Therapeutic Yoga Platform Launches, Helping Protect The Public From Unsafe Yoga

MELBOURNE, Australia - May 28, 2017 - PRLog -- YogaMate.org, a global platform championing the therapeutic application of Yoga has publicly launched showcasing the knowledge of 50+ of the world's foremost thought leaders in Yoga Therapy. The aim: to promote the safe & smart therapeutic application of Yoga, provide tools and resources that ensure Yoga is accessible to everyone and help the public connect with qualified Yoga Professionals.

A surge in clinical trials citing the physical, mental and emotional benefits of mindfulness, meditation, breathwork and movement (i.e., 'Yoga') has sent the public seeking Yoga in droves¹. The healthcare industry has taken notice and doctors are referring patients to try Yoga, with increasing frequency; but while Yoga can indeed be therapeutic, not all styles are and some practices can be extremely unsafe for certain individuals.

Among those that need to be particularly careful are seniors, prenatal, and individuals with health challenges. If your teacher isn't well-qualified, or you attend a power yoga class instead of a restorative class, you could end up with a trip to the ER, rather than finding the relief you were after.

"As a Yoga Teacher myself, I have attended a number of classes where I have left greatly concerned by the instruction (or lack there-of) being given by the teacher. Unfortunately, the risk of injury can be great when Yoga is not taught safely',  states Ann Marie Johnston, YogaMate's Founding Director.

Though well intentioned, often times teachers simply don't know what they don't know. Yoga is an unregulated industry and at the moment, anyone can call themselves a Yoga teacher. Especially when there is a health concern to contend with, it's imperative that you seek out the 'right' teacher for you, someone who is both qualified and experienced.

"Yoga has immense therapeutic benefits that are accessible to everybody. I see how Yoga is portrayed in the media and I hear people suggest they can't 'do Yoga', but in actual fact anyone who can breathe can do yoga. I realized my calling was to help expand public awareness of what 'Yoga' actually entails, so I've spent the past 2+ years developing YogaMate http://yogamate.org to do this; to help people realize they don't need to be young, thin and flexible (https://www.yogamate.org/article/thin-young-flexible...-n...), to help teachers keep their students safe, and to empower individuals to use Yogic tools to help them on a journey towards better health", continues Ann Marie, who ultimately wants to see Yogic Tools recognized as a crucial addition to school curricula.

BETTER HEALTH AND WELL-BEING FOR EVERY BODY:

Having personally experienced significant benefits to her own personal health (https://www.yogamate.org/article/how-yoga-changed-my-life...), Ann Marie believes it's her responsibility and personal duty to help ensure Yoga is made accessible to all – and to help the public better understand just what Yoga is.

Unlike many online Yoga sites that are made for healthy, younger, general populations; YogaMate provides evidence-informed literature, research and sample practices (digital or printed out) on how one might use Yoga to assist with health challenges (https://www.yogamate.org/health-benefits) like Stress (https://www.yogamate.org/health-benefits/mental-&-emotional-health/stress-54) and Lower Back Pain (https://www.yogamate.org/health-benefits/musculoskeletal-&-neurological-conditions/lower-back-pain-61), to lesser known areas of benefit such as COPD (https://www.yogamate.org/health-benefits/cardiorespiratory-endocrine-&-cancer/copd-102), Pelvic Floor Health (https://www.yogamate.org/health-benefits/optimizing-health-&-wellbeing/pelvic-floor-health-68) and Schizophrenia (https://www.yogamate.org/health-benefits/mental-&-emotional-health/schizophrenia-56).

In addition to the experts featured on the site, the platform also allows students to follow their own teachers to receive home practices.

Subscription membership provides access to tools, like the 'Better Health' search tools. These tools (one on therapeutic application of poses and another on caution & injuries) help teachers keep their students safe, and could reduce liability, particularly for new teachers who may not have immediate memory access to questions like, 'which poses and breathing exercises should I avoid for this woman who has just told me she has low blood pressure?'

CONNECTING WITH QUALIFIED YOGA SPECIALISTS

Working one-on-one with a Yoga Professional who can assess your individual needs and who specializes in Yoga Therapy (https://www.yogamate.org/article/exploring-yoga-and-the-integrative-model-of-health-383) can make all of the difference towards progressing towards your health goals.

YogaMate's directory helps the public quickly identify qualified Yoga professionals, businesses and charities that specialize in the therapeutic application of Yoga. You can even choose to filter specialists by those who work remotely via Skype, which many do.

The focus on qualified is one of YogaMate's points of differentiation. Specialists featured on YogaMate's Directory have a minimum 500hrs Yoga Teacher, but most are Certified Yoga Therapists with 1000's of hours' qualifications.

1 Yoga in America Study (http://www.yogajournal.com/page/yogainamericastudy)

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ABOUT YOGAMATE:

"YogaMate is poised to become the global hub for the sharing of quality ideas and practice plans for all those wishing to support their well-being through yoga and yoga therapy.

As a person who has worked for decades toward elevating standards for the training of yoga teachers and yoga therapists, I am encouraged and excited by YogaMate's commitment to evidence-informed high standards that will give confidence to students and practitioners alike", states Leigh Blashki, C-IAYT and past President of Yoga Australia.

Researchers join in the praise:

"The biomedical research evidence for the efficacy of yoga for special populations and as a therapeutic intervention is becoming substantial and is growing rapidly.  Alongside this growth in research is a remarkable increase in the use of yoga and yoga therapy in the general public, in health care and clinical settings, and even in public schools.  Yoga practices are slowly transitioning from the yoga studio and yoga ashram into mainstream society.  YogaMate is an excellent, well-designed and comprehensive resource for yoga professionals to enhance their ability to teach and train students and patients more systematically, knowledgeably, and effectively", states Sat Bir Khalsa, Yoga Researcher and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard University.

Contact:
Ann Marie Johnston
annmarie@yogamate.org
+61404514438

Images to support this press release can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zkh4bcnb2dptuno/AADGqnqF9uIFe05WE-p6J3hBa?dl=0