There have been countless definitions of ‘Yoga Therapy’ in circulation over the years, and the IAYT periodically update their own as a means of communicating within our culture to consumers, researchers, media, legal entities and yoga professionals.
The updates to the IAYT definition are pored over, debated and crafted by committee, and there’s now a much more extensive definition on their website than the one offered below.
But this was the original and it still serves a purpose as a more succinct means of explaining to others what it is, exactly, that we aim to do. Its succinctness also contrasts with the complexity of trying to pin down accurately ‘what is yoga’.
“Yoga therapy is the process of empowering individuals to progress toward improved health and well-being through the application of the teachings and practices of Yoga”
None of this is ‘new’ of course, the definition here its almost 15 years old. But it came up for us today while re-reading the wonderful Matthew Taylor‘s fantastic book ‘Yoga Therapy as a Creative Response to Pain’.
Matt sheds light, with his trademark insight and wit, how meticulous the word selection is behind coming to such a succinct definition of yoga therapy.
For example; the word ‘process’ reinforces “that yoga therapy is not an event…process reflects an ongoing set of relational changed forged by both philosophical and conceptual change and the changes from practice brought about by the many yoga technologies that are available”
This particular element is fundamental: “The test for whether it is yoga therapy is dependent on the level of empowerment experienced by the student”
Take a moment and absorb that.
Matt continues “If the process is not empowering, but leaves the person dependent on teacher, technique, or some other power holder, it isn’t yoga therapy. ‘Toward’ is the intention and it is directional, but not about treating diseases or curing conditions. That’s the role of other professions. Yoga Therapy gives the person power as they discover / realise their innate true being within the therapeutic process versus something being done to or for them. This realisation is ‘health’, and that realisation is what provides a sense of wellbeing”
Empowerment. It should underpin everything we’re aiming for, as therapists, practitioners and teachers. We can’t ‘fix’ anything, in that sense of providing a pill or product that will magically make it all go away. But what we can strive for, as yoga therapists is to “create an environment and space for discovery and exploration of both true self nature and those misperceptions that are causing or will cause suffering.”
You can access that original IAYT definition and an in depth explanation of its creation, by Matt Taylor, here
https://bit.ly/3qEacPU
