Yoga Therapy — yoga chikitsa

Yoga Therapy

The scope of yoga therapy is far broader than most people realize. Beyond musculo-skeletal complaints, it offers rejuvenative support for every organ and every system of function — and it has been a real aid to those working with chronic fatigue, hormonal imbalance, digestive and sleep disorders, and the mental states of anxiety, depression, and obsessive compulsion. It can help medicines work more efficiently, and, alongside a physician, help the body come off of them. Properly practiced, yoga is profound medicine; ten or twenty minutes a day is often enough.

The work is always individualized. There is no standard protocol — the same diagnosis in two people usually calls for two different practices. Darin listens carefully to your history, your constitution, and the rhythm of your life, then designs a small, sustainable practice that may include āsana, prāṇāyāma, and meditation that you take home and grow with. The aim is not symptom management but the restoration of balance from which body and mind heal themselves.

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Darin Somma (Yogeshwar)

A certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT) with over twenty-five years of teaching, Darin trains yoga therapists at The Mindfulness Center in Washington, D.C., serves on the board of IYTM at Taksha University, and teaches in the living tradition of HH Sri Karunamayi Amma. He is the author of Yoga is Union and Final Surrender. Sessions in person and online.  (image by Lindsay Satchell)