Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health

Reviews / Votes

Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health is a text that should be part of every yoga teacher and therapist's professional library. Ananda and Lee bring together their decades of personal and professional wisdom and experience to create a comprehensive guide suited to both novices and the more experienced practitioner. The text acknowledges the many traditions that inform contemporary yoga therapy and is replete with extensive appendices of suggested practices including yoga nidra and mudras. This is a must have! -- Leigh Blashki, Board of Directors IAYT This book is the collaborative effort of well-known yoga therapists and practitioners Lee Majewski and Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani. Their intensive research and clinical experience working with persons afflicted with non-communicable disease (NCD) conditions have contributed to the development of a comprehensive, authoritative work on the process of yoga therapy. I consider this book to be valuable and timely to those who work in clinical and non-clinical set up in providing yoga support to people with NCD as well as those who work in preventive processes. -- Dr Latha Satish, Psychologist and Yoga Therapist and Researcher Chairman, Research Council Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai As yoga rapidly gains popularity in the general population internationally, its use as a therapeutic intervention for diseases has grown apace. The authors, who are both deeply ingrained personally and professionally in the practice and application of yoga for health and healing, have delivered a comprehensive text on the theory, science and application of yoga therapy. Their emphasis on the importance of the application of yoga practices in an integrative and holistic manner to address the whole person and not simply the disease or its symptoms is highly crucial to the success of yoga as therapy. -- Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Editor in Chief, International Journal of Yoga Therapy I have been reading the book for the past few days and my heart is singing. It was so good to see words declaring the sophistication and intelligence of yoga therapy as the holistic science that it undoubtedly is. This book helps to empower yoga therapists to stay true to our teachings and not feel that we need to break yoga into compartments of western scientific models, to feel that it is valid. May all yoga therapists behold this book as a reference in contemporary times to practice with full confidence this traditional science. -- Leanne Davis, Founder of Viniyoga Australia, Past President, Council of Advisors for Yoga Australia, Council of Teachers for Yoga New Zealand, Certification Committee member for IAYT A brilliant healing paradigm! Majewski and Bhavanani have presented a wealth of accessible information for holistic healing through applied yoga philosophy. Their comprehensive approach offers accessible practices for enhancing spiritual health and empowering patients towards improved health and well-being. Be it the history of Yoga or the many practical tools offered in this book, Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health is surely an invaluable resource for all yoga therapists. -- Yogachemmal Dr. Lori Rubenstein Fazzio, DPT, PT, MAppSc, C-IAYT Lee Majewski and Ananda Bhavanani have unique strengths, with their years of intensive yoga practice, informed, empathetic use of yoga as a therapy and a blend of medical with traditional wisdom. These combined strengths are apparent in their book Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health. Here they take the reader through details of yoga therapy and unique concepts such as the role of spirituality in yoga therapy, 'yogapathy', a yoga diagnosis to complement conventional diagnoses and what makes a good yoga therapist. This informative and very readable book - which has well thought illustrations and compelling case histories - is a must read for everyone involved in holistic healing. -- Shirley Telles MBBS, Ph.D. Director, Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India If you only read one book on yoga therapy, it should be this one. This book is what the field of yoga therapy needs to help us explain "what is yoga therapy?" to the rest of the world. The book begins by outlining the historical background of yoga therapy and clearly states that this is India's gift to the world. The book helps us to refine the language to describe what we do as yoga therapists. It clearly outlines how we assess the client or student from a yoga perspective and that we have a unique scope of practice and specialised skill set. The book reviews the science on the physiological effects of yoga practice and how these simple practices can reduce the symptoms of chronic disease. -- Amy Wheeler, Ph.D. President of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (2018-2020) Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health provides a comprehensive overview of the history of yoga therapy and its many applications for optimizing health of mind, body and spirit. Patients, health care practitioners and yoga professionals alike can learn much from this book, which details the vast scope of yoga therapy and its evidence-based benefits. The authors include many healing tools and techniques to maximize the integration of the individual and lead them on a path to health and wholeness. -- Marianne Cirone, Founder, Editor, Integrative Cancer Review Our lives today are progressing at a rapid pace. So also various aspects related to our existence, including health. Largely, when we speak of health, the prime focus is on the physical aspect. Which of course is important. However, somewhere, we miss out on the mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions.

This book written by Lee and Ananda, portrays and reflects the symphony of various dimensions of Yoga and its application as a therupatic tool. It is very rich in content, since it is a reflection of authors who have immersed themselves in the practice whicih they preach. This book is manifestation of the success of Ms.Lee to have overcome helth conditions herselves and healed many others, of Dr.Ananda , who as a medical doctor and born in a Yoga family has been able to look at the patients and provide them with answers for their holistic wellbeing.

I find this book to be a valuable source of an experiential information towards better health at all levels. -- Subodh Tiwari, CEO, Kaivalyadhama Lonavla India This is an exceptionally engaging, comprehensive and indeed inspiring guide to the theory and practice Yoga therapy, well supported by the authors' depth and breadth of experience, as well as their extensive review of relevant modern Yoga research. Cautions about an allopathic, symptomatic management approach to Yoga therapy - called yogopathy - are balanced with principles and multiple examples for taking a whole person approach to addressing the root causes of an individual's dis-ease. There is a practical focus on four major non communicable disease areas Yoga therapists work with; chronic respiratory diseases, cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and cancer. Their articulation of how and why to adopt a holistic approach to each individual's personal situation will be quite helpful to the Yoga therapist trying to explain what they do and why in conventional healthcare context. Being able to express the whole person approach of this emerging discipline may be especially important these days, as various physical and mental health disciplines are seeking to incorporate Yoga into their therapeutic practices, but too often without deep personal training and experience in Yoga and Yoga therapy, and hence there can be a tendency to simply fall back upon general protocols as opposed to a incorporating a wide range of unique individual considerations needed for healing. -- John Kepner, Executive Director, the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health is a beautifully written and masterful guidebook that eloquently shows us how to embody health and wholeness at every level of our body, mind and spirit. A joy to read, Majewski and Bhavanani's book offers us an information rich resource guide of yoga therapy wisdom that weaves together easy to understand, health-focused practices rooted in time-tested interventions that reveal our underlying nature as already whole and healthy. Their book offers us practical and inspired lifestyle interventions to heal our personal imbalances and dis-eases that enable us to restore boundless health and vitality to our daily lives. This is a must read for everyone who wants to lead a natural healthy and joy-filled life. Both profound and practical, this seminal work reveals the road we all must travel to embody our potential as fully alive, healthy and authentic human beings. -- Richard Miller, PhD, co-founder: the International Association of Yoga Therapy; author: iRest Meditation, The iRest Program for Healing PTSD, and Yoga Nidra: A Meditative Practice for Deep Relaxation and Healing. 'Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health by Lee Majewski and Ananda Balyogi Bhavanani is an elegant, concise and accessible book that brings to light not only the history of yoga therapy and its applications but also the very specific techniques required for integrative interventions for the modern world. This is a book for every person - it empowers the individual by elucidating age-tempered tools and templates that can be adopted in everyday life.
At the same time, it balances intellectual yogic concepts into distinct experiential modes both in terms of health and disease, weaving in a holistic spiritual approach.
Through the three distinct parts of their book, the authors have presented a singular and distinct intellectual framework which addresses "the cultural paradigm of our understanding of what it is to heal and how to go about it", the significant opportunities that yoga therapy can bring in the field of health care, specifically chronic and widespread diseases while providing the "detailed protocol, practices and yogic tools" that can be used by practitioners and therapists. The book distinguishes itself to be the textbook for the training o yoga teachers and yoga therapists. It draws out the impactful and significant correlation between the spiritual, mental and emotional alongside the physical (i.e. the "mind-body" connection) versus simply the traditional physical health care construct. It parses the common misconception of mistaking for spirituality and religiosity. It provides a road map on how to implement yogic practices and tools alongside spirituality in order to transform one's own self as well as heal. Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health by experienced yoga therapists Lee Majewski and Ananda Balyogi Bhavanani is a book to read over and over again. Reading the book promises "ananda" to all those who are interested in developing conscious connection with our source and find attainable results for health and happiness!' -- Usha S Nayar Ph.D., Tata Chair Professor & Fmr. Deputy Director,, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India This book takes Yoga Therapy to the next level where it deserves to be. It explores its roots, depth and potential as a powerful healing art that is complete in its approach.
It treats with the whole person focusing on dealing with root issues and not just the relief of symptoms. It is a must read for all those seeking to understand the field, to appreciate the amazing science that underlies it and to be a master of the art. -- Sri Vasudeva --- Spiritual Head of the Blue Star Yoga Ashram Claxton Bay, Trinidad, West Indies.