Brwnskn Yoga Wellness Initiative

Although yoga has been practiced in some form for millennia, we are just beginning to understand these mechanisms from a Western scientific perspective.

A tool applied in one area-say, a breathing practice­ can profoundly affect a completely different area of the body or the mind. For example, a yoga therapist might teach a client a particular type of breathwork ("pranayama") to help them address their chronic

asthma; if the client practices that breathing exercise regularly, she might find that her long-time anxiety has eased, too, or perhaps his habitual neck tension has disappeared.

Researchers think this works paitly because of yoga's ability to regulate the nervous system and possibly to affect the way the brain processes information. Another reason yoga therapy works so well is that it's not a treatment done to a patient-yoga therapists instead empower their clients to tap into their own innate healing capabilities.

Yoga therapy clients essentially heal themselves by learning tools that can be used throughout a lifetime!

Because yoga itself offers tools that touch on the whole spectrum of human experience, yoga therapy can help with a range of concerns:

• • Pain, including low-back pain, arthritis, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and other types of chronic pain such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome

• • Neurologic issues and complications of stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease, and traumatic brain injury (TBI)

• • Mental health, including concerns like anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD, insomnia, and others

• • Major illnesses like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

• • Healthy aging, including osteoporosis and fall prevention

• Yoga therapy can also support people who are dealing with stress, and those who simply want to increase their well­ being and overall health- expecting and postpartum moms, children with special needs, and already-healthy people who want to feel even more amazing.