Yoga Postures For Your Condition

Find below a list of conditions by body system.  Click on each to find some yoga and Ayuveda ideas to discuss with your doctor.  Do not attempt on your own.  

Yoga is too often misinterpreted as a trendy form of exercise. In reality, many of the postures are targeted stretches to help heal the body and keep the body functioning at an optimal level. Many of the poses have been used for thousands of years to help solve common health ailments. These poses were a natural way of healing the body long before modern medicine had pharmaceuticals to help treat patients.

 

The attached PDFs are intended to provided suggestions for poses to consider with your doctor when you are suffering from various health conditions. These pages were compiled based on my research and study of ancient and modern yoga texts. I complied them in hopes of making this information easily assessable to help people.

 

In my own life, I have found many of these pose suggestions to benefit me. For example, after a big meal when I am not in optimal shape, I often consult the constipation page (under common ailments) and do Marīchyāsana I or a headstand. I have found yoga provides more relief than taking a Tums or other type of commonly prescribed over the counter medication. I also use the postures on the treating insomnia page for my son when he comes into our room late at night unable to sleep. These poses are ideas and a starting point. 

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The following pages can also be used in conjunction with medical professionals as another tool in their tool kit to provide to patients who are facing health challenges with some relief and healing.

 

There is no substitute for a good medical doctor and great physical therapist. Each individual’s medical conditions can be deeply different. Both facet injury and a displaced disc in the low back can provide pain in the low back. Displaced discs require backbends, while facet pain can benefit from extension. These charts should only be used in deep discussions with your doctor and physical therapist. It is also helpful to look through these pages to understand the benefits of the various postures. The more you understand about the healing power of yoga, the more you will be able to use the poses and build them into your own personal practice.

 

Before you practice any of these postures, it is important to review them with your doctor or a trained medical professional. Everyone’s body and circumstances are different, so it is important that you consult with your doctor. I am not a trained medical practitioner. 

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This page compiles wisdom from dozens of my teachers and physical therapists over the past two decades. Over a hundred books were consulted to pull together this information. The full list of sources consulted is included, but this publication is especially in debt first and foremost to B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga for understanding the healing potential of poses. B.K.S. Iyengar dedicated much of his life to the healing power of yoga. B.K.S. Iyengar, as the 11th of 13 children didn’t command his parent’s full attention and suffered from many illnesses. B.K.S., having been born during the 1918 flu pandemic, caught malaria, tuberculous, and typhoid fever. Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya taught B.K.S. yoga as a healing medium. B.K.S. Iyengar dedicated his life to the healing powers of yoga.

 

The postures mentioned here also draw extensively from Gertrude Hirschi, Pattabi Jois, Sharath Jois, Peter Kash, Vasan Lad, Peter Kash, Linda Friedland, Jay Lombard, Harvey Deutsch, Michael Roizen, Mehmet Oz, Leslie Kaminoff, and Amy Matthews. Full information on their excellent texts can be found in the list of Sources Consulted. Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands; Ageless: A Yogi’s Secrets to a Long and Healthy Life; Yoga Mala; Freedom from Disease, The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies: Based on the Timeless Wisdom of India’s 5,000-Year-Old Medical System; You Staying Young: The Owner’s Manual for Extending Your Warranty; and Yoga Anatomy are excellent texts worth many times their purchase price.

 

If readers were to purchase only two books to complement this text I would recommend:

Vasan Lad’s The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies: Based on the Timeless Wisdom of India’s 5,000-Year-Old Medical System, which outlines in details thousands of ancient Indian Ayurvedic receipts, herbs, and diets that help hundreds of conditions. Lad’s book also helps readers understand how to tailor the Indian treatments for their body types or doshas.

B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga provides an invaluable guide on the proper positioning and sequencing for each yoga pose and is an ideal tool to discuss with your favorite yoga instructor. Learning yoga from a book alone is dangerous. Light on Yoga is an excellent tool to use together with a live teacher.

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While the postures listed below are listed to treat a specific area of the body, one cannot forget that the body is deeply interrelated. Each system supports the other systems. The calcium in the skeletal system is critical to support the nervous system. The circulatory system is required to distribute nutrients for all the other systems to work properly. A healthy yoga routine should be built in conjunction with a good yoga teacher, your doctor, and/or a physical therapist who understands these relationships and understands you. These poses are possible starting points for discussion with these in real life interactions.

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Matthew Hochstetler, RYT-500

Illustrated by Sergio Stiven Montenegro