Yoga Therapy

I just arrived home from Atlanta where I completed a 4-day training in Yoga Therapy. Yoga Therapy is a field that the yoga community is still trying to define and get it's head around since it's such a diverse and complex field. (Click for more flying photos.)

Yoga Therapy defined by the International Association of Yoga Therapists: "The process of empowering individuals to progress toward improved health and well-being through the application of philosophy and practice of yoga".

But, as Chrys Kub, our trainer put it, yoga therapy is not a "cookbook approach" to yoga where you just pull out certain poses for them to do to fix them. It's more of a "holistic approach" where you look at the root cause of the condition. Where is the muscle imbalance occurring and more importantly, why?

There isn't really "Yoga Therapy" because Yoga IS therapy. Simply put, yoga heals.

This weekend was a bit surreal, achieving my 500 hour RYT. My son asked me when I got home, so what's the big deal? I said, you know, you're right. It's not a big deal to earn a certificate. It was a big deal, though, to devote the past 5 years (more than half Nathan's life) to this process of transforming myself into what am today. And, thank goodness, I won't be the same tomorrow as I am today! It sounds like a cheesy thing to say it's not the destination but it's the journey, however, it's true! I've never been more sure and secure in who I am as a person and a teacher, and I feel it's by the grace of God and through this amazing refining, humbling growth.