Practising yoga leads to a fitter and healthier body. It is a statement uttered by many practitioners of yoga and equally disbelieved by many people. Of course it does not help that many GP’s advice in case of minor injuries is either immobility or prescription of painkillers. There is therefore a need to provide evidence that yoga is not only beneficial but preferable to use of drugs or surgery. Luckily numbers of scientists interested in the subject are growing.
Dr Holger Cramer of Essen University is conducting research into therapeutic potential of yoga for chronic pain conditions and during his lecture he quite clearly demonstrated that regular yoga practice does provide lasting relief for lower back pain, neck pain and rheumatoid arthritis. Anybody wishing to check the statistics gathered should visit
Mr Goran Boll is a pioneer in bringing yoga therapy into clinical settings. He succeeded bringing yoga into 80 hospitals in Sweden and believes that NHS should follow suit.
My interest as a yoga teacher lies in using one’s spine in a correct way. Our sedentary lifestyles combined with hunching over computers are causing an untold damage to postures of many young people and the inevitable rise in back pain.
I would like to emphasise that yoga should be viewed as a healthy alternative to improving people’s lives and not as a butt slimming exercise. Yoga will make you fitter and enable you to deal sensibly with minor aches and pains.