All methods are chosen and adapted to serve the person; not the person adopting a method.
I prefer to work with people one-to-one, and occasionally in small groups. I also carry out online consultations. Explore consultation options here.
Check Out these Related Blog Posts....
Flow with the Life-Force Prāna
Flow with the Life-Force Prāna
Flow with the Life-Force Prāna
Ancient Hindu texts speak of primordial Prāna (a feminine principal; Shakti) living in deep union with the Cosmic Consciousness (the masculine principal; Shiva, Brahman, God, the Absolute) before forms or qualities existed. From this perfectly harmonious state rose the desire or impulse of the Cosmos to experience itself; an idea that willed Prāna to begin vibrating....
Prāna: Purify & Awaken
Flow with the Life-Force Prāna
Flow with the Life-Force Prāna
Just as fish live in an ocean of water but are unaware of its possibilities, we live in an ocean of vibrations, unacquainted with its vastness and potential. Instead of feeling connected with life’s cosmic flow, we tend to believe ourselves wholly independent, physical beings. And yet we all seek expansion. If not of our spiritual nature, we pursue it on the material plane....
Just Breathe
Flow with the Life-Force Prāna
The Art of Self-Observation
Without breath, life ends promptly, yet it often goes unnoticed and forgotten. While external details distract us, each breath welcomes in oxygen and prāna (the vital life-force that animates all life), expels gassy wastes, and prevents stagnation and build-up of toxins. Deep respiration...
The Art of Self-Observation
Living Rituals: Create Your Own Rites for Life
The Art of Self-Observation
Right now our ideas of self are largely (if not wholly) based on data from outside sources. Modern systems of health and education hand “knowing” to science and specialists. We can gather mountains of information, yet don’t question its source or integrity. All the while, personal traits, feelings and lived experiences are branded irrelevant and unworthy....
Creating Karma; Conquering Karma
Living Rituals: Create Your Own Rites for Life
Living Rituals: Create Your Own Rites for Life
Vedic wisdom holds the Law of Karma as the universal law of cause and effect. Karma literally means “action”; and every action—physical and mental, conscious and unconscious—generates energetic consequences that live on....
Living Rituals: Create Your Own Rites for Life
Living Rituals: Create Your Own Rites for Life
Living Rituals: Create Your Own Rites for Life
In my husband’s family home in Assam in India's far northeast we recently celebrated Bihu, as part of the annual harvest and abundance rituals, and shortly after unexpectedly enacted the lengthy death rituals for an uncle who suddenly passed. It made me think about the place of ritual in everyday life…
The Heart-Mind Connection
What are the Ayurvedic Doshas?
What are the Ayurvedic Doshas?
In everyday life, we relate to the heart largely as a muscle for pumping blood, whose arteries are prone to blockage. Damage to the heart is known to result from high blood pressure, a processed western diet, sedentary lifestyle, excess body weight, smoking, excessive alcohol, and diseases such as diabetes. Dynamic, two-way connections exist between the heart and head....
What are the Ayurvedic Doshas?
What are the Ayurvedic Doshas?
What are the Ayurvedic Doshas?
Āyurveda, the traditional health system of India, centres around the concept of three doshas—vāta, pitta and kapha—instrumental to how Āyurveda understands the human body, and its health and healing approach. But in the human body the doshas are not readily quantified, seen or touched; they are neither food nor physical tissue....
The Digestive Imperative
What are the Ayurvedic Doshas?
Build Intelligent Immunity
Western nutritional and medical science views digestion as a mechanical, chemical and microbial process confined mostly to the gut. For Āyurveda, digestion includes these processes but also much more—the digestion of every meal involves complex interactions between the metabolism, environment, different foods, our thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and unique qualities and constitution....
Build Intelligent Immunity
Ten Habits to Make Your Own
Build Intelligent Immunity
The immune system discerns what is “your body” and “not your body”—and keeps what is harmful out. With covid on the rampage, a wise immunity can ward off infection, or minimise its symptoms and effects. Read on for some novel approaches to not only strengthen your immunity, but optimise its integration with intelligent existence....
Conscious Cookery
Ten Habits to Make Your Own
Ten Habits to Make Your Own
In traditional cultures, all adults are involved in some aspect of food procuring, growing, preparing or cooking, and the children observe and pitch in. This contrasts with today’s food culture which outsources acquisition and processing to others. Yet, despite scant time and resources to grow fresh produce, we can start relationship-building in the kitchen....
Ten Habits to Make Your Own
Ten Habits to Make Your Own
Ten Habits to Make Your Own
In life change is the only constant. The body, mind and planet move perpetually—sometimes in sync; most often out of rhythm. Yet the physical body is happiest and healthiest with familiar daily and seasonal habits. And the mind is happier and more stable when supported by a healthy, balanced body....
Site Content
Detail your services
Display real testimonials
Announce coming events
If customers can’t find it, it doesn’t exist. Clearly list and describe the services you offer. Also, be sure to showcase a premium service.
Announce coming events
Display real testimonials
Announce coming events
Having a big sale, on-site celebrity, or other event? Be sure to announce it so everybody knows and gets excited about it.
Display real testimonials
Display real testimonials
Display real testimonials
Are your customers raving about you on social media? Share their great stories to help turn potential customers into loyal ones.
Promote current deals
Promote current deals
Display real testimonials
Running a holiday sale or weekly special? Definitely promote it here to get customers excited about getting a sweet deal.
Share the big news
Promote current deals
Share the big news
Have you opened a new location, redesigned your shop, or added a new product or service? Don't keep it to yourself, let folks know.
Display their FAQs
Promote current deals
Share the big news
Customers have questions, you have answers. Display the most frequently asked questions, so everybody benefits.
Site Content
Detail your services
Display real testimonials
Announce coming events
If customers can’t find it, it doesn’t exist. Clearly list and describe the services you offer. Also, be sure to showcase a premium service.
Announce coming events
Display real testimonials
Announce coming events
Having a big sale, on-site celebrity, or other event? Be sure to announce it so everybody knows and gets excited about it.
Display real testimonials
Display real testimonials
Display real testimonials
Are your customers raving about you on social media? Share their great stories to help turn potential customers into loyal ones.
Promote current deals
Promote current deals
Display real testimonials
Running a holiday sale or weekly special? Definitely promote it here to get customers excited about getting a sweet deal.
Share the big news
Promote current deals
Share the big news
Have you opened a new location, redesigned your shop, or added a new product or service? Don't keep it to yourself, let folks know.
Display their FAQs
Promote current deals
Share the big news
Customers have questions, you have answers. Display the most frequently asked questions, so everybody benefits.
The Ego Unveiled
Eating Meat the way of Ayurveda
Drink Up! the Way of Ayurveda
One of the mind's nearest and dearest creations is the idea of a distinct and special person we call "I". According to Vedic psychology this notion comes from the ahamkara or “I-maker”; what Western psychology calls the ego....
Drink Up! the Way of Ayurveda
Eating Meat the way of Ayurveda
Drink Up! the Way of Ayurveda
Our daily fluid requirements are not a one-size-fits-all proposition. From an Ayurvedic perspective, fluid intakes should vary according to natal constitution (dosha prakriti), dosha imbalance, diet, physical activity, travel, work and living environment, and season....
Eating Meat the way of Ayurveda
Eating Meat the way of Ayurveda
Eating Meat the way of Ayurveda
Animals and their products have always been a part of Āyurveda. A flick through the Charaka Samhitā, a key ancient Ayurvedic text, and Madanapāla’s Nighantu, a 14th century materia medica of Āyurveda informs the dominant qualities of numerous animals including bear, lion, crocodile, donkey, dog, jackal, mouse and vulture....
Mantra
In mantra, the “man” refers to the mind, and “tra” to protection. Mantra protects the mind of the one who does it. In Yoga traditions, mantras are an advanced practice, given according to each person’s spiritual predisposition and chosen pathway. In Āyurveda, mantras are given to individuals to help rebalance the doshas and mental qualities (sattva, rajas and tamas).
As a therapy, I use mantras to:
- Decrease mental agitation and confusion (rajas)
- Destroy negative emotions, inertia, and depression (tamas)
- Increase intelligence, concentration and harmony (sattva)
- Divert the attention and break old habits of thought and action
- Recalibrate the energy system (prāna) and direct new energy flows
- Help balance vāta dosha, and secondarily pitta dosha and kapha dosha
- Develop meditative and spiritual states
Mantras (and also mudras and Yoga Nidra) originate from Tantra, an ancient Indian spiritual philosophy and practice that delineates rules and processes for safe and full living. Tantra emphasises personal experimentation and experience as a way to move forward on the spiritual path.
Mantras can be a single syllable or sound (known as a bija [seed] mantra), or incorporate many words and syllables—all of which must be pronounced perfectly in their original Sanskrit language.
When uttered for a period daily, each mantrum creates specific vibrations that, if chosen and performed correctly, can change the physical chemistry and metabolism, mental functions and patterns, and affect the soul’s deepest expressions.
As therapy, I may suggest specific mantras to be repeated once or twice daily for five or more minutes, over a period of one to two months.
Mudra
The Sanskrit word mudra can be broken down to “mud” (rhymes with ‘could’) to mean delight, and “dra” meaning to draw forth. Mudras are a subtle gesture or attitude that draws forth delight.
In therapeutic practice, I use mudras to:
- Help to integrate and rejuvenate the mind-body system, especially the nerves
- Assist to rebalance and heal various disease states
- Encourage sense withdrawal, mental concentration, and conscious awareness
- Enhance the flow of prāna, and direct it towards upper energy centres
Mudras promote happiness by sealing in and redirecting the flow of vital life-force throughout the body, to stimulate specific mental, emotional, sensory, and meditational states.
A mudra can involve posturing the whole body or face, but are most commonly applied as simple hand gestures, held for some time while seated.
As therapy, I may suggest specific mudras to be held once or twice daily for five or more minutes. Specific mudras can be incorporated while practicing mantra repetition.
Kriya Yoga
The Sanskrit root of Kriya is “kri”—to do, act and react. Kriya Yoga involves certain actions or practices that concentrate and master flows of vital life-force to accelerate spiritual development. Kriya Yoga practices are also highly beneficial for mental and physical wellbeing. Specific techniques often involve series of prānayāmā, mantra, and mudra.
Traditionally the practices of Kriya Yoga were well-guarded secrets communicated via a guru-disciple relationship. Today Kriya Yoga practices continue to be well-guarded, ideally communicated only to those who make a genuine commitment.
I can help interested people to successfully take on the Kriya Yoga teachings and practices of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and Paramahansa Yogananda.
