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Medicine and Yoga
Sam Dworkis
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.
This
article was written by Sam Dworkis, author of ExTension Yoga and Recovery
Yoga Books available on the right. We thank Sam Dworkis, writer and yoga
teacher. See his site at
www.extensionyoga.com
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