The Yoga of Alternative Therapy

By Dr. Brian Sheen

I believe the best way to properly grasp the concept of alternative therapy is to compare it to modern medicine. Modern medicine shines in its ability to deal with the mechanical and structural aspects of our bodies. Repairing broken legs, stitching wounds, elevating low insulin levels and helping other demonstrable aspects of our physical system are effectively dealt with in hospitals and doctor offices today. Yet the medical fields underlying paradigm of life, is we are nothing but an interaction of chemicals that are orchestrated by our brains. This paradigm places medicine in a tightly closed box that refuses to acknowledge the role of the spirit and the mind as separate from the brain. So far has the pendulum swung today that unproven theories of chemical imbalances as the cause of everything from depression to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and caused a proliferation of the consumption of medications to “resolve” the unproven causes of these “physical” diseases. As the beginning of the Zoloft commercial reminds us about depression; “while the cause is unknown a chemical imbalance could be the reason.” Could? So could lots of other things!

This is where alternative therapy shines. It acknowledges that we all have a body needing nourishment and care. However, alternative therapy steps outside the self imposed boundaries of physical science into the recognition that man also has a mind composed of a wide variety of mental impressions that subtly direct the brain and body to carry out its functions. Further, it recognizes the pure consciousness and decision making abilities of the spiritual being or individual soul as the causative factor behind the beliefs and interpretations provided to the mind and put into action in the body.

Yoga plays a major part in understanding the “alternative” paradigm (although as yoga is at least 5,000 years old and modern medicine 200 years, it is questionable which, is the “alternative”). Yoga seeks to purify and stabilize the mind and body through a series of purification processes. Yoga recognizes the holistic nature of a human being composed of body, mind and spirit. Through postures (asanas), yoga seeks to create flexibility and strength in all parts of the skeleton and muscles, while removing built up toxins in the system. Combined with specialized breathing techniques (pranayam), yoga seeks to maximize the capacity of the lungs to perform easily and without strain, increase circulation and oxygenation of the blood and massage the internal organs to maintain a constant outflow of toxins and inflow of life force. Rigidity of any part of our physical system tends to cause build up of unhealthy poisons, and yoga seeks to return flexibility and flow.

Another key aspect of yogic philosophy is the use of the ayurvedic system of health which, determines the body type and metabolic rate you have to ensure the food you is not only nutritious but properly balanced for your specific system, climate and activity level you maintain. Based on ancient scriptures ayurvedic procedures help restore a natural balance in the system. As an example, a broadly built rather slow moving person with a sluggish metabolism (called kapha) would have a completely different dietary need than a thinly built, active and high metabolism person (called vata).

Yoga recognizes that a wide variety of troubles may occur in the body and mind and it directly addresses these areas of pain (dukh) through yoga, utilizing a wide variety of techniques that, I believe, form the underlying premises of all valid alternative therapies today.

Through cultivating a sense of oneness by removing the harmful tendencies we have become conditioned in, individuals can greatly enhance their balance and well-being. I am continually amazed how the “modern” therapeutic techniques I learned while doing my Ph.D. are all contained specifically in one or another yoga sootra (sutra or aphorism).