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YOGA AND HEALING
by Michael Lee, M.A. Founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy

As yoga becomes more mainstream and more popular there are many people jumping on the bandwagon and hailing the miraculous benefits of the practice. Yoga therapists have known for many years how yoga can help anything from sciatica to a failed marriage. One of the problems associated with the popularization of yoga, however, is the tendency to apply it as a panacea and from an almost exclusive left brained paradigm. At last years Yoga Journal Pre-Conference on Yoga Therapy I was on a panel to answer questions from many of the students attending. Many questions related to applications of yoga therapy in the form of "What posture do I recommend for such and such a condition?" One student even asked for postures for altitude sickness to which I suggested a car ride down the mountain or if that wasn't available try a headstand. That would at least get him a few feet closer to sea level. Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with such questions. The problem is the mind-set from which they arise. A mindset that is based on a paradigm of healing that says "do this procedure or apply this technique to get this result". To me this approach sells yoga therapy short. It is so much more than that. Yoga therapy is an holistic science. One that honors the complexity of being human and the unique makeup of each one of us in every aspect - body, mind, and spirit. To clarify this take a look at the following comparison between two different paradigms of healing that I have attempted to identify.

Two Models of Healing

PRESCRIPTIVE MODEL

1. Based on diagnosis and treatment
2. Based on cause and affect
3. Outcome is known from study of previous cases and application of scientific method
4. Alleviation of pain or disappearance of symptoms = successful intervention
5. Power is primarily with the therapist
6. Client follows directions to affect cure
7. Dependence on therapist is possible and even likely
8. What is important is decided by therapist
9. Therapist is invested in successful outcome
10. Answers are more valued than questions
11. Ambiguity and chaos are limited in the healing process

HOLISTIC TRANSFORMATIONAL MODEL

1. Based on co-created exploration
2. Based on unique manifestation of energy of the individual
3. Outcome is unknown
4. Awareness of underlying dissonance in body, mind, and spirit can lead to life transforming change on same dimensions
5. Power is primarily with the client
6. Client makes choices from options presenting from new self generated awareness
7. Empowerment of client is likely
8. What is important is decided by client
9. Therapist leaves client to determine relative success without attachment.
10. Questions can be more valuable than answers
11. Ambiguity and chaos are valued and inherent in the healing process.

copyright Michael Lee, 2002

Whilst I may sometimes choose to operate out of the first model. I believe the real power of yoga therapy is found in the second model and my 16 years of working with this process through Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy bears this out. It's when the second model is applied that deep healing and transformation occur. It is in this arena that the client will often uncover some aspect of their life that is out of balance with their spirit. Out of this awareness they will often make changes that will make a genuine difference in their lives from that moment on.

There is also a huge difference in the skill set required by the yoga therapy practitioner to operate in the holistic paradigm. In the prescriptive model the practitioner essentially needs to be a skilled technician. In the holistic model the practitioner needs to be trained in the acute application of awareness and presence - and "not doing' becomes as important as 'doing.' Creating an appropriate relationship with the client is essential to the healing process. The practitioner is as much an educator as she is a clinician. Each and every session assumes the feeling of a unique voyage of discovery in an unknown world. I recall the tears of joy on the face of one 70 year old client who realized that his sciatica was no more than his unwillingness to let go of control and laugh at his inability to hold on to his grown children any longer. He would never have discovered this had I been simply "treating" his condition. He got there because we took a journey together into the depth of his spiritual essence while he took the lead while I held his hand and followed.

Michael Lee is the founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy - a leading edge body-mind modality that has over 900 trained practitioners worldwide. He is also the author of "Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy - A Bridge from Body to Soul" in which there are several case studies illustrating the points he makes above. He is also a contributing author to the APA published "Beyond Talk Therapy - Using Movement and Expressive Techniques in Clinical Practice".

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