The latest generation evidence-based psychotherapies are aiming more and more to the integration of body practices relating to multiple areas. Both as a treatment of symptoms, and as a promotion and maintenance of a more generic well -being.
One of the fields that has taken hold in recent years is that of the eastern disciplines, such as the meditation. This, in its therapeutic variations, has now consolidated its effectiveness as supplementary practice For a large number of clinical and non -clinical conditions.
From this interest in meditation, attention also turned to body disciplines, such as yoga, which are similarly to mindfulness promote and train the acceptance of the present moment.
The birth and diffusion of yoga
Yoga was born as a spiritual practice in the Hindu tradition, spreads in the West as a mainly physical practice, while maintaining peculiar characteristics. In fact, as in its more traditional meaning, it conceives the body as an indispensable tool for achieving acceptance and balance between emotions, behaviors and knowledge.
One of the intent of yoga can be described as “.. The discovery, the construction and strengthening of the connection between the mind, the body, the breath, the sensations, the memories, the physical experiences and the states of awareness of those who practice it, as well as its interconnection with other human beings and the environmental context to which it belongs”.
Its main components
In its most widespread western form, theHata Yogathere are 3 components that make up the practice: controlled breathing (pranayama), movement (asana), and meditation (Dhyana).
Each of these components is interconnected, since the physical exercises are connected to the breath and are practiced with the attention focused at the present moment.
This directs the practitioner towards a non -judgmental awareness of the movement, breath and the emotions that intercept, favoring acceptance and contact with all the components of the experience.
The nature of yoga
When you think of yoga, as it is often presented visually, the image is that of flexible and strong bodies that endure uncomfortable and tiring positions. However, with adequate guide we realize that practicing has nothing to do with the performance.
In fact, one of the characteristics that allowed the yoga to be considered as integration within the therapeutic approach is also its adaptability. It can be practiced, in fact, in an extremely delicate and slow way, practically everyone – in one form or another. Even by those who suffer from a condition of chronic pain or suffer invalidating medical consequences or has been sedentary for decades.
Yoga integrated in therapies
There were therefore various fields of application of yoga as an additional practice within therapeutic paths for a multiplicity of disorders.
One of the first to take an interest in this integration was Van der Kolkwhich deepened how the practice of yoga stimulated awareness in patients and increased acceptance and tolerance of emotions, effectively improving emotional regulation.
Hence the increasingly large and most studied use within the treatment for post -traumatic stress disorder, and the construction of specific protocols such as the Trauma Sensitive Yogafully inserted in the large and effective group of interventions Bottom-up.
There are many and also very recent studies that evaluate the use of yoga as a support for various disorders, from chronic pain to schizophrenia, from eating disorders to mood disorders.
Cognitive behavioral therapy and yoga
In the heterogeneity of studies, an integration between cognitive behavioral therapy and yoga is interesting, designed for anxiety disorders, specifically the generalized anxiety disorder.
In a 2015 study, Khalsa and colleagues build an intervention protocol composed of Kundalini Yoga sessions, cognitive-behavioral interventions and group meetings.
The integration intervention is particularly effective, the authors confirm, because it simultaneously faces both cognitive and physiological processes. It reduces both state anxiety and suckling anxiety and improves symptoms in conjunction such as sleep disorders and low mood tone.
The researchers say that “both (interventions) work together in a very effective way because while yoga reduces the physiological causes of anxiety, thus reducing the tendency to the onset of negative thoughts, the TCC focuses on the change of the content of negative thoughts when presenting”.
Recognizing that anxiety is a problem that afflicts mind and body, the Y-CBT aims to deal with both aspects in a structured way, constituting an effective and innovative intervention. The result is a model, which therefore integrates the proven benefits of both approaches and which opens the doors to increasingly articulated but well supported interventions by research.
Bibliography
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