It is very important for us to remember that Yoga Therapy is more about healing than about curing. Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons are names given to certain set of symptoms that may or may not be understood in Yoga as a Therapy. In Yoga Therapy we are looking at the symptoms of the person’s disease and more importantly we are looking at the experience that the person is having with these symptoms.
It is difficult to say that Yoga Therapy can cure something like Alzheimer’s disease. It is difficult to say that Yoga Therapy can cure something like Parkinsons illness. But at the same time, in my experience I and my students have seen that my father helped lot of people with diseases like Parkinsons disease because, Parkinsons disease may not be actually Parkinsons disease, it may be the imbalance of what we all as the “Vata” system. If Vata is in imbalance our body starts to tremour. If the Müladhärä cakra is highly unstable, the body start to tremour, because the Müladhärä also rules the bones in the body, the solid parts in the body. If such is the case, definitely there are practices that can help to reduce the symptoms the person will be diagnosed as cure from Parkinsons illness. For us, as a Yoga Therapist we are not looking at it as Parkinsons disease.
Alzheimer’s is more complicated. When there is actually brain damage, it is not possible for Yoga practices to reverse it. It is not easy to say that it will reverse it. But Alzheimer’s or memory loss can be, because of Vata imbalance. It may be a technical term given to somebody who has got loss of memory and is mis-diagnosed as Alzheimer’s. In such cases, when we balance the Vata the memory improves. But if there is brain damage and the nervous system it is not actually easy to say that Yoga will actually cure this situation.
But Yoga can definitely reduce the effect of these illnesses and improve the quality of the life of the persons and also the family members. Yoga as a Therapy can play a complementary role as supplementary system not only for the patient and but also for the families those who are going through these Parkisons or Alzheimer’s disease because they are something that they are affecting not only for the patients but also for the family.
Namaste!
Dr.Kausthub Desikachar, Viniyoga® Teacher
Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation