| Titel: | The Path of Yoga |
|---|---|
| Autor: | Richards, T. Anne |
| Mediengruppe: | chapter |
| Herausgeber: | --- |
| Zeitschrift: | --- |
| Jahr: | 2010 |
| Band: | --- |
| Heft: | --- |
| Seiten: | 143-158 |
| Sprache: | English |
| Abstract: | (from the chapter) The philosophy of yoga embraces a view of health and well-being as a state that arises from the quality and balance of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual conditions. The benefits of yoga have been researched for close to a century in Indian research institutes. As yoga grew in popularity in the West, scientific interest and research into yoga as therapy has grown as well. Studies have been conducted documenting the effects of yogic practice on a number of psychological, emotional, and physical health challenges including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, cardiovascular problems, asthma, diabetes, cancer, and rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Medical and psychological studies have yet to explore the transformative spiritual potential of yoga among longtime practitioners and how yoga may change their approach to and experience of living. I became interested in the philosophy and cleansing techniques of yoga in the early 1970's and began an active asana practice in 1984, which has continued, with degrees of ebb and flow, to date. Yoga has been a resource for creating calm in my body, focus in my mind, and greater peace in my heart. It was my engagement in a three-year advanced-studies program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley, California, that not only certified me as a teacher, but brought me deeply into yoga as a contemplative practice, for which I am profoundly grateful. I have also used yogic practice as a means of managing and living with osteoarthritis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) (chapter) |