Cuando le preguntaron al erudito en Yoga Desikachar la diferencia entre su acercamiento y el de un médico,contestó: “Para cualquier persona, sea cual sea su tipo de sufrimiento, debe haber un toque humano. Estoy tratando con una personalidad, un ser humano , no con un cuaderno. Quiero ver a la persona, no los rayos X, no los resultados de laboratorio. El hecho de que yo los mire, los vea, les tome el pulso, marcan la diferencia con la persona. Creo que el toque humano se está perdiendo en estos tiempos de especialización. Espero que vuelva” Por Leslie Kaminoff
- Como educadores o terapeutas de yoga, no tratamos condiciones, educamos a las personas. Lo más probable es que nuestros clientes ya hayan visto a profesionales de la salud cuyo enfoque se centra en sus condiciones. Por lo tanto, el enfoque del terapeuta de yoga debe estar en lo que todavía funciona bien con la persona, no en lo que salió mal. Incluso en el día más doloroso de la vida de una persona, hay incalculables miles de millones de procesos de vida sin obstáculos que suceden dentro de ellos. Esta es la base biológica del concepto de prana. Mientras haya prana, puede haber curación.
- Si una persona respira, puede mover su cuerpo y puede enfocar su atención, puede practicar yoga. Los clientes obtendrán el máximo beneficio de las cosas más simples que les enseñemos, no de las más complejas. Las prácticas más sencillas implican aprender a moverse y respirar al mismo tiempo, integrando el cuerpo, la respiración y la mente.
- Cuando alguien aprende una nueva forma de respirar y moverse, por definición está desaprendiendo sus antiguas formas de respirar y moverse. Los beneficios del yoga no surgen solo después de dominar las prácticas, sino a lo largo del camino del aprendizaje, a medida que se descubren y liberan los viejos hábitos. Siempre les recuerdo a mis alumnos que el yoga no se trata de hacer las posturas, se trata de deshacer lo que se interpone en el camino de las posturas.
- Incluso un pequeño cambio en algo que un cliente repite mucho se suma a una enorme cantidad de cambio. Esa es una de las razones por las que los terapeutas de yoga prestan atención a mejorar los hábitos de respiración, de pie y de caminar de un cliente.
- Involucrar a un cliente en una consulta es mucho más empoderador que administrar una corrección o una “solución”. Es importante recordar que no es lo mismo un enfoque terapéutico del yoga que una fisioterapia que emplea posturas de yoga. Los mejores educadores de yoga fomentan una atmósfera de aprendizaje y auto-indagación, en lugar de simplemente ofrecer técnicas mecánicas. Tratamos de hacer que nuestros estudiantes sean conscientes de sí mismos y autosuficientes, y que nosotros mismos quedemos obsoletos lo más rápido posible.
Leslie Kaminoff es un educador de yoga inspirado en la tradición de T.K.V. Desikachar. Es coautor del éxito de ventas Yoga Anatomy y colaborador de una gran cantidad de contenido digital relacionado con la enseñanza clínica individual en breathingproject.com.
by Leslie Kaminoff
When asked about the main difference between his approach and that of a physician, yoga scholar T. K. V. Desikachar said, “For anybody, whatever their type of suffering may be, there must be a human touch. I am dealing with a personality, a human being—not with sheaves of paper. I want to look at the person, not the X-ray, not the lab tests, etc. The fact that I look at them, I see them, I take the pulse—these things make such a difference to the person. I think it is this human touch that may be receding to the background in this great specialization of modern times. I hope it will come back.”
After establishing the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in 1976, Desikachar began to oversee the training of other yoga therapists. For many years, he continued to conduct the initial intake of new patients and assign each to an appropriate teacher. Of this process, he conceded that the most difficult decision wasn’t what to teach, but who would do the teaching: Who among the teachers he trained would fit best with this person? He knew that the initial protocols he suggested to the teachers were less significant than how those practices would change as the teacher’s and student’s relationship evolved.
Out of respect for the individual nature of yoga therapy, Desikachar never proposed standardized treatments for specific conditions. “It is not possible for me to say that we have specific solutions for specific conditions,” Desikachar said. “I wish it was, because it would be easier, but the more we see people, the more we have to adapt. For asthma or diabetes, sometimes the same treatment works for both diagnoses. But sometimes, for two different people with the same type of problem, different courses must be given. What is important is the relationship between the teacher and the student.”
Desikachar never wavered in his defense of the individual nature of yoga instruction. His example continues to be an inspiration to me and to countless other therapists, teachers, and students across the globe. Over the course of nearly four decades in this field, and thousands of hours spent practicing what Desikachar taught me, I’ve established the following set of principles that guide me as I help my clients.
1. As yoga educators or therapists, we do not treat conditions, we educate people. Our clients have most likely already seen healthcare professionals whose approach focuses on their conditions. Therefore, the yoga therapist’s focus should be on what’s still going right with a person, not on what has gone wrong. Even on the most pain-filled day of a person’s life, there are untold billions of unimpeded life processes happening within them. This is the biological basis of the concept of prana. As long as there’s prana, there can be healing.
2. If a person is breathing, can move their body, and can focus their attention, they can practice yoga. Clients will derive the maximum benefit from the simplest things we teach them, not the most complex. The simplest practices involve learning how to move and breathe at the same time—integrating body, breath, and mind.
3. When someone learns a new way of breathing and moving, they are by definition unlearning their old ways of breathing and moving. The benefits of yoga do not arise only after the practices are mastered, but all along the path of learning, as old habits are uncovered and released. I’m always reminding my students that yoga is not about doing the poses—it’s about undoing what’s in the way of the poses.
4. Even a tiny bit of change in something a client does a lot of adds up to a tremendous amount of change. That is one the reasons yoga therapists pay attention to improving a client’s breathing, standing, and walking habits.
5. Engaging a client in an inquiry is far more empowering than administering a correction or a “fix.” It is important to remember that a therapeutic approach to yoga is not the same as physical therapy that employs yoga postures. The best yoga educators encourage an atmosphere of learning and self-inquiry, as opposed to merely offering mechanical techniques. We try to make our students self-aware and self-sufficient, and ourselves obsolete as quickly as possible.
Leslie Kaminoff is a yoga educator inspired by the tradition of T.K.V. Desikachar. He is an internationally recognized specialist with four decades’ experience in the fields of yoga and breath anatomy. He leads workshops for many of the leading yoga associations, schools and training programs in the world. Kaminoff is the co-author of the best-selling Yoga Anatomy, and curator of a wealth of digital content related to clinical one-on-one teaching at breathingproject.com.
