Yoga
Therapy
Research
Paper
Integrated Health Yoga Therapy
Dec. 10, 2014
Topic: The state of
cardiovascular disease in the U.S. today, its effect on our Bermuda community,
and how Yoga Therapy could help.
-
Joanne
Wohlmuth
Introduction:
According
to The Mayo Clinic, cardiovascular disease generally refers to “conditions that involve narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to
a heart attack, chest pain (angina) or
stroke. Other heart conditions, such as those that
affect your heart's
muscle, valves or rhythm, also are considered forms of heart
disease”. 1
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says,
“Heart
disease is the leading cost of death for both men and women….About 600,000 people die of heart
disease in the United States each year – that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.2
In Bermuda, as with much of the Western World, heart
disease also is listed as one of the major causes of death, second only to
diabetes which according to Bermuda statistics is listed as worse, per capita,
than any place in the world!
This research paper will to take a closer look at
cardiovascular disease, what it is, how it manifests and the common symptoms
and treatments available. This paper
will also explore various developments in the treatment of heart disease over
the years highlighting common practices today in the U.S. and how these
practices have influenced our Bermuda community.
The second thrust of this research paper will look
at the yoga therapy approach to heart disease with a focus on how this approach
has developed throughout the years and how (if at all) it is received within
the medical community and with what influence.
Lastly this research paper will focus on the Bermuda
community, its approach to CAD, particularly in light of its preventive care
approach - where it is lacking, and how yoga therapy could offer further
remedy.
Bermuda is particularly influenced by the United
States, it being the closest mainland in North Carolina, at approximately 700
miles at sea. Hence Bermuda has adopted
much of the culture, habits, diet and diseases common to its American
neighbor. Like the U.S., Bermuda has
exorbitant health care expenses particularly influenced by the effects of
diseases bought on by diet and lifestyle, cardiovascular disease and type2 diabetes,
being the main culprits.
Like the U.S. also, Bermuda is grappling with
concerns of what it will and can do to change the trajectory of the rising
costs of healthcare in Bermuda; these costs being pushed up by insurance
companies in their efforts to care for the all too failing health of all in the
Bermuda community.
Contemporary and alternative medicine (CAM)
approaches to healthcare, like that of yoga therapy, is steadily becoming a
viable option for improved health and cheaper healthcare costs. More and more
people seek alternative approaches to allopathic healthcare which they feel are
safer, less costly and provide greater quality of life. Ultimately this research paper will touch on
this delicate matter, examining whether or not a “controlled” healthcare system
is best, for the treatment of yoga as therapy.
What Is Cardiovascular
Disease? What is referred to in this
paper when talking about “Heart” Disease?
Cardiovascular disease is the common
name given to a host of heart diseases and disorders. These disease categories can be electrical,
circulatory or structural.
“Abnormal heart rhythms or arrhythmias are caused by problems with
the electrical system that regulates the steady heartbeat”. Some arrhythmias
are dangerous while others “may be bothersome, but are not life threatening”.3
High blood pressure and Coronary
Artery Disease (CAD), which causes a blockage in the passageways to the heart,
are the main causes of “blood vessel disorders” or problems affecting the
circulatory system. The results from
these health conditions can be stroke or heart attack. These conditions, often associated with
lifestyle provide a number of treatment options and in many instances is said
to be avoidable, controllable and in some cases, reversible.
Structural abnormalities of the
heart are often congenital and may or may not cause problems later on and
damage the heart muscle or valves.
While there are a significant number
of people who die from sudden death caused by cardiac arrest related to
Ventricular Fibrillation or spasms in the lower heart chambers, (an electrical
defect which can only be resolved by
shocking the heart to normal rhythm with a heart defibrillator)4; one third of heart attacks are myocardial infarction - that is they are caused by circulatory problems (clogged vessels etc.); and these patients require treatment far
beyond that offered by a “shock” to the heart valve, to re-engage the heart
muscle.
Coronary Artery Disease, as it is
known, a condition under the full spectrum of Cardiovascular diseases, provides
the greatest hope for changes, improvements and successes in the treatment of
heart disease as Coronary Artery Disease ( CAD as it is known) responses
favorable to lifestyle changes, diet and nutrition.
When talking about treatment of
heart disease, it should be noted that what is referred to here is treatment of
that condition under the heart disease spectrum known as CAD which can be
changed, controlled and even reversed. “Coronary Artery Disease is
preventable”, said Dr. Johnny Lee, MD, president of New York Heart Associates
and an American Heart Association board member.5
With this in mind, the following
final question must be answered when discussing “heart disease” before
proceeding further. So, then what is Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)? How does it differ from Coronary Artery
Disease (CAD)? Does CHD factor into the
picture when talking about heart disease in the context of this research
paper?
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is
buildup of “a waxy substance called plaque inside the coronary arteries. These arteries supply oxygen-rick blood to
your heart muscle. When plaque builds up…the condition is called
atherosclerosis”.6
Coronary
heart disease is a common term for the buildup of plaque in the heart’s
arteries. Is there a difference between
CHD and CAD? “The short answer is often no…health professionals frequently use
the terms interchangeably….however Coronary Heart Disease is the result of
Coronary Artery Disease.”7
Coronary artery disease begins at
childhood or is the beginning of the development of CHD and requires a healthy
diet, weight management exercise to help prevent it from further developing or
becoming CHD where the heart muscle becomes at risk for heart failure. For the purpose of this paper we will look at
both, CHD and CAD.
Causes
for the Condition of Heart Disease
The causes for the conditions of
heart disease (CAD), according to popular medical view: is diet and lifestyle.
Hence factors like poor nutrition; smoking, stress; and lack of exercise play a
major role in preventing and or further accelerating the condition of heart
disease. Also according to popular medical review – hyperlipidemia which refers
to heightened levels of fat (tryiglycerides) and cholesterol is said to be
associated with causes for heart disease or attack; as, is heightened
hyperglycemic levels in those who suffer from diabetes. Hypertension or
uncontrolled high blood pressure is also a risk factor for heart disease or
myocardial infarction (heart attack).
Signs
and Symptoms of Condition
One of the major signs and symptoms
for heart disease is obesity - an often telltale sign of poor diet and
nutrition; High cholesterol and an over consumption of fat in the diet is
another. Obesity signals a lack of
exercise or a sedentary lifestyle which also can be associated with a buildup
of stress and the possible condition of hypertension or high blood pressure.
Another symptom is angina – a decreased blood flow to the heart, causing a
squeezing in the chest. However some of
these signs and symptoms, as popular medical view will admit, are not always accurate. For instance persons do not have to be obese
to have dietary problems associated with cholesterol and nutrition. Persons needn’t be “fat” to suffer from high
blood pressure problems. In fact,
oftentimes hypertension appears –asymptomatic as
“high
blood pressure can quietly damage your body for years before symptoms develop.
Left uncontrolled, you may wind up with a disability, a poor quality of life or
even a fatal heart attack…high blood pressure can damage the cells of your
arteries’ inner lining” 9
Or it can bring about the onset, or
diagnosis of arteriosclerosis, a major symptom of heart disease and sign for
possible heart attack or stroke.
Hence the signs and symptoms –
obesity, stress, high cholesterol, hypertension, angina etc. while they are
symptoms of the development or presence
of heart disease, it is hard to know if someone is having these symptoms just
by looking at a person – which is why regular check-ups are so important in the
case of a heart condition.
Common
Medical Treatments for Condition
Common medical treatment for heart
disease include “ lifestyle changes,
medicines, medical and surgical procedures and cardiac rehabilitation.” The
goal of treatment is to relieve symptoms, reduce risk factors, lower risk of
blood clots, widen bypass and prevent CHD complications. 10
Generally CHD is treated with
medications, and if conditions are severe or if medications still cause a threat-
for example in the case of a blocked artery, angina or heart attack -surgery is
performed where a stent is placed in the artery to assist with blood flow and
prevent angina or a collapse of the artery and/or a heart attack. Or, a “by pass is performed to replace the
defect artery with an artificial heart valve to preserve the heart and prevent further
damage. Generally medication and
surgical procedures are sufficient to relieve symptoms. Then persons are
encouraged to make lifestyle changes which include changes in diet, not smoking
and learning to manage stress.
Oftentimes these changes are carried out during cardiac rehabilitation
where a team of experts work with the patient to help them learn lifestyle
changes of diet, exercise and stress release to help prevent a reoccurrence of
a heart attack.
It is a long held view by traditional
medicine that there is no cure for CAD or CHD, it can only be maintained. Traditional medical view does not believe
heart disease can be reversed.
Yoga Therapy View –
Yoga therapy is the therapeutic
application of yoga for the total health and wellbeing of the body, mind and
spirit. Its intention is to bring about vital integration of the whole person,
physically, mentally and spiritually.
“A
trained yoga therapist understands
the body/mind connection through that lens and with the tools of yoga. The yoga therapist comes in after the acute
phase has subsided, often working with the referring clinician, and helps the
individual find a recovery that puts him or her in a better position to avoid
recurrence…..While yoga therapy is not a cure, it can improve the quality of
life, and may augment the efficacy of clinical treatment.” 11
In
the early 1990’s Dr. Dean Ornish a young cardiologist and yoga practitioner and
student wrote a bestselling book “Dr.
Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease.” Dr.Ornish based his study on a program run at
Baylor Medical College where he used yoga, diet, meditation, exercise and
relationships to change not only CAD, preventing people from developing plaque
in their arteries; but, also CHD (those already with significant plaque buildup
in the arteries), by chipping away the plaque already built up in the arteries
through the process of yoga therapy.
Hence his claim to “reversing” heart disease” through the number #1 best
seller. On January 1, 2010, Medicaid began offering coverage to those persons
with heart disease, through the Dean Ornish Preventive Medicine Research
Institute (PMRI) under the Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation (ICR) program,
becoming the first yoga therapy preventive heart care program under Medicare.
“Dr.
Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease is the only program scientifically
proven to reverse heart disease currently offered in hospitals, clinics, and
physician offices that Medicare and other private insurance companies are
covering.”12
Under PMRI the Dean Ornish Heart
Disease Reversal program has four component parts – Diet, Exercise, Stress
Management and Relationships. The Stress
Management component is that component that specifically uses yogic tools as
therapy although the diet and relationships areas also apply.
“When
stress is chronic, these physical reactions can lead to disease. For a person with coronary heart disease, for
example, some of these effects can lead to chest pain, shortness of breath,
palpitations and coronary artery spasm and sudden blockages of coronary
arteries (ie. angina, irregular heartbeats or a heart attack)…..
The
stress management program at an Ornish Retreat derives from common sense and
the historical source of yoga: stretches, breathing practices, deep relaxation
and meditation techniques. Yoga encourages
comfort, healing and mental poise.”13.
In 1998 I participated in and
completed the Dean Ornish based program with the person who developed the
stress management component of his program and who was, at that time his Stress
Management Director. This was Nischala
Joy Devi. Nischala Joy Devi’s program,
an approved Dean Ornish Stress Management program of Yoga Therapy, was known as
“Yoga
of the Heart – Cardiac Teacher Training”.
The physiological, psychological and
spiritual aspects for this stress management program focused on breathing,
stretching and calming the mind, relaxing, diet and relationships. The approach
was breathing exercises, known as pranayama; meditation, imagery or
visualization; yoga poses, the relaxation response, a vegetarian plant based
diet and yoga philosophy for spiritual development and an enhancement of personal
relationships.
Chakra
Focal Point of Condition:
Kristine Kaoverii Weber, in her
lecture on Yoga and Cosmology referred to the chakras as follows:
Chakras
communicate via the nadis. Nadis run through the connective tissue
(fascia). This communication may be
explained scientifically through PNI (psychoneuroimmunology). The yogis
understand that chakras are related to mental emotional states and that when
they are not functioning properly, the mind is imbalanced. 14
In her book Wheels of Life, Anodea
Judith speaks about the fourth chakra as love,
air, breath, balance, relationship, affinity, unity, healing….
Hear it now in your own heart. Its rhythms
pumping life and air
and breath through every part of
you, renewing you:…
Feel it within you, old as you are,
beating since the days from deep in the womb,
feel how long it’s been there,
Always beating, Never stopping
Always beating, Never stopping
Always beating, Never stopping…
Listen deep and hear inside, a silent
sound.
Anahata, Anahata, Anahata,
Anahata……15
Anodea Judith goes on the say, the
sanskit name for this chakra “Anahata” which is located in the heart and
meaning “unstruck” is as follows:
“this
chakra relates to the cardiac plexus..and rules over the heart, lungs and
thymus gland..”16
After Dean Ornish’s ground breaking
book on reversing heart disease in the early 90’s he set his sights on another
more compelling book which he published in 1998. This book entitled Love and Survival the scientific basis for the healing power of
intimacy, began to look more closely at the influence of the Heart Chakra
on the effects of healing the heart of heart disease.
In this very significant reach into
the physiological and psycho-emotional dynamics of the healing power of the
chakras, Dr. Ornish fortified a very fundamental aspect of his heart health
program. In the book Dr. Ornish states
as follows:
Awareness
is the first step of healing, for individuals as well as society……when you feel
love, nurtured, cared for and supported and intimate, you are much more likely
to be happier and healthier….
A
study of 131 women in Sweden also found that the availability of deep emotional
relationships was associated with less coronary artery blockage as measured by
computer-analyzed coronary angiography. As in the Yale study, this finding
remained true even when controlling age, hypertension, smoking, diabetes etc.
17
In the Dr. Ornish Spectrum program today, relationships
remain a key element of his four fundamental components for healing the heart
and reversing heart disease.
Yogic Remedies for Condition:
In solidifying the yogic remedies
for the condition it is important to first clarify the distinctive differences
between a Yoga Therapy based heart health program and one based on the
traditional allopathic approach to medicine.
Some significant remedies in the
Yoga Therapy program that still does not exist in the traditional medicine
program for Heart Disease today, is as follows:
1. The diet component of a yoga therapy
heart health program far exceeds that of traditional rehab diet programs for
heart health. The Dean Ornish Comprehensive Lifestyle change program, which
included diet, saw a reduction in weight loss for most patients - up to 15 lbs after
one year- and 90% improvement in all categories of Type 2 diabetes, blood pressure,
cholesterol and weight after 1 year of adhering to stringent dietary
changes.18. The Dean Ornish program, as
any yoga therapy health program, looks at food as “whole foods”, fresh and
organic, with a significant focus of a plant based diet. President Bill
Clinton, a client of Dr. Ornish, is living proof of the Dean Ornish diet
program.
Under a traditional system diet,
based on the National Heart, Lung and Blood institute,
A healthy diet includes a variety of vegetables and
fruits. These foods can be fresh,
canned, frozen or dried….one drink a day can lower your CHD…one drink is a
glass of wine, beer, or small amount of hard liquor. 19
2.
Traditional programs have an exercise
component to their program but exclude the very important stress management
component, significant under all yoga therapy programs. It is a fact that stress kills and seemingly
very healthy people can die when doing moderate to strenuous exercise, for
example, running a marathon, when the body is stressed. The stress management element using the physiological
aspects of yoga stretches, breathing techniques and meditation do not exist in
a traditional heart health program. In
traditional programs when dealing with stress, counselling and medication are
recommended, creating the potential for further complications. The Dean Ornish
program very specifically recommends yoga for stress, advising clients to find
a teacher who has experience with stress management for people with
heart-health considerations, and or “gentle” yoga or restorative yoga classes.20
3.
Under the traditional system,
cardiac rehab includes on its team doctors,
nurses, exercise specialists, physical and occupational therapists, dietitians
or nutritionist, and psychologists or other mental health specialists” 21. This intrinsic difference in the
allopathic approach which looks at the “patient” as someone who is un-whole,
wounded or unwell is in its very nature alien to the healing process when we
consider the chakra system. Hence the
component of a yoga therapy heart health program that focuses on “that you are
loved” not “that you are sick”, which involves relationships and heart
connections, far supersedes traditional based programs, and lends itself to
greater and more long lasting results of healing and wellness for the
individual.
Key Remedies of a Yoga Therapy Program for Heart Disease, not specifically expounded upon in the 3 points above are
listed below. They warrant specific
mention when referring to heart health.
Sankalpa
One of the first remedies for
improved health and wellbeing is to set an intention specifically for that
purpose for strengthening willpower and resolve, and instilling hope.
Sankalpa
is the resolve, determination and
good intention that resonates precisely in the core of one’s being and aligns
sublimely with one’s essence. Setting
the intention for good health and wellbeing and reminding oneself of this good
fortune routinely, helps create the reality of what one wants happen.
Setting intention and reminding
oneself of that intention throughout the day or at systematic intervals during
the day, is very purposeful and should not be overlooked to help bring about
the change that we seek.
A
Hatha Yoga Sampler Therapy Program for Heart Health might look as follows:
If the client has had heart surgery
particularly Open Heart Surgery, then the client is generally fearful to damage
their heart again, however during this stage when they are able to start moving
again, movement will be a very mindful, very gentle and particularly focused
practice, perhaps commencing in a chair eg:
ü Shoulder shrugs
ü Wrist movements
ü Ankle and leg stretches
ü Leg to chest bends
ü A Deep Relaxation on the side or in a chair
ü 3-part breathing.
It will help the pain that usually accumulates
in the shoulders, discomfort in the chest, swelling in the feet ankles and legs
and fluid in the lungs.
As the body gets stronger the client
could then add the Sun Worship, done in a chair:
For
example:-
This would help further release tension
in the chest.
During this first stage also,
clients could begin Sarvangasana by putting
their legs on a chair –Sarvangasana also
known as the Shoulderstand or All Members
Pose, because if its many benefits to the body is particularly helpful with
CAD because it:
Allows
the heart to rest, and poor circulation in the legs is greatly improved….Many
of us sit or stand for hours with our feet down. The pull of gravity and lack
of muscle movement encourages the blood to pool in our feet and legs…..Shoulder
stands aid the return of the blood to the lungs for oxygenation, by raising the
feet and legs and pelvis higher than the head.22
Note in this version there is always
a pillow placed under the buttocks to elevate the pelvis higher than the head
or heart and provide support to the neck and shoulder.
The shoulder stand also enhances the
lymphatic system thus bringing about a healthier immune system.
Once the shoulder stand is
comfortable clients are encouraged to begin the Fish Pose with a small pillow to
support for the neck and to provide a gentle arch in the back. This pose is
very useful to relieve tightness in the chest after surgery.
Sun
worship with chair
As the client’s strength and
confidence improve, he or she can move from doing the Sun Worship in the chair to doing the sun worship with the chair.
Hence one would continue in this
gradual fashion until regular yoga practice can be resumed.
Meditation – Has many physiological, emotional and spiritual benefits
which work when practiced with regularity and sincerity. Physiological conditions like high blood
pressure, anxiety or depression can improve or subside when practicing
meditation on a regular basis. Nishala
Joy Devi says,
In the Dean Ornish program for
Reversing Heart Disease, we have found that those who did the most meditation
and stress management, have seen the most benefit from the reversal of coronary
artery disease…people who did stress management after their first heart attack
were significantly less likely to have a second.”23
Imagery/Visualization
– Another useful method to accompany
meditation is imagery or visualization.
With
the pain or sickness calling our attention, we just need to meet that attention
in a positive instead of negative way.
You may have a wound that is open and sore. Imagine what it looks like when it is healed.
Then, slowly – in your mind – create the healing” 24
Ayurveda – Diet and nutrition, a sister therapy treatment that works
hand in hand with yoga therapy is Ayurveda. Following an ayurvedic diet, understanding
one’s doshas both primary and expressed, and taking ayurvedic herbs and spices
in the diet can help the patient come back to balance and eliminate
inflammation buildup in the body.
According to Ayurveda principle
there are 6 stages of disease: accumulation; aggravation; overflow, relocation,
manifestation; diversification. Yoga creates balance and a certain patterning
within the body that maintains balance. Hence a yogic map of healing comes
about when the patterns of yoga practice create a dynamic balance within the
life. #25
Breathing
practices/Pranayama – breathing practices are key to
burning impurities in the body and mind and stilling the mind in preparation
for meditation.
When we practice pranayama, we
either reinforce patterns of breathing already set or we create new
patterns.
When
we do the various pranayama techniques we are patterning the input thru
inhalation, exhalation, right and left sided breathing…..by practicing pranayama
you are orchestrating a complex form and sequence of vagal stimulation that has
significant implications in the way that the nervous system configures itself.
#26
Deep breathing creates a calming
effect on the body and mind and allows us to step back and become more aware of
how the mind and breath are functioning.
When this happens this awareness gives us an opportunity to choose
rather than react…..it is at this stage of awareness that we can begin to set
new patterns and change or reset the central nervous system and therefore
greatly influence, in a positive way, the healing process.
Pranayama, or breathing practices
are very key to yoga and to the healing aspect of yoga. It is scientific and was developed by ancient
yogis to help maintain a healthy body, not for the body itself, but because a
healthy body, they realized, was needed to attain self-realization. The power of the breathing practices of yoga
has this promise. Hence it is a very
useful tool to use in the process of yoga therapy for all health conditions.
Re-patterning
and The Koshas –
In Yoga Therapy it is also important
to pay special attention the The Koshas, or 5 sheaths and the idea of “re-patterning”. According to Rick Panico, MD, in “How Yoga
Heals”, he puts special attention on the koshas as a map for healing, pointing
out that:
Annamaya kosha – re-patterns the
tissues
Pranamaya kosha – re-patterns the
movement of energy
Manamaya kosha – re-patterns the thought
processes
Vijanamaya kosha – uses these new
processes to change our present attitudes and actions
Anandamaya kosha – changes the
heart #27
Dr. Panico says, “Re-patterning is the goal of healing with
yoga… The first step in re-patterning
is awareness practice. Finding unhealthy
patterns and unlinking with them over and over again and re-linking with what
is desirable. #28
If someone stands constantly with
his or her feet moving outward and tries during yoga practice to change that
proprioception, this is what occurs with re-patterning. However re-patterning is more than “proprioception”, the 5 sheaths or
koshas, reach deeper than just the physical body.
It should also be remembered that
when we do our yoga, we impact these sheaths, sometimes more than one at a
time. Even our karma yoga has an impact of the koshas. This also explains how and why the power of
relationships (in addition to its effect on the chakras) can be so healing for
the body, mind and spirit.
Challenges in Bermuda:
Heart disease is the leading cause
of death in Bermuda as it is in the United States of America.
Every
33 seconds someone in the United States dies from cardiovascular disease…by
2020, heart disease will be the leading cause of death throughout the
world. #29
The percentage of Bermudians with
cardiovascular disease as of a 2011 statistic is between 5-10%.
Although this number may not seem
high, problems with hypertension, kidney disease, diabetes have gone up since
2006 while emotional support and the quality of life for Bermudians has
significantly dropped, signally further problem relating to health and wellness
and perhaps heart disease, for years to come. (see Health Survey of Adults in Bermuda 2011). Notwithstanding, despite
future data, heart disease and its treatment remains the biggest draw on the
healthcare system in Bermuda.
Insurance companies remain
uncommitted and uncertain about the benefits of yoga therapy particularly in
matters relating to major diseases like heart health; and, therefore continue
to deny coverage to patients for this alternative treatment.
Change will take time.
Understanding the Insurance Model and its Impact
Insurance companies are a business,
so ultimately health care deductables would need to satisfy their business plan
in order to be considered for coverage.
Complementary and Alternative
Medicine, known as CAM, according to the National Centre for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine of the National Institute of Health, says that in 2007, as
much as 33 Billion dollars was spent on alternative healthcare. #30
Yet still today, in 2014, insurance
companies still shrink away from insuring CAM providers. Hence, also in Bermuda, Chiropractors,
massage therapists and acupuncturists remain the only
Alternative Health Care providers
covered under insurance. This practice, it does not appear, will change anytime
soon. A few factors explain why this may
be so:
1.
Bermuda is a heavily influenced “Christian”
community, and the concept of yoga, is still perceived by many, to be “religiously
based”. The education and reintroduction
of yoga as therapy is just beginning to take root.
2.
Health insurance companies say they
want proof, despite the fact that a steadily growing portion of the community
are willing to pay out of pocket expenses for their yoga practice and therapy.
3.
Some companies are offering their
employees yoga classes, for “fitness” purposes, however are yet unwilling to
include the therapeutic aspect for yoga for remuneration.
4.
The wheels of change in Bermuda turn
slowly.
Members of our Bermuda community
have commenced the Bermuda Association of Yoga Therapists to begin educating
the Bermuda community and those in powerful positions to effect change, about
the therapeutic approach to yoga, and how it works.
Trainings have begun in the Bermuda
community to connect symbiotic stakeholders; for example, we recently held a
Pain Care Yoga training for physiotherapists and yoga therapists and teachers. This has gone a long way to refine
and reestablish “scope of practice”; hence now in particular, some
physiotherapists better understand when to refer to a yoga teacher and a yoga
therapist; and, when patients that they may be currently seeing and/or cannot
service might benefit from the service of a yoga therapist.
Insurance companies and the Bermuda
Health Council continue to be educated and kept abreast of the work of the
Bermuda Association of Yoga Therapists.
Change will take time, however the
high cost of servicing health care in the Bermuda community may very well speed
up the decision for more inclusion and a cheaper alternative.
Since Bermuda is on par with the US
in health care costs, the squeeze is on to “do something” to benefit ailing
clients/patients.
Conclusion:
Cardiovasular problems and treatment
under the traditional system, focusing first on medication and second on surgery,
is driving the cost of healthcare through the roof, and therefore continues to
shine the spotlight on this approach and its effectiveness.
Insurance companies request and
require measurements, lasting many years oftentimes, before sponsoring
treatment. Hence it is no wonder the
Dean Ornish preventive healthcare program is the only one of its kind that is
being sponsored.
At the moment those invested in
healthcare (insurance companies, corporations, governments) continue to be
cautious about programs like yoga or yoga therapy as an adjunct to tradition
treatment and recovery. However, this is
changing as more and more people, particularly those who can afford it, are
having input into the decision making for their own healthcare approach and
treatment.
Programs like the Dean Ornish
program and other successful yoga therapy programs are paving the way. Clients are wishing and requesting options
that might afford them a better quality of life. Yoga therapy, particularly for
improved heart health and possible reversal of the heart condition, provides a
hopeful option.
Under traditional care, doctors
treat the condition, which may happen again and again. The yoga therapy approach for CHD (and CAD)
is a preventive approach, so the goal is to treat the whole person, using yoga
therapy to bring body, mind and spirit back to balance and to understand that
patient care and cooperation are paramount in the outcomes of their treatment
plan.
If we consider the dilemma of
healthcare today - particularly in the US and in Bermuda, next to the U.S. - it
is just a matter of time, when less invasive and expensive; and, more holistic
approaches, like yoga therapy, will be welcomed.
Resources:
1. Article Mayo Clinic Diseases and
Conditions/ Heart Disease July 29, 2014
5.
Article
Coronary Artery Disease-Coronary Heart Disease, Sept 2, 2014
6.
Article National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute - What Is Coronary Heart Disease?
7.
Article Coronary Artery Disease-Coronary Heart
Disease, Sept 2, 2014
8. Article High Blood Pressure dangers:
hypertension’s effect on your body, Feb 18,
2014
9. Article National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute - How Is Heart Disease Treated?
10. Article What is Yoga Therapy by Larry
Payne PH D 6/20/13
13. Yoga and Cosmology, The Manifestation
and Evolution of Consciousness, Kristine
Kaoverii Weber
14. Wheels
of Life, Anodea Judith, Ph D., p. 188/189
15. Wheels of Life, Anodea Judith, Ph D. p. 193
16. Love & Survival, Dean Ornish, MD p.
23/25
18. Article Lowering Cholesterol and Blood
Pressure After a Heart Attack, by Roselyn
Carson Dewitt, MD. October 6, 2008
20. Article National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute – How Is Heart Disease Treated?
22. Yoga
of The Heart, Cardiac Yoga Training by
Nischala Joy Devi p.64/65
23. Yoga
of the Heart, Cardiac Yoga Training by Nischala Joy Devi p. 145
24. Yoga
of the Heart, Cardiac Yoga Training by Nishcala Joy Devi p 33
25. How
Yoga Heals, Manjula Spears/ Rick Panico, MD pt. 3 & 4
26. How
Yoga Heals, Manjula Spears/ Rick Panico, MD. Pt 3.3
27. How
Yoga Heals, Manjula Spears/ Rick Panico,MD Pt 3.
28. How
Yoga Heals, Manjula Spears/Rick Panico, MD Pt. 4
30. Americans Spent $33.9 Billion Out Of Pocket
On Complementary and Alternative Medicine,
By National Institute for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine, July 30, 2009
