As yoga continues to expand its reach to those who never imagined themselves stretching into a downward dog pose or reaching their feet towards the sky in headstand, the practice is gaining new therapeutic credibility.

Today's New York Times covers yoga's increasingly positive health effects — specifically on healing and recovery. Yoga as therapy is nothing new — it has been used to treat and prevent practically every ailment known to humankind since its inception in India thousands and thousands of years ago (check out Iyengar's Light on Yoga for a solid introduction), but yoga classes geared toward specific illnesses are something to report about:

“People with chronic illnesses from AIDS and cancer to osteoporosis and Crohn’s disease are increasingly turning to yoga classes that single out their specific ailments . . . many patients find that the sessions, which make them feel more comfortable, also lessen some of their symptoms and the side effects of their medications. And because students exercise alongside others with their same medical problem, the classes also provide emotional support,” writes reporter Carol E. Lee.

Cynthia Mencher, a 69-year-old breast cancer survivor, began practicing yoga five years ago at the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. “That gave me back a sense of reinhabiting my body,” she told the Times.

As if on cue, medical skeptics chimed in on yoga therapy's limitations, warning that it threatens to be misconstrued as cure for disease. But yoga therapists aren't making any promises, they are simply trying to improve the present moment, and perhaps the near future, for each of their sick students.

“Why not take advantage of these practices and healing modalities that make a difference in the quality of life while you’re go through chemotherapy and radiation?” said Jo Sgammato, of Integral Yoga Institute in Manhattan.

[via New York Times]

(Photo: Kwswings.com)