Category: yoga therapy

Advantages of blending Allopathy with Alternative Therapies

One thing I feel strongly about is that there is no one way when it comes to treating an ailment. When you need help go and get it. Start with common sense if you have an accident or are injured or very ill go first to the emergency room. If you are catching something take an allopathic doctor’s appointment.

Once you have your allopath’s opinion and his treatment has commenced then if you are unsatisfied look at other means to heal yourself in CONJUNCTION with what is prescribed by your allopath. There are so very many alternative therapies and holistic treatments ranging form alternative medications like homeopathy and ayurveda to the energy therapies like reikhi, pranic, theta healing and physical therapies like yoga, acupuncture, acupressure, cupping etc. Try them out see what feels good for and to you and just do it.

Most people would think if a qualified, certified and experienced yoga therapist, pranic healing instructor, theta practicing intuitive therapist like me writes this there has to be a catch, well there is none. I honestly think allopathic medicine is great at treating the physical body and known ailments and illnesses. It is also great for zapping our known bacteria and some viruses and it works for the most part rather quickly compared to some alternative therapies, but there are huge drawbacks and risks too.

The most common therapy offered by allopaths are drugs, although they do help in pain management and do whatever they are supposed to do they zap us of a lot of what is natural and healthy within our physical body as well which in turn saps us of our energies. A dramatic example of this is chemotherapy, which kills cancer cells, but also ends up murdering lots of our healthy cells that cause havoc within the physical body apart form the obvious vomiting, hair loss, pain and weakness.

Allopathy has a poor track record of guaranteeing a permanent solution for ailments because allopathic diagnosis starts and stops with the body. Allopathy fails to recognise the power of thoughts, emotions, feelings and even if you consider that all airy fairy allopaths do not take into consideration one’s mental state.

If pushed and they are unable to make a clear diagnosis allopaths label patients as hypochondriacs and dismiss what is wrong with them or they go with the nearest an allopath does to acknowledging a ones mind and shunt their patient off to the pariah of allopathic thought the psychotherapist!

The issue is not simply one of arrogance or ego it is simply ignorance or the inability to accept the frontiers of health lye beyond the physical human body. Allopathic diagnosis starts and stops with the physical body and its components. An alternative therapist is just not limited. If necessary they start with the physical body and then go to consider every possible phenomena that the individual is exposed to and experiencing right from diet to feelings, thoughts, beliefs etc.

An alternative therapist will actually weigh all those factors too our and get to the root issue which when resolved will permanently cure one of their ailment. Unfortunately most people only come to an alternative therapist when their condition is so chronic it reflects in the physical body. At that stage it is crucial for the patient to see an allopathic practitioner in conjunction with their alternative healer. Holistic and alternative therapies when used in together bring about an extremely speedy recovery.

It is always a good idea to keep both your Allopathic and other healer updated on what the other is doing. In some cases your Doctor may advise against something prescribed by your other healer. As a highly qualified, certified and experienced Alternative and Holistic Therapist I always say stick to what your medical professional says!

If you are consulting a homeopath or an ayurvedic or any other type of therapist who gives a prescription do bear in mind that regardless of their title as Dr. they are alternative physicians. You do ALSO need to consult an allopath depending on the severity of your ailment. If your allopath has recommended prescription drugs you may be able to use alternative prescriptions at the same time but it is crucial to consult with your alternative physician before you start using allopathic drugs as to how you should continue with their prescription or alter it.

Yoga Injuries…Fact or Myth

So are Yoga Injuries a myth? … yes and no. If you have a properly trained therapist assisting you through your practice, one who is aware of atleast the effects of every practice they teach, your chances of a Yoga Injury are minimal. You could only get injured if you don’t follow instructions and are trying to abuse your body.
However if you have someone who is trained to contort their body and teach others how to do so without any theoretical and scientific knowledge is likely to have a class full of consistently injured students. In such classes competition is encouraged which leads to the students further trying to force their bodies into positions and practices unnatural to their body. Such classes rarely focus on how the practice is entered into, maintained or released as the teacher is trying to perfect their own techniques. Regardless of how much money you pay to go to a famous yoga studio, a Country Club or Spa, unless the person is appropriately trained they are more likely to harm you than help you.
Now you may think I am blowing this all out of proportion so I will elaborate … Let us assume you are a patient suffering from cardiac disease or have high blood pressure. You go to a yoga class as you feel it will help you. You join in a class of 15 or more people that are just copying an instructor. You start with the practice of Asanas. Along with the 15 others you begin to perform a series of spinal flexion and extension exercises. During the class instructor who effortlessly contorts himself from time to time looks up and barks words of encouragement to everyone to push harder and stretch longer and make more of an effort. In some cases the instructor or an assistant form time to time comes around and physically pushes and pulls your body. (I have even known of cases where instructors have eagerly yanked arms and managed to dislodge a shoulder joint or two!)
Retuning to our scenario where you the cardiac patient is trying his best along with everyone else in the class who is hale and hearty, the others will all benefit from the spinal flexion and extension exercises as they will put raised amounts of pressure on their intra thoracic & intra abdominal cavity leading to increased loads on both the heart & the respiratory airways especially in compromised individuals. There is no doubt that benefits of this are super for when the pressure is released the lungs will take in huge amounts of oxygen and the blood will contain higher levels of Oxygen or in lay-mans terms the internal organs will be infused with cleaner blood.
There is just one drawback, you the cardiac patient will not benefit from the practice. Your having increased your intra thoracic pressure will most likely fluctuate your blood pressure and God forbid if you are in bad shape considerably increase your chances of a myocardial infarction (a heart attack).
However if your instructor was informed of your condition and was trained well enough to anatomically understand your medical condition the instructor could merely have modified the practice to suit your condition.
Let’s take this a step further, lets assume you’re not ready for an Asana, but you believe that Pranayama which you perceive as ‘yogic breathing’ will help you. Your thinking you have read so many articles on the internet and you have spoken to your healthy friends who swear by it what harm can possibly come of it.
Educate yourself to some extent now…most forms of pranayama have a direct co-relation with intra thoracic pressure and will probably be a faster method to raise the patient’s pressure.
Yoga can drastically also affect a person’s emotional and psychological state. A Yoga instructor who is not classically knowledgeable in yoga can unknowingly get a depressed person to go into even deeper depression or a person suffering from stress to get even more stressed.
The reason for my writing this blog is sheer disappointment at the supposed purveyors of yoga. As a healer this week I am dealing with three patients suffering from injuries resulting from yoga classes they attended, all very posh and expensive. One of the three happens to be a very dedicated instructor who practices physical forms of yoga and is forced to work her body thereby abusing it for too many hours every day.
When they asked why I never get injured or why my therapy/yoga patients never get injured I always argue that there are no injuries in yoga. My guidelines are simple. My most important rule is to leave ones ego at the door. I always explain that yoga is not competitive in any way. We are dealing with the body-mind-emotion complex. Therefore on certain days we are all more flexible and energetic than others.
I apply this rule to myself too and I have no shame in telling my patients that I am unable to perform certain practices on certain days. As yoga is beyond physical contortion I refuse to injure my physical body and as my class is educated by me on this principle no one ever seems to mind. In fact this connects me more to my students. This is not to say I don’t expect or request them to make an effort, but I explain the difference between effort and strain and strain is something all my students know to avoid.
If you are a therapist/teacher/instructor reading this I urge you to change your approach to teaching yoga. For every injured student there are ten potential yoga students that are dissuaded from taking up yoga. One hint on how to avoid injuries is to take smaller classes or work with an assistant to supervise your students.
If you are a student be very firm that you only want a qualified and experienced instructor or therapist. Ask to see their qualification, do some research on where your instructor was certified and make sure if you have any physical, emotional and mental problems to convey this to your instructor and more importantly the instructor of your choice understands your ailment.