First Annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research

Larry Payne, PhD, founding president of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), Richard Miller, PhD, co-founder of IAYT, and 800 participants in the growing field of yoga therapy met in Los Angeles, January 18–21, 2007, to kick off the first annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research.
The symposium provided a forum for yoga teachers, therapists and researchers
to experience the breadth of the field, to showcase important new research and
to address public-policy issues stemming from the emergence of yoga as a complementary healthcare discipline.

Major program topics included an examination of what yoga therapy is; yoga therapy as a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) profession; yoga therapy and research; how yoga therapy addresses structural, physiological and emotional challenges; and how to keep the yoga in yoga therapy. A group of speakers noted, “Yoga therapy is in the process of being integrated in the U.S., and as agents of that process, it is critical that we be discerning participants.
Let’s decide what yoga therapy is and practice it. Let’s not allow ourselves to be watered down, stuffed full of nonyoga ideas and perspectives, and thereby lessen our important, essential contributions to medicine in the U.S.”

To learn more about the event, see www.sytar.org.