Category Archives: Yoga as Medicine

Are you looking to: Sleep Better, Ease Stress, Lose Weight, Lessen Back Pain? Yoga may be the answer!

Are you looking to Sleep Better, Ease Stress, Lose Weight, Lessen Back Pain? Yoga may be the answer!

Sleep Better, Ease Stress, Lessen Back Pain - Try Yoga! Best Kept Secret! It's Yoga! You don't have to bend like a pretzel or tie yourself in a knot to gain all the benefits of a fun and energizing yoga practice.

Sleep Better, Ease Stress, Lessen Back Pain – Try Yoga! Best Kept Secret! It’s Yoga! You don’t have to bend like a pretzel or tie yourself in a knot to gain all the benefits of a fun and energizing yoga practice.

Are you looking to Sleep Better, Ease Stress, Lose Weight, Lessen Back Pain?

Beginners Yoga, One on One yoga lessons may be the answer!

Contact Gail Pickens-Barger, 409-727-3177, to start your efforts of establishing a personal yoga practice.

Remember, You Don’t Have to Bend Like a Pretzel or Tie Yourself Up in a Knot, to Experience the Full Benefits of a Regular Yoga Practice!

yogawithgaileee@gmail.com or 409-727-3177

#chairyogafitness
#beginnersyoga
#setxyogaclasses
#setxyogastudio
#yogawithgaileee

Fresh and Organic

Wesley UMC, 3515 Helena Avenue, Nederland, Tx Beginners Yoga on Mondays at 6:15 PM.

Conditions Improved By Yoga, Self Reported – from "Yoga As Medicine" Book by Timothy McCall, M.D. ~ Gaileee

This article bears worth repeating! Look at all these conditions that Yoga helps you with!
As I am getting deeper and deeper into one of the books that we are to read for the YogaTherapy course, I am amazed at all the benefits of a regular yoga practice can do for folks. And I’m a yoga teacher. (The more you teach yoga, it seems the more you want to know….and need to know!)

Please read on for more information about “Yoga as Medicine” book (excellent!)by Timothy McCall, M.D. http://www.drmccall.com/ ~Gaileee

Yoga appears to be effective in the treatment of a wide variety of health conditions. In Timothy McCall, M.D. Book, “Yoga As Medicine”, he goes on to say: We’ll be reviewing the scientific evidence later but, for now, let’s see what people who’ve tried therapeutic yoga have to say. In 1983 – 84, the London-based Yoga Biomedical Trust, run by Robin Monro, PhD, surveyed twenty-seven hundred(2,700) people, most between the ages of thirty-one and sixty, who used yoga therapeutically. To be included, participants had to have practiced yoga for at least two hours a week for a year or longer. Though the number of people with some of the conditions in question was small, the results (see the table below, and in Dr. McCall’s book, Table 1.1) were impressive:

  • 98 percent of back-pain sufferers found yoga helpful
  • 90 percent of cancer patients
  • 82 percent of people with insomnia
  • and 100 percent of alcoholics

The lowest success rate in the survey was for women with “menstrual problems,” two out of three of whom found that yoga helped.

Table 1.1 Conditions Improved by Yoga, Self-Reported

Medical Condition     Number of               Percentage Helped
People Reporting               By Yoga

Alcoholism               24                          100%
Anxiety                 838                           94%
Arthritis &
Rheumatic Disorders     589                           90%
Asthma or Bronchitis    226                           88%
Back Disorders        1,142                           98%
Cancer                   29                           90%
Diabetes                 10                           80%
Duodenal Ulcers          40                           90%
Heart Disease            50                           94%
Hemorrhoids             391                           88%
High Blood Pressure     150                           84%
Insomnia                542                           82%
Menopausal Disorders    247                           83%
Menstrual Problems      317                           68%
Migraine                464                           80%
Neurological &
Neuromuscular Diseases  112                           96%
Obesity                 240                           74%
Premenstrual Syndrome   848                           77%
Smoking                 219                           74%

Source: The Yoga Biomedical Trust, London

Imagine how much you’d be hearing about a new drug that could accomplish even a fraction of this. Nevertheless, (it is Dr. Timothy McCall’s)it’s my experience that few in the medical community or the general public have any conception of what yoga has to offer. Part of the problem, (Dr. McCall) I’m convinced, is that many people who could benefit from yoga shy away due to misconceptions about what it is and isn’t, or who can do it and who shouldn’t.

Those subjects to be addressed in a different post.

Here is a NEW link about the 75 conditions benefited by Yoga by Dr. Timothy McCall!
http://www.drmccall.com/uploads/2/2/6/5/22658464/yam–75conditions.pdf

Enjoy the updated info!

Yoga with Gaileee, E-RYT

Adaptive Chair Yoga in Nederland, Texas. #ChairYogaFitness 10 a.m. Thursdays

Adaptive Chair Yoga in Nederland, Texas.  #ChairYogaFitness 10 a.m. Thursdays
Bring easy open canned fruits and vegetables for your class donation.

Bring easy open canned fruits and vegetables for your class donation.

Bring easy open canned fruits and vegetables for your class donation.
Yoga with Gaileee, E-RYT

Yoga in America – study by Yoga Journal

The number of people practicing yoga in the US has reached nearly 16 million and is expected to continue to grow steadily.

The latest “Yoga in America” study, just released by Yoga Journal, shows that Americans spend $5.7 billion a year on yoga classes and products, including equipment, clothing, vacations and media (DVDs, videos, books and magazines).  This figure represents an increase of 87 percent – almost doubled compared to the previous study in 2004.

Yoga Journal also reported that the 2008 study indicates that 15.8 million people, or 6.9 percent of the US population, practice yoga.  Of current non-practitioners, nearly 8%, or 18.3 million Americans, say they are very or extremely interested in yoga.  And 4.1 % of non-practitioners, or about 9.4 million people, say they will definitely try yoga within the next year.

The study also collected data on age, gender and other demographic factors:

  • 72.2% are women, 27.8% are men.
  • 40.6 % are 18 to 34 years old; 41% are 35 to 54; and 18.4% are over 55.
  • 28.4% have practiced yoga for one year or less; 21.4% have practiced for one to two years; 25.6% have practiced two to five years; and 24.6% have practiced more than five years.
  • 71.4% are college educated; 27% have postgraduate degrees.
  • 44% of yogis have household incomes of $75,000 or more; 24% have more than $100,000.

The 2008 study indicated that almost have (49.4%) of current practitioners started practicing yoga to improve their overall health.  In the 2003 study, that number was 5.6%.  And they are continuing to practice for the same reason.  According to the 2008 study, 52% are motivated to practice yoga to improve their overall health.  In 2003, that number was 5.2%.

“Yoga is no longer simply a singular pursuit but a lifestyle choice and an established part of our health and cultural landscape,” says Bill Harper, publisher of Yoga Journal.  “People come to yoga and stick with it because they want to live healthier lives.”

One significant trend to emerge from the study is the use of yoga as medical therapy.  According to the study, 6.1% of nearly 14 million Americans, say that a doctor or therapist has recommended yoga to them.  In addition, nearly half (45%) of all adults agree that yoga would be beneficial if they were undergoing treatment for a medical condition.

And what about those Baby Boomers?

In just a couple of years, according to recent statistics, the number of Baby Boomers-aged adults participating in yoga classes increased by three million.  Attend a yoga class and you’ll find that it’s not exclusively populated by younger women.  Older women-and many older men-are also attending yoga classes.

According to the National Institutes of Health, yoga:

  • Improves mood and sense of well-being
  • Counteracts stress
  • Reduces heart rate and blood pressure
  • Increases lung capacity
  • Improves muscle relaxation and body composition
  • Helps with conditions such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia
  • Improves overall physical fitness, strength, and flexibility
  • Positively affect levels of certain brain or blood chemicals

“Yoga as medicine represents the next great yoga wave,” says Kaitlin Quistgaard, editor in chief of Yoga Journal.  “In the next few years, we will be seeing a lot more yoga in health care settings and more yoga recommended by the medical community as new research shows that yoga is a valuable therapeutic tool for many health conditions.”

Yoga with Gaileee, E-RYT

Yoga As Medicine, book by Timothy McCall, M.D.

In the book Yoga as Medicine, the Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing, Timothy McCall, M.D., makes the following statement in his book.

As someone who has been an MD for over twenty years, I can tell you that yoga is quite simply the most powerful system of overall health and well-being I have ever seen. Even if you are currently among what might be called the temporarily healthy, as preventive medicine, yoga is as close to one-stop shopping as you can find. This single comprehensive system can reduce stress, increase flexibility, improve balance, promote strength, heighten cardiovascular conditioning, lower blood pressure, reduce overweight, strengthen bones, prevent injuries, lift mood, improve immune function, increase the oxygen supply to the tissues, heighten sexual functioning and fulfillment, foster psychological equanimity, and promote spiritual well-being….and that’s only a partical list.

For continuing my education in my yoga studies, this is one of the books that we are to read, to get ready for YogaFit Therapy course. As I delved into this book and the others, I’ll be posting a bit of what I’m learning.

For more information on Dr. McCall’s book, visit his site at
Yoga As Medicine – A Yoga Journal Book by Timothy McCall, M.D.

Yoga with Gaileee, E-RYT