Introduction
The dimensions of yoga therapy become quite vast and in fact, immeasurable when we look at the different aspects, principles and approaches. As far as the approach is concerned, it is preventive, curative and promotive in nature and treats the individual as a whole. Therefore it is a holistic system of cure. In the system of yoga therapy we find some important underlying principles, which guide the entire process of transformation or cure.
Yoga therapy is a systematic and individual oriented therapeutic process, which treats the individual as a whole and is not a disease oriented therapeutic methodology. The goal of the yoga therapy is to harmonize both the internal and the external environments of the individual, so that the growth and integration of the personality become possible.
Yoga is surely a system of psychotherapy, for its whole aim and purpose is to lead man from unhappiness and suffering to the state of lasting peace and harmony. In this pursuit yoga psychology has put forth many of the theories and methods now being rediscovered by modern psychology. All the different branches of yoga aim at establishing harmony at different levels of human functioning. In yoga, the body, energy, emotion and mind are considered as the different facets/ levels of human functioning and all the different practices/techniques available in different branches of yoga, aim to establish harmony at all these different levels.
In the entire process of yoga therapy the therapist works with the individual concerned, considering the limitations of the person in the mind. The therapist and the client work together to enable the training in self awareness and self regulation of the body, breath, diet habit patterns, emotions, attitudes, likings and disliking, unconscious processes, desires etc., in an integrated and efficient manner. If any area is left out the therapy is incomplete. The therapist ensures that the teaching of yoga is not restricted to the class room only but the individual makes an effort to change his perspective to the events of life. So the therapy actually works at all different dimensions of personality, from physical, energetic to deep emotional and psychic levels.
Whenever we deal with the term “psychotherapy”, we are dealing with a systematic methodological process based on well defined paradigms of psychology. The most classic definition of psychotherapy is, any intentional application of psychological techniques by a clinician to the end of effecting sought after personality or behavioral changes. All systems of psychotherapy start from the fundamental assumption that human behaviour can be changed.
In the system of yoga therapy the practices are tailored in such a way that they suit the individual’s needs and bring about a change on the levels of one’s thinking, feelings, attitudes and behavioral patterns. There is a point of contrast also between these two systems of treatment. In psychotherapy the main concern of the therapist is the refinement of behavior, whereas in yoga, the aim is not only to refine the behavioral and thinking patterns, but also, to transform the consciousness. Yoga is the science of consciousness, therefore one of its aims is to transform and refine the individual consciousness. The different principles and theories found in the different systems of yoga, they all pursue the same goal i.e. the transformation of the human psyche or personality. Modern psychologists are for the most part unaware of yoga science as a systematic and comprehensive basic and applied psychology. However, if one studies both modern psychology and yoga psychology, one would find that many of the psychological processes described in modern psychology are strikingly similar to conceptions found in yoga texts dating back more than a thousand years. In yoga psychology one will find that there is a considerable integration of seemingly divergent principles expounded by the various systems of modern psychology. Yoga psychology has a balanced admixture of the principles of psychology and modern therapeutic systems which give a comprehensive understanding of the nature of human being and the different levels of human functioning.
The idea in the traditional yoga therapy is that the practices are adapted to suit the conditions of the individual to help them with suffering at the psycho emotional levels and it uses the various techniques to bring about the state of harmony at the different levels of the human functioning.
Objective of the study
The purpose of this theoretical work is to study the principles, techniques and the process of yoga therapy in the light of contemporary psychotherapeutic techniques/systems of psychology. Therefore, our aims will be:
- To systematically present the underlying principles of yoga therapy; with special reference to the existing principles in the contemporary psychotherapies.
- To focus on the psychotherapeutic aspects of the various methods/techniques employed in yoga therapy.
