Healing Effects
Iyengar also developed extensively ways of applying his practice to various ailments, diseases, and disorders. Many of these sources of suffering, such as chronic backache, immunodeficiency, high blood pressure, insomnia, depression and menopause, have specific programs of Iyengar yoga associated with them. Iyengar himself worked with patients after patients had myocardial infarctions. The asanas can be adjusted based on the patient’s stage of recovery. These programs are formulated in their most advanced form at the centre of Iyengar Yoga: the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute located in Pune, India.
There have been many studies performed on the effects of Iyengar yoga on patients with physical problems. In general, Iyengar yoga is useful in physical therapy because it assists in the manipulation of inflexible or injured areas. One study by Dr. Sharon Kolasinski et al. studied the effects of Iyengar yoga on symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knees. The 11 participants attended a weekly 90-minute session for eight weeks in which they practiced Iyengar yoga. After the program, they had reduced pain and disability. This study had some limitations in that only 11 patients were involved and there was no control group.
In another study, Iyengar yoga was shown to be promising as a complementary treatment for depression. Shapiro et al. performed this study in which 17 participants with major unipolar depression attended at least six sessions of Iyengar yoga. At the end, they reported a reduction in depression, anxiety, and anger. This was a pilot study with a single-group outcome design and no placebo or other control group. The study concluded that yoga is cost-effective and easy to implement and that it produces many beneficial emotional, psychological, behavioral, and biological effects.
Players of Manchester United FC, such as Ryan Giggs, have become students of Iyengar Yoga.
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