Category: Yoga

Yummy – It’s Turkish. I spent about 3 years when I was a little child in … Tehran (Iran, the country shares a border with Turkey – they are neighbors!) and still remember the tasty cuisine of that region of the world I got to experience, before returning to Japan. I probably love Persian food as a result of my exposure to it at such early age. (surprisingly not spicy as in hot; flavored with spices like Saffron yes, but not salty or spicy hot – quite fragrant and fresh. Then, I was educated … Turkish food is similar but different from Persian food … Something new to learn everyday ! Thank you for this melting pot of a country. Love the diversity, generosity and open-mindedness of American people.)
Enough about food and onto today’s topic …

While some simply ignore the latest developments with Yoga Alliance’s announcement while even a legendary teacher like Judith will straight up make the statement, I am NOT a yoga therapist. She is so humble and wise. So eager to use any words that appeal for marketing purpose, we throw around the term “therapy” easily and freely but … from those actual practicing medical “therapist” who spend way more hours to obtain that credential to be a physical therapist, occupational therapist, psychological/mental therapist, social worker/family therapist, it must be rather annoying to hear someone who trained in teaching yoga for 200 hrs. say, and took couple of workshops or one week “therapy” training will elevate themselves to provide so called, yoga therapy. It’s actually quite a responsibility. To provide yoga therapy means that the provider, that service provider is a “therapist” – is yoga “instructor” a therapist? According to Yoga Alliance, the answer is NO. Unless you are already a therapist, such as a physical therapist, psychiatric therapist providing yoga instructions or you are truly trained in yoga therapy and hopefully (not just be a member but) “certified” yoga therapist.(in this case, then who certified the instructor to become a therapist is the next question…)

Here you go – Click Here.

In a world where the word “therapy” is thrown around very casually with light amusement, like – “shopping therapy”, “chocolate therapy” “forest bathing therapy” “moonshine therapy” “Vitamin D therapy” “Comedy Central Therapy”, pet therapy (this, scientifically proved to be effective!) we may wonder why this policy now? Yet as you read through this latest Yoga Alliance policy, you will understand what it’s really about. It’s for the protection of this practice as it is taught today and protection for the yoga studios so that their business remains clear on what their offerings are. If it’s a therapy, then it’s more a medical field, to be regulated as such; but if it’s not a therapy, then it remains in a more sports/fitness field with less regulation, less intense scrutiny and potential liability. Unless you are already a therapist, such as a physical therapist, teaching yoga or a MD teaching yoga, I would refrain from calling an instructor/teacher a therapist. Is high school teacher a teacher? An instructor? YES, but not a therapist. So in the same vein, a yoga instructor is a teacher, an instructor but NOT A THERAPIST. Or are you a massage therapist maybe? Unless of course she/he is certified to call her/himself that … crazy – all this about semantics but I would have to agree, an appropriate LANGUAGE is so important because that defines what we do and who we are. While when someone is feeling vulnerable and in a dark place, any kindness extended is a form of therapy; but …then what? That does not make the kind one a healer, a professional. The extent of training a professional “therapist” undergoes is … extensive and it should be.

Yoga instructor cures? heals? OR do they teach? It’s the latter. That’s all this policy is saying, is it not? It’s about the teaching. It’s about that, what Judith calls “a craft”.

Therapy – Treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder.

It’s because I am actually a student of yoga therapy, I am now more careful to use that term indiscriminately for anything that feels good. cookie therapy, cupcake therapy, dance therapy – basically whatever you love to do …sure, but YOGA THERAPY is about working with both Western and Eastern medicine providers, to provide a treatment and a self-care skill as defined by the word, “therapy”. It takes a deep understanding of the human system vis-a-vis yoga teachings. I am humbled by it and thus, appreciate the defined scope, that discourages the indiscriminate use of that T word. It comes with greater sense of responsibility.

This is called the cookie therapy. No policy on this, lol.

with that disorder … insomnia. Can relate as it must be like a more permanent jet lag you can’t find relief from – and jet lags, I have suffered quite a bit.

“In the night, I am kept awake by the endless chatter of my inner self. I hear it speak softly of old hurts and fondly of past loves, while its demands and anxieties resound throughout me in multitudes. I could be calm and composed all day long, but the moment it is dark, my mind riots.”

― Beau Taplin

How do you turn “off” your mind? I have a cure. I have a non-medicative but meditative approach of a prescription. Good Night.

Here’s some photos …that doesn’t invade anyone’s desire for privacy. Click Here. This is the more physical portion of the practice … then we peel away, layer by layer … someone said, “like an onion.” There are some incredible sharing of knowledge that took place – really loved learning from fellow student teachers some with so much experience … I love learning from those who has lived the topsy-turvy of successes and losses … they are resilient and tough but not hardened … their heart remaining kind and generous, more empathetic to the human suffering …all I have is deep respect for everyone at the sangha. I also loved how humble Judith can be when she said, “has it ever occurred to you that sometimes your students may know so much more than you in some areas that you have no idea about? ” and let one student/teacher lead a sequence that we all moaned with delight doing. Safe hip openers…

Well intended or not well informed, things that we give…
that may not serve the loved ones. Be well informed aligned with your good intentions.

This year has been a lot of learning due to year one of Yoga Therapist 2-year program and as if that’s not enough, RSVPing YES to the invitational where Judith created a Sangha of worldwide yogis – right in San Francisco. Initially I was planning to opt out but when she said something to the effect that she only holds these special sessions every couple of years and may not again for some time to come (she puts things into perspective by saying something like – my meter is running out; I can’t guarantee if I will ever teach this material again – whhhatttt !!!); I jumped. Why wouldn’t you want to learn from who I consider one of the best yoga teachers of the West if the opportunities to do so in the future may be so limited. Of course, having completed the series of three this year, I am now convinced that she can teach into 90’s like BKS did, and similarly, in Judith’s case as well, with her lovely daughter, Lizzie at her side. Still, as another yogini mentioned how she regrets not having the opportunity to learn from a certain teacher – thinking oh, next time, I will sign up – and then … there’s no next time. You can’t let that happen if you can help it – right? That’s right. So while sacrifices were made (sob), it is what it is.

What I love so much about Judith is that she combines the intelligence into the physical and the spiritual so it’s not just as she jokingly says “all some woo woo stuff”. With a PhD, she might as well be a professor, a life-coach, a yoga teacher and a therapist (the other kind) and a physical therapist rolled into one. I guess sometimes one is just looking for that non-judgmental wise surrogate parent, grand-parent, tribal elder… that we no longer have in our modern society.

Love this shared by Judith:

“Nobody can say anything about you. Whatsoever people say is about themselves. But you become very shaky, because you are still clinging to a false center. That false center depends on others, so you are always looking to what people are saying about you. And you are always following other people, you are always trying to satisfy them. You are always trying to be respectable, you are always trying to decorate your ego. This is suicidal. Rather than being disturbed by what others say, you should start looking inside yourself…

When you are self-conscious you are in trouble. When you are self-conscious you are really showing symptoms that you don’t know who you are. Your very self-consciousness indicates that you have not come home yet.”

― Osho

So I guess that’s what it is… Hanging out with a great teacher is like … coming home 🙂 It’s a treat not to have to decorate our egos !