Central to this initiative is a comprehensive 6-part workshop series, carefully crafted to support individuals and caregivers in preparing for and navigating the end-of-life transition.

These recorded workshops provide a rich resource of inspiration, tools, and practices designed to help you approach this sacred journey with peace, clarity, and a deeper sense of understanding.

Whether you are seeking guidance for yourself or supporting a loved one, we invite you to delve into the workshop recordings and other resources you’ll find here with an open heart. May this website serve as a light on your path, bringing you comfort and wisdom as you navigate this essential part of life’s journey.

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In The TMJ Handbook: A Therapeutic Guide to Relieving Jaw Tension and Pain with Yoga and Mindfulness, Cator Shachoy explains the anatomy and physiology of Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMD)—what we commonly refer to as “TMJ.” She unpacks the physical, emotional, and energetic reasons why this pain can occur and become so debilitating—including injury, stress and tension, emotional trauma, grief and rage, hormonal imbalances, among other causes. She then offers a unique and effective approach to reducing TMJ pain that combines Yoga, massage, meditation, and craniosacral therapy.

The TMJ Handbook delves into:

• A definition and explanation of jaw tension and jaw anatomy
• Headaches, stress, and trauma
• Conscious healing touch and self-massage
• Yoga poses and sequences

Shachoy shares inspiring and instructive stories of patients she has treated and empowers us with the knowledge and skills to help ourselves. This guide has more than thirty instructional movements and eleven audio downloads of exercises and meditations.

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Photo: Melanie a teaching Yoga class.

Melanie Salvatore-August’s new book, Yoga to Support Immunity, is a clear, step-by-step whole-being Yoga at home program to help boost immune function and bring vitality to the mind and spirit. She includes in-depth instructions for specific Yoga poses and teaches you how they can assist as immune system boosters. In this article, she shares an overview of how Yoga can support immunity and a glimpse of one set of asanas she recommends.The book includes many more asanas to support various aspects of immunity, as well as pranayama and meditation practices.

Immunity is when we have protection, resilience, and endurance to withstand an attack and continue to thrive. In our physiology, it is the ability to fight viruses, recalibrate and balance the microbiome, and assimilate important nutrients, as well as detoxify from environmental predators and pollutants. Mentally and emotionally, it is our ability to discern what we need or don’t need and to create peace within our everyday life.

When we are experiencing a state of wholeness or Yoga, our nervous system moves into the parasympathetic response, or rest/digest state. This state of rest/digest supports the longevity functions of digestion, hormone balance, and immunity. Whole health immunity is based on the quality of our exercise, breathing, stress levels, sleep, relationships, diet, and genetics. It is also based on what we repeatedly do each day or our habits.

The state of Yoga comes from systemic harmony and the ability to sit still without physical or mental discomfort. We do asanas (poses) so the body is flexible, strong, and pain-free to remain in a quiet state for an extended period of time. Asanas clear inflammation and dis-ease from the body. The body and mind work together. If the mind is agitated, the body will have difficulty being still. If the body is in pain, the mind will be agitated. Like waves on a lake, the water will be disturbed and murky without visibility to the bottom. When our mind and body are quiet, just as the still lake water is clear, we can see all the way into the depths of our experience. When aspects of us are disjointed, we experience confusion, anxiety, depression, illness, and disease.

Asanas to Support Immunity

Spinal health, circulation, digestion, elimination, inflammation reduction, and hormone balance are our main focus areas for the asanas to support immune function. We will breathe deeply through the nose, increasing production of nitric oxide, which is a health booster, and de-stress our nervous system for resilience and healing. Utilizing the expansive muscles of the breath, we will learn to reset the nervous system out of a chronic stress response and rewire our system for deep calm and resilience. We will explore daily habits to eliminate those that drain us and cultivate those that energize us, creating an easy consistency.

There is no magic pill or one-time effort. Immunity support and whole health are based on small, daily choices that create a resilient vitality over time. Utilizing the yogic principles of abhyasa and vairagya, or the balanced recipe of consistency and nonattachment, the accumulative effects can be life-changing.

These real healing practices are for real people. You have everything you need to start this journey and create the next level of vitality. It only takes one small shift in awareness to create a big healing change. Whether it is a shift in how you breathe, how you move, or how you perceive your life, there will be benefit. It doesn’t matter if you have lots of experience with these healing practices or none; just take a deep breath, accept whatever gifts or challenges feel present, and keep going. The only thing that is needed is curiosity and a desire to be supported right now. Don’t worry about tomorrow and don’t get stuck in the past—just steadily keep going in the present, as the present moment is truly all we have and where the healing occurs.

Fear drains us of our vitality, and love (both self-love and universal love) will fuel our immunity and whole health. I support you in choosing love, compassion, and patience when practicing these tools and allowing the practice to gently bless you one breath at a time. There is unbound potential within this practice to bring us to whole-being harmony or Yoga.

Photo: New book by Melanie Salvatore-August

The following asanas are suggested poses for clarity (see the book for complete instructions for each pose):

• Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
• Utkatasana (Thunderbolt or Chair Pose)
• Uttanasana (Standing Forward Fold)
• Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior 2 Pose)
• Balasana (Child’s Pose)
• Adho Mukha Shvanasana (Downward-Facing Dog)
• Phalakasana (Plank Pose)

The immunity and whole health benefits of these poses include:

• Increases oxygenation/blood circulation.
• Aids in digestion, breathing, and cardiovascular, brain, and glandular function.
• Supports expansion of the diaphragm and the lungs.
• Decreases inflammation and aids in lymphatic drainage.
• Supports the rest/digest response of the parasympathetic nervous system.
• Supports mental/emotional outlook by releasing endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine.
• Supports homeostasis or whole-system balance.
• Supports self-regulation and connection into present-moment experience.
• Programs the Reticular Activating System (RAS) to aid in finding optimum circumstances for healing.
• Creates feelings of balance and clarity, and a calm, alert state.
• Activates vital energy (pranic) lines through the entire body.

About the Author:
Melanie “Mel” Salvatore-August is a former comedy writer, veteran Yoga/meditation teacher, Reiki Master, mama of three, and is also the author of Fierce Kindness, Be a Positive Force For Change; Kitchen Yoga: Simple Home Practices to Transform Mind, Body & Life. She is the founder of the Fierce Kindness Organization, MelWell Classroom. Learn more at her website melaniesalvatoreaugust.com and get social with Melanie on IG  |  FaceBook  | Twitter | Linkedin

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Baddha Konasana (photo by Gustavo Fring on Pexels.)

It’s been proven time and again that Yoga practice can have incredible effects on all aspects of your being. Stretching your physical body and giving space to your heart and mind to let go of the negativity first come to mind, but Yoga goes deeper than that. More than anything, it’s a practice that allows you to tap into your true potential and live a healthy and long life.

Doing any type of Yoga can help with an array of chronic health conditions like urinary incontinence. Regularly moving your body through specific asanas can strengthen your pelvic floor and make you feel more comfortable in your own skin. Empowering your body through Yoga will enable you not only to mitigate the consequences of urinary incontinence but also to show up in your life as the best version of yourself.

Unlocking the Power Within through Yoga

Yoga is, first and foremost, a deeply spiritual practice. Through breathing, meditation, movement, and poses, you get to look within and experience who you truly are when all the obligations, conditioning, and habits are peeled away. You give yourself permission to get your ego and chattering thoughts out of the way and just be. It’s not always easy, but it’s wonderfully liberating.

Unlocking your power through Yoga means connecting with all your parts, the good and the more challenging. As you get to know and love yourself, everything in your life realigns to fit this mindset. People often talk about how Yoga can do wonders for stress relief, back pain, weight loss, and eating habits.

This is all very true because Yoga is a catalyst that lets you tune into the present moment, and fully feel who you are and what you can accomplish.

Once you’ve moved, breathed, and meditated through strong emotions and patterns that no longer serve you, you’ll realize that you can let go of them and consciously move on to those things that better serve you in your life.

And as you’re holding and breathing through your side-plank pose, you start to realize that your physical body is the one that sustains your confidence, self-care, discipline, and health. From there, all you have to do is focus on healing your urinary incontinence and tweak the practice in a way that best serves your goal.

How Yoga Helps with Urinary Incontinence

At a glance, the connection between Yoga and incontinence might not be the easiest one to make, but when you take a better look, it makes complete sense. Urinary incontinence is the uncontrolled leakage of urine that can happen either because of an overactive bladder or because of some type of physical stress that pushes the urine out. The amount of urine can vary and increase over time if the condition goes untreated.

Incontinence doesn’t happen only to the elderly but can affect women of all ages. There are ways to manage the symptoms, like wearing adult diapers and bladder training, but you can also treat the cause of it—a weak pelvic floor. This is where Yoga comes in because it makes you strong, flexible, and in control of your body.

The loss of control over bodily functions is not easy to deal with, not to mention that it can make your life difficult and everyday situations uncomfortable. Thankfully, you can train and strengthen your pelvic floor by doing a series of poses that directly target the problematic area. Not only that, but the overall improved muscle tone allows you to readjust your body to function and move better.

In doing that, you make things easier for your bladder, because you’ve got muscles that are taking the pressure off it, allowing it to function normally. Add to that the increased awareness and presence that comes with regular Yoga practice, and you’ve got everything you need.

Which Yoga poses help with urinary incontinence?

Each Yoga pose moves the energy in your body in a specific way, releasing pressure and blockages as it flows. That’s why it’s best to have a holistic approach to your practice and do a variety of asanas, including the ones that are particularly beneficial for strengthening the pelvic floor. Here are a few of them to help you get started.

●      Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)

One of the benefits of the Bound Angle Pose is that your reproductive and urinary systems are the main impacted areas. As you open your hips, your bladder gets the chance to contract and strengthen in the process, which is the ultimate goal when taking control of your bladder.

●      Utkatasana (Chair Pose)

The Chair Pose lets you strengthen your lower body, namely your legs, hips, and lower abdomen muscles, which can directly help with strengthening your pelvic floor as well. Stronger pelvic floor, less chance of unwanted leakage.

●      Mula Bandha (Root Lock)

Malasana (photo by Aparna Johri on Unsplash.)

This is a subtle internal lock or contraction of the pelvic floor muscles. It can be practiced in a seated or lying down position. Regular practice can strengthen these muscles, leading to improved stability and support for the pelvic organs.

By strengthening these muscles through Mula Bandha, you may experience improved bladder function and better control over urinary urges. This can be particularly helpful for individuals dealing with issues such as urinary incontinence or frequent urination.

●      Malasana (Garland Pose)

Malasana, also known as Garland Pose or Yogi Squat, offers several benefits for the body and mind. The asana engages the pelvic floor muscles, which can help strengthen and tone them. This can be beneficial for individuals experiencing issues such as pelvic floor weakness, urinary incontinence, or postpartum recovery. Holding the squatting position in Malasana engages the muscles of the legs, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. It also activates the muscles of the core and lower back, contributing to overall lower body strength and stability.

●      Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose)

The Bridge Pose is excellent for energizing your whole body, especially your abdomen, hips, and with it, your urinary tract. As you raise your hips toward the sky, your attention will shift to this area of your body, and you can notice how you feel as your pelvic floor muscles squeeze and relax. The Bridge Pose allows you to hold your focus on your bladder and pelvic floor muscles as you’re strengthening them, which is its main benefit.

●      Ashwini Mudra (Horse Gesture)

Ashwini Mudra is a yogic practice that involves contracting and releasing the anal sphincter muscles. While it is not a specific asana (pose), it is often practiced in a seated position where the rhythmic contraction and relaxation of the anal sphincter muscles can stimulate blood flow and energy (prana) in the pelvic region.

Regular practice can help strengthen these muscles, which play a crucial role in supporting the bladder and maintaining urinary control.

These poses are excellent for strengthening your pelvic floor and could directly diminish the symptoms of urinary incontinence due to various factors including dehydration and incontinence, age related, weakening of pelvic muscles etc. For more diversity, you can also try the Yogi Squat Pose, the Warrior Pose, and the Triangle Pose.

Remember, it’s important to approach these poses with patience and grace and do them in a way that feels good to you. If you have any concerns or specific medical conditions, it’s advisable to consult with a qualified Yoga therapist or healthcare professional for personalized guidance.

Keep your awareness as you’re moving from one pose to another, staying present and adjusting as necessary. Everyone’s body is different so give yours the space to get into a flow that feels good and will ultimately serve the purpose of providing incontinence relief.

About the Author:

Olivia Wolfe is a dedicated writer and nursing intern with a passion for simplifying information on gut health, fitness, and chronic conditions based on her firsthand experiences. With an academic background in healthcare and a knack for communication, Olivia strives to empower her readers by breaking down complex topics into accessible and relatable content.

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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.

One year ago I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a disorder that affects the way my brain/nervous system processes pain. It all started in 2020, while I was finishing my Intermediate Integral Yoga Teacher Training online. Over the course of several months, the pain that began in my knees had spread to other parts of my body. I was also experiencing debilitating fatigue, headaches that caused me to miss work, and for the first time in my life, disability. Stairs and distances I had walked regularly were now challenging or impossible. Activities I enjoyed became painful. Even sitting for meditation became an act of torture.

“Try sitting in a chair,” well-meaning people said.

PAIN.

“Try using props.”

PAIN.

“Try lying down.”

PAIN.

There truly was no “steady, comfortable posture” to be found. I was without health insurance, and could not afford to go to the doctor out of pocket. The only person responsible for my healing journey was me. I had stopped practicing Hatha Yoga (physical Yoga) due to the pain. At some point I recognized that lack of movement was only making me feel worse, both physically and mentally. The less I moved, the less I was able to move. And the more depressed I became.

About six months before I finally had health insurance, my incessant googling had led me to the conclusion that I had fibromyalgia. A rheumatologist and neurologist later confirmed this for me. Fibromyalgia is the result of a dysregulated nervous system. The way my brain/nervous system processed sensory input had changed. Even clothing made of certain fabrics had become painful to wear. The smallest tasks tired me out. Being comfortable felt impossible on the most basic of levels.

At some point I decided that pain or not, I might as well do the things I loved. So I inched back into my Hatha Yoga practice. I had lost a great deal of physical ability, but it helped me take care of my sore/spasming muscles, and soothed my nervous system in the process. Slowly reintegrating movement helped me to retrain my brain’s pain pathways. I didn’t know it at the time, but the technique I was using was a common psychological intervention called gradual exposure. Gradual exposure introduces the patient to their feared/painful stimulus in tiny amounts over time, until their brain can gradually process more and more of that stimulus.

It worked. Not only did I reduce my pain, I reduced my fear of the pain. This makes sense; gradual exposure is a common psychological technique often used to treat phobias. Slowly but surely I was able to practice poses I once loved. While I still experience pain sometimes during my hatha practice, it is no longer associated with particular poses or movements.

So I decided that I’d sit for meditation, and allow my pain to sit beside me. Eventually it wasn’t always there. I also dove into chronic pain research and learned everything I could about the science of pain. This was when something very interesting began to happen: my pain lessened. First to about half. And from there, a quarter.

Recovery is not a straight line, but on average, my pain has been reduced by about 75%. I can now identify several reasons why this happened. In addition to Hatha Yoga, there are a number of other practices and core beliefs in Yoga that are helpful for chronic pain recovery. Here are five of the major ones.

1) Ishvara Pranidhana – Surrender (to God). For those who believe in a higher power, this is the ultimate practice. But even if you’d rather leave the idea of God out of it, learning to surrender and let go of resistance has neuroscience-backed benefits for chronic pain and overall health.

Pain Science 101: All pain, whether from a physical injury/illness or not, is produced by the brain. From a survival standpoint, pain is the brain’s way of indicating to you that you are in danger (i.e. “Ouch! Get your hand off that hot stove!”).

In fibromyalgia and many cases of chronic pain, the brain’s ability to assess what is or is not dangerous is not always accurate. This is why for a person with fibromyalgia, even receiving a hug or a light touch from a friend can be painful.

Surrender is the direct opposite of fear. Over time, surrender allows the nervous system to accept pain/discomfort as a part of life, rather than a threat. When the nervous system no longer perceives pain as a threat, it stops heightening those sensations.

Just as my brain gradually became wired to create, sustain, and amplify my fibromyalgia symptoms, it became rewired to lessen them. Does this mean I’m cured forever? Not necessarily. Neural pathways in the brain are tricky. And life is full of things that can dys-regulate one’s nervous system. But 75% improvement is a change I never could have imagined.

2) “I am not the body” – This is a huge one. In Yoga we are taught that our bodies are temporary shells through which we experience the world, and that our true Self is the unchanging peace at the core of our being.

When we falsely identify with our bodies we believe that we ARE our bodies. If you’re living in a body with chronic pain, this is a horrifying belief. Yoga can help us to reframe our relationship with our bodies. We learn that pain, like our thoughts, is a temporary experience that comes and goes. The less important we make it, the less our brain focuses on it, and the less heightened the nervous system becomes. Is this easier said than done? Yes. Pain is designed to get your attention. But we have to try, otherwise we feed the mechanism that keeps us in chronic pain.

3) “I am not the mind” – Similar to the point above. When we falsely identify with our minds, we believe all the thoughts they produce. Understanding that we are not our minds is powerful for chronic pain recovery, because many difficult thoughts will come up (e.g. “My life is over. It’s never going to get better. I’ll never be able to do x ever again.” etc.).

From a neuroscience perspective, it is important that we don’t identify with these thoughts. Just as our brains can become wired over time to produce/sustain pain, they can also become wired to produce negative thoughts. Understanding that these thoughts are not “you” is key in chronic pain recovery, because negative thoughts have the power to heighten the nervous system, thus creating more pain.

4) Pratipaksha Bhavana – “When disturbed by negative thoughts, the opposite (positive) ones should be thought of” –Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 2:33 

This is a helpful follow-up to the previous point. Disclaimer:  I am not suggesting that positive thinking is the antidote to all suffering. Nuance is needed here.

That being said, when we practice countering negative thoughts with positive ones, we rewire our brains to focus on more adaptive thoughts, rather than those which heighten our nervous systems. This is a key technique in chronic pain management, and it can even help us to lessen the pain response over time. Here’s an important quote from a neuropsychologist Donald  Hebb that speaks to this idea.

“Neurons that fire together wire together.”

5) Pratyahara – Sense withdrawal, the 5th Limb of Ashtanga Yoga.

In Yoga we are taught to monitor and limit what we take in through the senses. Withdrawing from sensory input is highly beneficial for a heightened nervous system. Some ways to practice pratyahara include observing silence, avoiding excess screen time/consumption of media, and being mindful of physical environments which can be overstimulating (e.g. crowded gatherings, places with bright light and/or loud sounds, etc.). This is not to say that we should avoid all stressful situations and coddle our nervous systems. Pratyahara is a compassionate practice that recognizes and honors our sensory limits. It encourages us to consider the input we allow ourselves to receive in a way that best supports our physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

To summarize my thoughts on this topic: Yoga has a unique ability to support the brain/nervous system in chronic pain management and recovery. I truly would not be here if not for this profound practice, which not only helped me to cope, but helped me to heal. I look forward to serving others, by continuing to share these ancient ideas/techniques, which have been so meaningful in my own healing journey. If I were given the chance to go back in time and erase my chronic pain experience, I would not take it.

“Accepting pain as help for purification, study, and surrender to the the Supreme Being constitute Yoga in practice” –Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 2:1

About the Author:

Leila ‘Lavanya’ Hegazy, RYT 500 has been practicing Yoga for over 20 years. She found her home with Integral Yoga in 2015, and has trained in Basic and Intermediate Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Accessible Yoga, and Yoga For Teens. Leila’s mission is to make Yoga equitable and accessible to all, regardless of ability, age, race, gender identity, or socioeconomic status. Leila’s current focus is Yoga For Fibromyalgia and chronic pain, an issue that has become deeply personal for her since her own fibromyalgia journey began in 2020. Her training and experience has given her the opportunity to serve students from all walks of life, including seniors, children, and people living with chronic conditions. A singer and musician, Leila brings creative flow to her classes and encourages her students to tune in to their inner experience.

The post Yoga & My Chronic Pain Journey appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo: (l-r) Dr. Michael Lerner, Dr. McLanahan, Swami Satchidananda, Dr. Dean Ornish, 1987.

I first came across the teachings of Swami Satchidananda (Sri Gurudev) in a transcript from a talk he gave in which he said, “We have a natural state of ease and when we lose it we get disease.” I was in medical school at the time, and nobody was really addressing the fundamental root of disease. Over many years, that’s what his teachings and his guidance have been for me as a medical doctor.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, when drug use was fairly rampant in my generation, he also talked about how when you take drugs they gets you on a jet plane up to the higher sphere, but without a parachute. He explained how Yoga can enable you to access higher state of consciousness and awareness, but it does so step-by-step and with good support. These teachings really intrigued me so I read To Know Your Self, a foundational book of Swami Satchidananda’s Yoga teachings.

I also began taking Yoga classes at the San Francisco Integral Yoga Institute. When we came to Yoga Nidra (deep relaxation) and went over the parts of the body and came to relax all of them, I had an amazing experience of letting go of a lot of the stress that I was carrying from being a medical student. And I said to myself, This is a kind of medicine. And, I’ve been studying it ever since.

With the Integral Yoga teachings, I began to realize that “God” is a state of being. If God is omnipresent, it can’t be one person, but it’s a state of Beingness that is omnipresent. We can tune into w-God on our internal radio dial.

I was fortunate to be able to travel to India with Gurudev many times over the years. On my first trip, he talked about how he had been trained as a naturopath and a homeopath, and he believed in natural ways of healing. So, he taught me all these natural ways to assist the body to heal itself and to look at the root causes. Dr. Dean Ornish, then a medical student, read an article that I had written about this in an issue of Integral Yoga Magazine. And he invited me to come and speak at his medical school. After my talk, he said: “Let’s do research together.”

He designed the initial research study, during which I would teach the Yoga practices to all the patients in the study. Since this was in the 1970s, he felt the patients would feel more comfortable with a medical doctor teaching them. Dr. Ornish was the first to show that heart disease could be reversible and, later, also diabetes and prostate cancer.

I also began to do research with Michael Lerner, the cofounder of Commonweal and the Commonweal Cancer Help program in California and another student of Sri Gurudev. We began using Yoga with lupus and cancer patients. After several years, with Dr. Lerner’s guidance, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts was established in Washington, DC, which also incorporated Yoga therapy for cancer patients. Shanti Norris, a former assistant to Sri Gurudev, was tasked as the director.

Photo: Dr. McLanahan (next to Sri Gurudev) with Dr. Craig Bradley (behind left) and the world surgery mission team that offered free cleft palate surgeries in South India, 1997.

And so this kind of “lifestyle medicine,” as it is now called, became a new avenue by which practitioners could address the root causes of illness. Sri Gurudev taught me that Yoga was not only a “lifestyle medicine” but a lifestyle. He demonstrated that each minute and every action can have a little Yoga in it. For example, once when I was traveling with him, we were having snacks on the plane that the flight attendants had just offered. I took and ripped open one of the snack bags with my teeth. He looked at me and he didn’t say anything in words. He just took his snack bag and he showed me there was a place where you could tear it easily. The bag opened easily and that was a moment for me to see, yes, there is a little bit of Yoga in every action if we just look for it.

That’s why I also love reading his book, The Golden Present. It contains life lessons for every day. One reading is about death and it is titled: “Changing Forms.” It says, “Birth and death are changing forms. The plant changes into a flower and the flower changes into a garland. And if you leave the garland alone for some time, it will change into dust. It is the same for the body. The body is composed as elements and the elements are constantly changing. One day, when the body decomposes, the body is dead. But you, the owner of the body, are always the same. This realization of immortality is possible only when you free yourself from your identification with the body. What’s more, it is when you experience the realization of your own immortality that you can be permanently happy. Strive for the eternal, not for the temporary. This realization of the eternal will make you able to be always happy, no matter what the circumstances. The happiness that seems to be coming from your possessions is false, or in other words, reflected happiness.” For a medical doctor trained to look at people as “bodies,” this realization of the eternal was life-changing for me and guides all I do as both a yogi and a doctor.

Someone once asked Sri Gurudev how to get rid of past bad karma. And he said: “There’s the fast way and the super-fast way. The fast way is that from this moment forward never do anything to hurt anyone in thought, word, or deed.” So that takes some awareness, that takes some focus. It’s work. And then he said: “There’s a super-fast way. The super-fast way is realize you never did anything—it was the Divine moving you the whole time.” It made sense to me that this bigger force is moving through us. The force is with us always. We are not really going anywhere anyway; we are eternal. And, we are one Beingness appearing as many.

And that’s what the Integral Yoga Yantra represents. It represents the Oneness, which is the essential Source of all. And then It manifests in all these different forms and names. So, if you keep that in mind, mind then we don’t get caught up in the various differences. Remember that the Essence, the Source, is within everyone.

About the Author:

Sandra Amrita McLanahan, M.D., is a nationally recognized authority on preventive medicine, nutrition, stress reduction, and primary family health care. She founded Integral Health Services, America’s first integrative medicine clinic in 1976. She continued her trailblazing work as Director of Stress Management Training at the Preventive Medicine Research Institute for twenty years, where she worked with Dr. Dean Ornish to document the benefits of dietary change and stress management to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease and cancer. Dr. McLanahan is the author of the book Surgery and its Alternatives: How to Make the Right Choices for Your Health, co-author of Take a Deep Breath: A Simple Exercise Guide to Increasing Your Oxygen Intake and was the medical consultant for the books, Dr. Yoga.

The post Yoga as “Lifestyle Medicine” appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

1. Chronic Pain

2. Stress Management

3. Cancer

4. Heart Health

5. Care for the Caregiver

6. Finding Wholeness

Retreatants also will experience sadhana* (practice), including a Joint Care Hatha Yoga class led by the renowned expert Dr. Steffany Moonaz, author of Yoga Therapy for Arthritis: A Whole Person Approach to Movement and Wellness, and another Yoga for Healthy Aging class with the beloved IYTh Program Director, Dr. Lakshmi Sutter.

* Sadhana refers to any spiritual practice that is aimed at progressing the aspirant toward the ultimate expression of their life. When done intentionally, everything can be sadhana—the way you think, move, eat, and interact with others.

This program offers:

• Therapeutic Yoga classes customized for you
• A workshop on yogic lifestyle and philosophy led by a senior Integral Yogi
• Meditation for connecting with one’s inner peace
• Hatha Yoga practices for cleansing and rejuvenation
• Delicious, vegetarian meals for whole-person wellbeing
• Opportunities to practice Karma Yoga (selfless service) in various service areas, including the Yogaville Kitchen, Farm, and grounds (For Karma Yoga service on the Farm or grounds, please bring sturdy shoes and water bottles)

More information and registration here.

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Dr. Dean Ornish and his wife Anne were keynote speakers in June 2022, at London’s largest conference ever held on food and health, at the UK College of Medicine. They both are thought-leaders in the field of Yoga therapy and Lifestyle Medicine, with Dr. Ornish’s groundbreaking research opening the doors for Yoga therapy in the Western world. Dr. Ornish is a longtime student of Swami Satchidananda, with whom he collaborated on much of his medical research.

Dr. and Mrs. Ornish, along with a few of their colleagues, also met with HRH Prince Charles at his home in Highgrove to give him an update on their work. Prince Charles has continued to take an active interest in Dr. Ornish’s work and research. Dr. Ornish noted, “I continue to be impressed by his vision and passion in having a positive impact on lifestyle medicine, climate change, and regenerative agriculture.”

Photo: Prince Charles poses with Dr. & Mrs. Ornish and colleagues at Highgrove in the UK.

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There are many o

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