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Medicine
and Yoga
by
Sam Dworkis
founder of www.extensionyoga.com
For
years, there has been a raging debate regarding holistic
and alternative approaches to
health and healing versus more conventional western, or allopathic
approaches to medicine. Although many people feel strongly about one
approach or the other, many are confused as to what holistic and
alternative medicine is.
Holistic
and alternative medicine is currently defined as “non-traditional”
systems of health care; such as acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic,
herbal medicine and yes, even yoga. Holistic and alternative medicine
centers on a cooperative relationship between a person and “healer”
leading towards optimal attainment of physical, mental, emotional, social
and spiritual aspects of health. Holistic and alternative medicine looks
at the whole person; including scrutiny of physical, nutritional,
environmental, emotional, social, spiritual and lifestyle values. Holistic
and alternative practitioners, including yoga teachers, emphasize
education and responsibility to achieve balance and well-being.
In
contrast, allopathic or western medicine has traditionally emphasized a
strong doctor-driven relationship that focuses upon accepted science,
differential diagnosis, prescriptive medicines, regular checkups, and when
necessary, surgery in order to attain healing. In this model, ill persons
are often encouraged to comply with physician directives without
challenge.
I
am “into” yoga and have been seriously practicing and teaching for
over a quarter-century. But don’t get me wrong. I strongly believe in
allopathic western oriented medicine. I believe in regular medical
examinations, taking prescriptive medicines, and even when necessary,
undergoing surgery. In fact, having had MS for the past nine years has
afforded me deep appreciation of all western medicine has to offer.
On
the other hand, I also profoundly value what I have learned about taking
personal responsibility from my yoga practice. To me, yoga comes nothing
close to resembling a religion; but is instead a series of exercises
designed to accommodate my body’s changing flexibility, strength, and
endurance as it presents itself at any given moment. What I love about
this approach, as a teacher is that it adapts to meet the specific needs
of individuals and has nothing to do with competition or even “trying”
to do yoga.
It
teaches me how to be proactive. That is, I learn how to pay attention to
the messages my body is giving me and how to do something different when
what I’m doing doesn’t feel right. In other words, when I’m doing a
series of yoga exercises and if I’m doing something that feels
uncomfortable or might lead to injury, I’ll do it differently. Yoga
teaches me to make changes in my life in order to maximize benefit and to
minimize liability.
This approach to yoga therefore becomes a microcosm of life. If my
body’s not feeling right, I find myself wanting to make appropriate
changes in life-style or become more proactive in physician-assisted
intervention in order to improve my health. I find myself wanting to do
additional research and wanting to explore additional options to become
more involved in my health-care management.
Fortunately,
the relationship between allopathic physicians and patients is in
transition. As such, attitudes toward yoga that helps teach a person to
become proactive and self-responsible are quickly becoming recognized as
another component of conventional medicine.
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