Structural Yoga Therapy
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Structural Yoga Therapy is an ideal alternative or adjunct for clients who are not experiencing the desired results in traditional therapy settings.
Conditions that can improve with a Structural Yoga Therapy practice include
- Scoliosis
- Chronic back pain
- Sciatica
- Physical manifestations of stress
- Sports injuries
- Asthma
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue
- Neck pain
- High blood pressure
- Rotator cuff injuries
- The negative effects of cancer therapies
This method was created in 1976 by Mukunda Stiles, creator of Structural Yoga™, and author of the seminal book, Structural Yoga Therapy and other works on therapeutic yoga and philosophy, including Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy and the recently published Tantra Yoga Secrets. Mukunda Stiles left his body in February of 2014, but his work still shines on.
( www.yogatherapycenter.org )
( www.yogatherapycenter.org )
"It is my pleasure to provide an excellent testimonial for Bonnie Pariser, Certified Yoga Therapist. Based on my personal experience in three one-hour private sessions in Structural Yoga Therapy, I found Bonnie to be an expert in her field, a highly effective, skilled teacher, and a warm and compassionate woman who has genuine interest in helping her clients.
I contacted Bonnie because I was diagnosed with osteoporosis and wanted to take active steps to manage the condition. Bonnie explained to me that Structural Yoga Therapy techniques would strengthen muscles and bones and thereby provide part of a solution to the osteoporosis.
In each of the three one-hour sessions, Bonnie provided expert instruction, with demonstrations and explanations, and patient, meticulous, careful critiques of my efforts to learn the recommended exercises. She was an attentive, encouraging, and supportive instructor and provided scaffolding techniques, when necessary. She helped me to develop an entirely new exercise routine that focuses on the strengthening of structural muscles and bones and advised me about how to gradually expand and intensify the exercise routine to maximize the physiological benefit. Bonnie also provided valuable advice about my weight-lifting routine: how to focus on strengthening muscles and avoid putting too much stress on joints.
After a couple of weeks, I became accustomed to my new exercise routine and found that after a session, I would feel alert, energized, and calm, the optimal mindset for resuming my independent work or for embarking on any activity or project.
I am grateful to Bonnie Pariser for the quality of her instruction and the kindness of her manner of instruction. Long may Bonnie Pariser and Yoga Loka thrive!"
Kathleen (Kate) L. Strother
Frenchtown Resident
I contacted Bonnie because I was diagnosed with osteoporosis and wanted to take active steps to manage the condition. Bonnie explained to me that Structural Yoga Therapy techniques would strengthen muscles and bones and thereby provide part of a solution to the osteoporosis.
In each of the three one-hour sessions, Bonnie provided expert instruction, with demonstrations and explanations, and patient, meticulous, careful critiques of my efforts to learn the recommended exercises. She was an attentive, encouraging, and supportive instructor and provided scaffolding techniques, when necessary. She helped me to develop an entirely new exercise routine that focuses on the strengthening of structural muscles and bones and advised me about how to gradually expand and intensify the exercise routine to maximize the physiological benefit. Bonnie also provided valuable advice about my weight-lifting routine: how to focus on strengthening muscles and avoid putting too much stress on joints.
After a couple of weeks, I became accustomed to my new exercise routine and found that after a session, I would feel alert, energized, and calm, the optimal mindset for resuming my independent work or for embarking on any activity or project.
I am grateful to Bonnie Pariser for the quality of her instruction and the kindness of her manner of instruction. Long may Bonnie Pariser and Yoga Loka thrive!"
Kathleen (Kate) L. Strother
Frenchtown Resident
The Role of Structural Yoga Therapy
People often approach the practice of yoga after an injury or in response to a physical problem. While yoga can be the source of relief in many instances, undertaken without consideration of the individual characteristics of the student’s body, yoga can occasionally exacerbate the very condition it was intended to heal.
As an example, many people join a yoga class because their doctors recommended yoga to ease back pain. But back pain has many different causes, and while yoga can provide relief, no single pose or movement is appropriate for all of them. Moreover, even people with the same problem may need to move in and out of the same yoga pose differently to achieve the desired result.
Many yoga teachers have not been taught to modify standard asana poses to deliver relief from pain or discomfort. The teacher may not know to ask students about their physical or structural limitations. Often the typical yoga class may be move too quickly for students in pain to protect themselves from further injury. Even if the student knows how to perform a pose the safe way, it is hard to maintain the discipline to do so when the rest of the class is moving through vinyasas quickly.
Similarly, while yoga seeks to help students achieve balanced strength and range of motion (left shoulder, right shoulder; left hip flexors, right hip flexors), many people should not practice yoga symmetrically. Although we typically think otherwise, our bodies are rarely symmetrical. To use a rather obvious and dramatic example, someone with scoliosis should perform a spinal twist toward the inside of the curvature differently than when twisting toward the outside of the curvature.
A special discipline within the field of yoga, Structural Yoga Therapy™ (SYT), addresses these issues. SYT is a therapeutic modality that seeks to alleviate injuries or structural problems (such as scoliosis or physical asymmetries) by adapting yoga poses to the individual’s unique needs.
A certified Structural Yoga Therapist is trained to evaluate individuals’ limitations and teach people who wish to develop a therapeutic yoga practice precise modifications of appropriate standard yoga poses that will be beneficial and encourage healing.
The SYT therapist is also trained to monitor the practitioner’s performance of each corrective pose, ensuring that it is done properly. The right pose done too aggressively can cause additional harm. Done too passively, the right pose may not yield intended results. Properly guided, students learn which poses strengthen or stretch various muscle groups and what the results look and feel like.
The best yoga therapists question students and clients a lot. They want to know if the student feels a pose in the right places and whether moving the body slightly one way or another will enhance the desired sensation or deliver pain. If you feel the effect of a pose in the right places, the body will heal itself more readily and you will enjoy it much more. The most successful students are those who want to know more about their bodies.
That’s the goal, of course, that students learn how best to work with their bodies. Achieving this, they can enter yoga classes and feel comfortable skipping poses they know might cause injury or just perform the pose in a personally appropriate manner — even when others in the class move differently.
Short of that, students can seek out targeted yoga classes, such as yoga for back care, yoga for arthritis, chair yoga, and other specialties. At Yoga Loka we offer those classes as well as generic Structural Yoga Therapy classes. These are attended by people with back stuff, neck stuff, shoulder stuff, hamstring injuries, sciatica and more. Other studios hold similar classes. If you have such issues, seek out a Yoga Therapist at a nearby studio and try a class.
If you take a generic yoga class, watch to see whether the teacher offers alternatives and adjustments to make sure each student feels what they should. Each student’s pose may look different from the others, but that’s just because each student’s needs are different from those of the others. After a few classes with a teacher trained in Structural Yoga Therapy, students know where they should be what their bodies should be doing.
Seek out that kind of relationship with your body. After all, you are going to be together for a long time.
Structural Yoga Therapy™ adapts yoga to the client’s unique needs. It respects the body's innate capacity to recognize safe, healthy movement and healing. When health is optimal, there is a natural balance of muscle strength and range of motion. But illness, injury and structural anomalies can disrupt that harmony. Structural Yoga therapists design a unique yoga program to address the client’s pain and discomfort brought on by body misalignment or injury.
The Structural Yoga Therapist
In addition to using yoga poses to strengthen and realign the body, Bonnie takes into account the client's personality, lifestyle, attitude and stress level. As necessary, she incorporates other yoga techniques such as
Recent medical studies confirm the value of therapeutic interventions known to yogis for thousands of years. By employing these techniques, Bonnie invites her clients to find the personal yogic path that will carry them to spiritual growth and transformation and health
$140 for one hour, $375 for 3 one hour sessions, $600 for 5 one hour sessions, paid in advance.
Discounted rates for veterans, first responders and sliding scale based on need are available.
The Structural Yoga Therapist
- identifies and eliminates problematic movements that limit range of motion detects muscle weaknesses that contribute to imbalance
- re-educates the body to move as it was designed to move through classical yoga postures
- ensures the client understands and properly executes the postures by demonstrating the exercises and observing the client perform them
- provides handouts for home practice and encourages ongoing contact with the therapist
- periodically reassesses and adjusts the program to address changes
- encourages continued progress
In addition to using yoga poses to strengthen and realign the body, Bonnie takes into account the client's personality, lifestyle, attitude and stress level. As necessary, she incorporates other yoga techniques such as
- breathing and meditation/relaxation methods
- lifestyle adjustments based on ayurvedic therapies
Recent medical studies confirm the value of therapeutic interventions known to yogis for thousands of years. By employing these techniques, Bonnie invites her clients to find the personal yogic path that will carry them to spiritual growth and transformation and health
$140 for one hour, $375 for 3 one hour sessions, $600 for 5 one hour sessions, paid in advance.
Discounted rates for veterans, first responders and sliding scale based on need are available.
Email: [email protected]
Call: 908-268-7430
Frenchtown and Asbury Park NJ
Call: 908-268-7430
Frenchtown and Asbury Park NJ
