Key Concepts: Therapeutic Yoga Yoga Psychology for Everyone

From healing oneself to healing others

- Dr. Atul V. Pednekar

It has been acknowledged globally by most leading authorities like WHO that ill mental health is the biggest crisis facing humanity today. Coming from a modern medical background, I look at yoga as a therapeutic modality that can greatly help in addressing this mental health crisis.

Since 1998 I have been working with The Yoga Institute on various aspects of therapeutic yoga that can help alleviate mental disorders like anxiety, depression, and stress-related issues plaguing our modern society. The breakthrough happened by 2005 when the Institute launched Yoga Psychotherapy Programs on mental health led by me.

Svadhyaya and Emo-energy Reset: There is no doubt in my mind that all of us land at The Institute searching for some kind of healing. Yoga wisdom tells us that we need to address our mind to find real and lasting healing for our problems. Hence, once the Sadhaka has gained at least some competency in learning yoga practices, the person can then explore safely the mind and find what causes created the problems in the first place.

The aim of yoga teaching is to bring clarity in our life. The aim of the Svadhyaya program is to work with the clarity achieved and slowly start knowing oneself. It is this process of self-discovery that is the essence of Svadhyaya. This is possible only when the mind can grasp its own underlying nature (Sva) through Yogic means. We offer specific techniques for gaining this kind of experiential knowledge collectively called Svadhyaya.