Introducing practical, yoga-based tools for working with a wide array of common injuries and ailments, from ankle sprains to vertigo—by the bestselling author of Teaching Yoga
With asanas, pranayamas, and meditations specific to each health condition, this is the ultimate guide for yoga teachers looking to adapt their classes to the diverse needs of their students.
Surveying historical writings on yoga, ayurveda, and scientific medical approaches to health and healing, Mark Stephens distills this received wisdom of ancient and modern practices for more insightful and practical application in today’s world. He applies these insights to healing musculoskeletal injuries; promoting a healthy reproductive system; and addressing mental, emotional, and behavioral difficulties. With each health condition, Stephens applies yoga to the most recent evidence-based practices for healing, offering an integral place for yoga in integrative health practices.
Yoga Therapy is a practical manual with a systematic approach of considering the nature of each health condition and the specific asanas, pranayamas, and meditations most helpful in healing it. Rather than adopting a narrow medical model of healing as the reduction or elimination of symptoms, Stephens invites yoga therapists, teachers and students to relate to health as a continuous, dynamic process of self-care in which the qualities of personal experience and social connectivity matter.
Stephens illustrates that how we live our lives—including our emotional states, nutrition, sleep, relationships, and sense of purpose—is reflected in our sense of balance (or imbalance) and well-being (or disease). Comprehensive, accessible, and informed by decades of deep study, practice, and teaching, this is an indispensable reference.
We have come to expect comprehensive yoga textbooks from Mark Stephens. We also know about his balanced application of scholarly research and practical experience. But with this book, he has set a new benchmark for instructional yoga books. Yoga Therapy does not simply address important subject matter, it dos so with thorough research backed up with over 80 pages of notes and bibliographic references. When Stephens makes an assertion about something, he then goes on to provide several related references that we can then use to go deeper into the topic. Despite the academic seriousness of the book, in the end it is a practical guide to healing with yoga. There are hundreds of clear instructional photos showing how to use modified yoga postures, including with props, to help heal a wide variety of injuries. I think every yoga teacher will want this book as a reference in working with injured students.