In English, we say "Healing Yoga" ... because Therapeutic Yoga is truly a healing discipline. To better understand its effects on our health, Samira Hayef, Therapeutic Yoga Teacher, teaches us the basics.
Proposed by Magali Duqué, Fifty & Me Magazine
What is it?
Yoga connects the breath, the body and the mind. In therapeutic yoga, we work on these three axes through the dynamics of the breath, the practice of postures and Meditation.
What are its virtues?
"Their effects strengthen the autonomic (sympathetic and parasympathetic) or involuntary nervous system that manages all cardiac, respiratory, digestive, hormonal and endocrine functions.
By practicing therapeutic yoga during menopause, you gain strength, strengthen your bones and lubricate your ligaments. The same goes for emotional balance: it boosts the immune system and increases energy levels while ensuring better muscle tone and relieving stress on joints. We see more flexibility, stamina, focus, and better sleep quality..."
How often should you practice it?
It is the very regular practice of this technique that makes it healing and effective. In therapeutic yoga, the exercises are practiced daily and sometimes even several times a day.
Lesson #1: Pranayama
Practiced most often with eyes closed, the focus is on breathing initially. Before incorporating the exercises on the static or moving body, it is important to practice Pranayama exercises, a technique of calming breathing which stabilizes the mind.
Different breathing techniques can change the effects of a posture. The basic breathing in Yoga Therapy is nasal and localized in the lower abdominal region (or thoracic at first if you have difficulty breathing lower). "
Lesson #2: Postures.
The second tool is posture work - found primarily in Hatha Yoga - during which the breath may be manipulated to suit the practitioner. The same exercise can be practiced in different ways, both in terms of the way you place yourself in the posture and in the way you breathe. Variations are proposed according to physical abilities, limitations and priority needs. Each posture will be followed by a time of rest, or recovery, always on the lying back in the posture known as "corpse". This time is necessary to also re-establish the deep and gentle breathing and feel the immediate effects of the accomplished posture. "
A gentle therapy
The individual is at the center of the therapy, and not only the dissolution or total disappearance of the "evils" for which he comes to consult. "adds Samira Hayef. "In the same way, we cannot expect to see exactly the same results in everyone... The effects vary and the tools are adapted according to age, lifestyle (diet, sleep, degree of confrontation with stress...), weight, physical capacities emanating from the body but also from the emotions, the duration of the illness, the chronicity or not of the illness, the duration of the symptoms.
For what, why?
"Therapeutic Yoga is complete for everyone: Whether you have ailments related to an illness or a momentary or chronic imbalance in your health, physical or emotional, whether you are simply going through a difficult period, whether you are facing a high level of stressWhether you are looking for peace of mind and to introduce a new healthy routine into your life... No previous practice is required. Here, the goal is not to achieve the "perfect" posture, but to practice a posture while remaining deeply connected to the breath for a certain period of time. "