This just in: a review of my book, ‘Yoga As Therapy’ in the latest edition of the ‘International Journal of Yoga Therapy’ number 17 (2007) by Matthew Krepps and Louanne Lawson. Many thanks for a great review, and I am working to address and incorporate the insightful comments and suggestions at the end of the review!
Doug Keller. Yoga as Therapy: Ground Breaking Insights Into the Use of Yoga as Therapy. DoYoga Productions (www.doyoga.com). 2006. Softcover spiral bound, 428 pages, $45. Reviewed by Matthew Krepps and Louanne Lawson.
Doug Keller has written an important new book on Yoga Therapy. It is a detailed study of structure and action, and how the practice of posture and breath are therapeutic in some situations. It also attempts to ground Yoga therapy itself within the larger context of the Ayurvedic worldview, particularly Ayurveda's concern for how practice can benefit the flow of prana in the body.
The structural therapeutic aspect of the book is geared toward dealing with problems caused by imbalances in muscle tone and the corresponding tensions in connective tissue structures. Keller's basic orientation toward Yoga's therapeutic value is that practice is inherently therapeutic if done in a sensitive way that respects the design of the organism.
The text of the book can be roughly divided into three sections. The first section includes chapters on the categories and approaches of Yoga as therapy, principles of therapeutic work, and the Ayurvedic underpinnings of Yoga therapy. The second section addresses Doug's unique perspective on structure, including what he calls the postural, phasic, core, spiral, and shoulder sutras. The third section addresses specific problems, including rotator cuff injuries, problems with the feet and lower leg, conditions of the knees, hips, and lower back, and specific approaches to working with people with scoliosis.
One of the principles Keller presents is the idea that movement in a therapeutically oriented practice is a combination of engagement and release, both of which happen simultaneously. For instance, he states that the Stretching that happens in Yoga postures is "eccentric" in which muscles are first engaged (contracted to some degree), and then lengthened, while the initial contraction is maintained. This emphasis is useful for several reasons. First, it ensures that stretched muscles are supported by conscious opposition, which assists alignment in the joints, and the flow of energy in the practice. It also ensures that muscles are strengthened as they are simultaneously lengthened. This process of exploring opposition in a stretch can help reveal and re-pattern muscular imbalances.
The second section is Keller's approach to understanding both structure and myofascial problems. Keller's approach derives from the work of Thomas Meyers, author of Anatomy Trains. Keller's concept of the body sutras-groups of related muscle and connective tissue that accomplish the broad strokes of postural movement is not essentially new. The Viniyoga tradition has long classified categories of movement, and the postures that correspond to them, in much the same way: for instance, his "postural sutra" corresponds to the classic designation purvattana, or back bend; his "phasic sutra" corresponds to pascimattana, or forward bend, and his "spiral sutra" outlines parivritta. However, his "core sutra" is an addition to this older paradigm, and is very useful because of the psoas muscle's unique role in balanced posture. Keller provides plenty of detailed analysis of the psoas and the other muscles of this sutra. Keller overtly states that this conceptual model of the body is designed to teach the student "how to see" the functioning of posture in a way that simplifies diagnosis and understanding, and this is indeed useful in my experience.
When working with an injury, the task of isolating specific muscles can be very difficult, and is often unnecessary because muscles work in groups. Sticking with this kind of conceptual orientation does simplify diagnosis and application, once the approach is well understood.
The individual chapters on the sutras, and those on working with specific problems like scoliosis, are very helpful. Doug begins with clear definitions of what scoliosis is and then outlines the structural and functional types, along with simple tests to determine which one you may be confronted with. There are depictions of the major curve combinations and then a section on how the sutra paradigm relates to various combinations of those curves. This sets the stage for examining a sequence in which he shows how he might modify and sequence Yoga postures to oppose, open, and strengthen the condition. There is much of value to be learned here, and these sections can be studied individually in the manner of a reference text.
In keeping with the task of teaching the student to see the body in a comprehensive, interrelated way, many excellent illustrations are included. Specific muscular attachment points, groups of muscles, and key rotations are shown in ways that make the anatomy of each sutra plainly visible. There are also ample illustrations of how basic Yoga postures relate to the sutras, along with depictions of how various adjustments in those postures work to either strengthen or release parts of the sutra.
Doug is an enthusiastic writer who has a lot to say. The book is a comprehensive overview and suffers a bit as whole in the way that overviews do: In the end, it is difficult to clearly see how the Ayurvedic concepts in the beginning of the book inform the therapy strategies in the later parts. (This doesn't mean they don't, by the way.) The reader would benefit from a comprehensive concept map showing the connections among chakras, srotamsi, marma, and all of the other outlined phenomena, as well as a glossary of terms.
Matthew Krepps owns Barefoot Studio in Little Rock, AR, with his wife Holly. His orientation to Yoga practice as therapy is principally influenced by the tradition of Krishnamacharya, mainly though the work of Gary Kraftsow. Louanne Lawson, PhD, RN, is a nurse educator and Yoga instructor; as a Yoga instructor, she seeks to create an environment where practitioners can shift from intellectual understanding to inward experience.
