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What is Yoga Therapy?
Yoga Therapy—or as we call it Yoga As Medicine— is the selective use of various yoga tools — such as poses, breathing techniques, relaxation exercises and meditation, as well as dietary and lifestyle advice — to help people with virtually any health condition, physical or psychological. Because people's health and fitness vary, we often modify poses or use props to make the practices safe and effective. In Yoga As Medicine, we perform detailed holistic assessments of each client—evaluating body, mind, spirit and environment—and then craft a personalized yoga program. And that's precisely what we teach in our seminars and teacher trainings. Yoga therapy can be used by itself or as an adjunct to any conventional or alternative medical treatment. |
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In conjunction with an online course on Yoga As Medicine on Yoga U, I recorded this video. It's over 40 minutes long, and is a good introduction to my overall approach to yoga therapy, my ideas about what yoga teachers and therapists should — and shouldn't — be doing with students with medical conditions, integrating yoga into modern medical care, etc. I had a lot of fun recording this interview and hope you enjoy it!
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Yoga As Medicine
Seminars and Teacher Trainings 
Immerse yourself in the art and science of yoga therapy with Dr. Timothy McCall, the bestselling author of Yoga as Medicine (Bantam), medical editor of Yoga Journal, as well as co-editor of the only professional-level medical textbook on yoga therapy, The Principle and Practice of Yoga in Health Care (Handspring Publishing). Yoga As Medicine (YAM) Level 1 is the foundational course, and is strongly recommended, though no longer required, to take anyl Level 2 YAM Seminars, including The Ayurveda of Yoga Therapy, and Yoga Therapy for the Nervous System (coming in May 2018).
In all Yoga As Medicine courses, we take an eclectic approach, grounded in science and a strong foundation of good alignment and mindful breathing, yet energetically alive, psychologically savvy and spiritually attuned — true to the heart of yoga and Ayurveda (India's traditional holistic medical system). We believe healing is found in every serious yoga tradition, and use good ideas from different lineages in order to meet the specific needs of our students.
YAM Level 1 and the four YAM Level 2's are five-day, hands-on, roll-up-your-sleeves workshops using a personalized therapeutic approach based on a holistic assessment of function on all levels of body, mind and spirit. YAM uses the full palette of yogic tools including asana, pranayama, and meditation, as well as dietary and lifestyle advice. "The course helped me to both deepen my understanding of myself, and how I hope to work as a therapist later on. It's been invaluable to me." – Stockholm attendee 
Coming in May 2018
Yoga As Medicine, Level 2: Yoga Therapy for the Nervous System For the first time in North America, next May I'll be teaching my Level 2 YAM course, Yoga Therapy for the Nervous System. Many of you have been requesting this for years, so I'm happy finally to be able to offer it. Attendees are strongly encouraged, but not required, to take YAM 1 beforehand. This training will take place May 5th - 9th at All That Matters in South Kingston, RI. I probably won't teach this workshop again until 2020, so please don't miss it.
To learn more about this training, Yoga Therapy for the Nervous System, click here. 
Please help me understand what I'm seeing!
Seeing and Understanding Bodies
Returns in 2018 The Seeing and Understanding Bodies training is for yoga teachers, yoga therapists and serious yoga students, as well as bodyworkers, dancers and anyone else who is interested. It's designed to refine your ability to observe subtleties of anatomical alignment, tensegrity (don't worry if this term is new to you — all will be explained), the movement of breath and even the elusive "flow of prana" in a wide variety of asana.
Ginny Jurken, a physical therapist, yoga therapist, anatomy lab instructor for health care professional students at Marquette University for almost 20 years, and seasoned practitioner of the bodywork technique myofascial release (MFR) will assist. The five-day, 25-hour training will take place at both Kripalu and Omega in 2018. 
YAM 1 Weekend-Only Option
Most Level 1 Yoga As Medicine Seminars (YAM 1) include a weekend-only option. Though we encourage anyone who can to take the full 5-day YAM training — which includes the group case work and Timothy's detailed review of cases — we realize not everyone can. The weekend option gives you an introduction to his philosophy of yoga therapy, his take on structure (what he calls "holistic yoga anatomy"), two short and two longer practices, and an introduction to incorporating Ayurvedic principles into yoga therapy. Even a basic understanding of India's ancient medical system can deepen your personal yoga practice and, if you teach, help you better tailor practices for your students.
During the Sunday of the YAM workshops with the weekend option, Timothy conducts a sample yoga therapy case on one of the workshop participants, in which he performs a detailed holistic assessment and begins to develop a personalized yoga practice for them. For those staying for the full five days, he bring that student back up on 4th day, and teaches them the practice he's developed for them, making any necessary changes depending on how the student responds to the practice (see photos above and below). 
New Workshop for 2018
Reimagining Yoga Anatomy Those of you who've taken Yoga As Medicine, Level 1 know that for years I've been teaching a more holistic way of looking at yoga anatomy. Rather than feeling the need to memorize muscle origins and attachments, what we'll discuss and experience in this 10-hour training is how to think about and feel the yoga body more globally. This approach allows you to go deeply into alignment without being fixated on anatomical minutia (though where relevant we'll discuss that too)!
To read more about Reimagining Yoga Anatomy, click here. 
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Favorite Articles
Below are a number of my favorite articles, including the first article I wrote for Yoga Journal , when I became their Medical Editor in 2002, and several more recent ones. These articles were published in a variety of sources from Yoga International to the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, as well as a couple published in my email Newsletter. "Is Yogic Levitation Possible?" isn't an article, but I couldn't resist including it.
101 Conditions Benefited by Yoga (as Shown in Scientific Studies)
For years I've been publishing a list of health conditions that have been demonstrated in scientific studies to be benefited by yoga. I've just updated it, reviewing research up to October 2106. There has been so much growth in yoga research that we're now up to 101 condtions, increased from 75 the last time I compiled the list in 2013. The PDF includes 28 pages of references with hyperlinks to study abstracts and, where available, to free fulll-text articles. There's also a single-page PDF with just the list of 101 conditions. I publish these lists as a service, so please feel free to share the PDF on Facebook, your web site, or with your doctor! NEW! Is Alternate Nostril Breathing Really Just a Placebo? A Response to The Atlantic
It amazes me how some physicians and skeptics of yoga feel free to disparage practices they clearly know next-to-nothing about. They seem to think if it's sounds far-fetched to them, then it must be baloney, without feeling the need to do any further research on the topic... 
Updated! Good Yoga Teachers "Read" Bodies Better Than Doctors Do
After all the training I'd had in medical school in anatomy, orthopedics, rheumatology, etc., when I started to practice yoga I was shocked to observe how much good yoga teachers could see anatomically that I could not. I've updated this article in conjunction with the Seeing and Understanding Bodies training that I'll be teaching again in 2018. Western Science vs. Eastern Wisdom
This was the very first, and still my favorite, of my Yoga Journal articles. It describes my first trip to India, and my efforts to reconcile what I'd learned in medical school with what I was experiencing in my yoga practice. 
Yoga as a Technology for Life Transformation
How the millennia-old practice of yoga creates sustainable positive change. I wrote this article for the Kripalu catalog just before completing my year as a scholar-in-residence at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in 2005. Does Yoga Kill: Yoga, Truthiness and The New York Times This article systematically takes apart New York Times writer William Broad's claims that yoga is responsible for hundreds of strokes per year, the emotional linchpin of his yoga-wrecks-your-body arguments. 
The Good Doctor
Yoga International profiled my therapy work and the 5-day Yoga As Medicine seminars I teach around the world. The article includes a sidebar discussion on how I teach students to conduct comprehensive assessments of yoga therapy "patients" in order to plan treatment approaches. The Whole of Yogic Healing This article lays out the crucial difference between holism and reductionism. Failing to understand this distinction leads many well-meaning people to embrace sometimes dubious alternative treatments, which I lump into a category I call "alternative reductionism." I hope you'll find it both provocative and full of practical implications for how to keep yourself healthy. 50 Ways to Heal a Yogi This is an alternate version of the article published in Yoga Journal under the name "38 Ways Yoga Keeps You Fit." It's much more complete than the article that appeared in the magazine; it also groups the ways yoga improves health into categories like "Musculoskeletal," "Circulatory" and "Organ Function," which makes it a little more user-friendly. 
Man Bites Downward-Facing Dog
I wrote this in response to William Broad's New York Times article, "Wounded Warrior Pose," and its inflammatory and inaccurate claims about the "remarkable" dangers of yoga. Broad and I have disagreed before, but given the alarmist assertions and flawed science in his articles, I felt it was time to address the matter directly, and speak up on behalf of yoga and its vast healing powers. Stress, Your Health, and Yoga Yoga isn't only about stress reduction, but it's a big part of how it heals. This article was published on the Yoga for Healthy Aging blog. 
Interview with IJYT
In this interview conducted by Kelly McGonigal, PhD, then Editor-in-Chief of The International Journal of Yoga Therapy, I discuss what Western medicine can learn from Yoga and Ayurveda, the risks, challenges, and rewards of conducting research on yoga therapy, etc. Landmark Study: Yoga Lowers Health Care Costs Scientific evidence suggests that yoga can help people with a wide variety of health conditions. Even so, most insurance companies have been reluctant to reimburse for yoga or yoga therapy, because they wanted to see proof that doing so would actually save them money.... Is Yogic Levitation Possible? Only available here! Be sure to click here for the whole story. 
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Teaching Schedule
The heart and soul of Yoga As Medicine Seminars is group case work, in which participants team up to work — in a supervised fashion — as yoga therapists. This photo and the ones below illustrate case work from recent workshops.
2018
Yoga As Medicine, Level 1
JoyWheel Yoga and Wellness East Aurora, NY (Buffalo area) April 21-25* Yoga As Medicine, Level 2: Yoga Therapy for the Nervous System All That Matters South Kingston, RI May 5-9 Seeing and Understanding Bodies Kripalu Center Stockbridge, MA May 20-25** Keynote and Workshop The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) SYTAR Conference Reston, VA June 14-17 Seeing and Understanding Bodies Omega Institute Rhinebeck, NY September 10-14** Yoga As Medicine, Level 1 Kripalu Center Stockbridge, MA October 7-12*** Yoga As Medicine, Level 1 National Yoga Academy Virginia Beach, VA November 10-14 Yoga As Medicine, Level 1 Breathe Together Yoga Los Gatos, CA October 27-31* Reimagining Yoga Anatomy Namaste Yoga Oakland, CA November 3-4 Yoga As Medicine, Level 1 The Yogi Underground Falls Church, VA December 8-12* 2019 Australia/New Zealand tour; YAM 2: Ayurveda, Yoga and Yoga Therapy Details TBA *Full 5-day or weekend-only option **Special Guest Teacher: Anatomy Instructor and MFR Therapist, Ginny Jurken, PT, C-IAYT *** Just before IAYT's SYR Conference, Kripalu October15-17 For more information on Yoga As Medicine
Seminars and Teacher Trainings or to sign up, please follow the hyperlinks above to the hosting studio or retreat center. 
If you'd be interested in hosting a Yoga As Medicine Seminar at your studio, university or retreat center, please contact us at YogaAsMedicine@gmail.com
Dr. Timothy McCall's Email Newsletter Sign-Up
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