Yoga and Chiropractic- the Perfect Union

From origins dating back nearly 5,000 years, yoga has become the fastest growing personal practice for health and wellness in the world today.  Classes are offered in practically every gym, school, and health club.  Its principles of alignment, flexibility, and energy flow are receiving a high level of acceptance and being embraced in the way Chiropractic itself has always hoped to receive. Many of yoga’s tenets are being explored and finding broad acceptance in the fields of science, medicine and psychology.

The growing popularity of yoga offers us, as chiropractors, a great professional opportunity.  Who better than the chiropractor to be the health care practitioner the yoga community turns to for help and advice?  Who better to serve as the expert on alignment and structural issues? But our patients who are yoga teachers and practitioners need to know that we understand the depths of their practices and that we are the true authority on matters concerning yoga.

Chiropractic and yoga have always had similar intentions and philosophies. Yoga’s attention to precise postural alignment and its understanding of the relationship between structure and health is certainly not foreign to the chiropractic way of thinking.  Additionally, Yoga’s concept of Prana, or life force, is nearly identical to chiropractic’s philosophy of Innate Intelligence.  Furthermore, yoga therapy, a popular offshoot of yoga, is a sophisticated approach to injury and rehabilitation. Chiropractors would find the work being done in some yoga studios today very impressive.

But yoga is not a panacea.  Practicing yoga can injure just as easily as it can heal. Yoga practiced with incorrect alignment is structurally damaging and will eventually lead to injury.  In fact, orthopedists are reporting increased numbers of injuries directly attributable to the practice of yoga.  Many yoga teachers are still untrained in anatomy and alignment principles.  They may unwittingly push their students beyond their limits. Also, teachers often do not have the depth of knowledge needed to properly supervise students who come to class with various injuries. 

And yet, a yoga practice that utilizes alignment as its core principle will be therapeutic and will stimulate health and healing.  Asanas practiced mindfully and accurately are an elegant delivery system for structural alignment.  For it is in the application of alignment principles, not the asanas themselves, that the restorative power of yoga essentially resides.