Yoga For Healing And What It Provides

Yoga has risen in popularity because of its ability to create long, lean muscles and increase flexibility. But what the current culture is overlooking is the thousands of years yoga has been used to heal various ailments. Yoga for healing is a very real practice that has been proven to provide various physical and mental healing powers.
What Yoga Does for the Body
A large study was performed on breast cancer survivors to gauge the biological effects of asana on the body. Half of the group didn't practice, while the second half took classes twice a week. Of course, participants who regularly practiced reported less stress and fatigue after their chemo treatments. But the study didn't stop with the psychological effects. Ohio State University, who was in charge of the study, used the virology, immunology, and medical genetics department to measure participants' cytokines, a blood protein that serves as a marker for inflammation. At the end of the twelve week study, the group who attended classes regularly saw a 10 to 15% decrease in inflammation.

While there's no concrete evidence as to why yoga has such profound anti-inflammatory effects, the research team has a theory. It's no secret that cancer treatment and the ensuing recovery can be incredibly stressful. Patients undergoing cancer treatments report that the stress and worry often lead to sleepless nights, further increasing their stress. Stress has long been shown to increase the body's inflammatory response, possibly explaining the decrease in inflammation with yoga because of its ability to help people relax, unwind, and sleep better.
Healing from Trauma
Unfortunately, the human brain absorbs traumatic and negative experiences like a thirsty sponge, while deflecting positive events like a Teflon pan. It isn't any wonder that trauma can be so incredibly destructive to the human psyche. Whether it was a violent event, a particularly difficult loss, or even the constant worry that something bad is going to happen, the mind can soak these in and internalize them as trauma. A three year Natural Institute of Health (NIH) study focused on yoga and its healing powers for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Women who were diagnosed with PTSD regularly practiced yoga and at the end of the 10 week study, several women no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Other participants had a 30% decrease in intrusive thoughts.

Oftentimes, trauma victims fear the physical sensations in their body. For people who experienced abuse or neglect as children, they often don't know what it's like to have a healthy relationship or perception of their body. In yoga based therapy sessions, practitioners guide their patients through a combination of talk and asana therapy. The yoga helps them differentiate between the sensations that go on inside the body versus what's stimulating them on the outside. It teaches them that negative sensations are only temporary, meaning any negativity that comes up from trauma can be controlled and eliminated with some careful work. Finding a feeling of safety in the body allows them to realize that their body can be a safe place again for them, and this can be gradually achieved through yoga for healing.
Yoga is so much more than exercise. It's a pathway to allow people with varying ailments to find a way to work with their bodies again and learn to heal themselves both physically and mentally.

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