page_title: Yoga as therapy
section_title: Biomedical claims for marketing purposes
hierarchical_section_title: Yoga as therapy / Types of claim / Biomedical claims for marketing purposes
caption_attribution_description: English: A student of Iyengar Yoga performing Uttitha Trikonasana, triangle pose, which is one of the basic standing poses.
context_page_description: Yoga as therapy is the use of yoga as exercise, consisting mainly of postures called asanas, as a gentle form of exercise and relaxation applied specifically with the intention of improving health. This form of yoga is widely practised in classes, and may involve meditation, imagery, breath work and music.
  At least three types of health claim have been made for yoga: magical claims for medieval haṭha yoga, including the power of healing; unsupported claims of benefits to organ systems from the practice of asanas; and more or less well supported claims of specific medical and psychological benefits from studies of differing sizes using a wide variety of methodologies.
  Systematic reviews have found beneficial effects of yoga on low back pain and depression, but despite much investigation little or no evidence for benefit for specific medical conditions. Study of trauma-sensitive yoga has been hampered by weak methodology.
context_section_description: Twentieth century advocates of some schools of yoga, such as B. K. S. Iyengar, have for various reasons made claims for the effects of yoga on specific organs, without adducing any evidence.
  The yoga scholar Suzanne Newcombe argues that this was one of several visions of yoga as in some sense therapeutic, ranging from medical to a more popular offer of health and well-being.
  The yoga scholar Andrea Jain describes these claims of Iyengar's in terms of "elaborating and fortifying his yoga brand" and "mass-marketing", calling Iyengar's 1966 book Light on Yoga "arguably the most significant event in the process of elaborating the brand". The yoga teacher Bernie Gourley notes that the book neither describes contraindications systematically, nor provides evidence for the claimed benefits. Jain suggests that "Its biomedical dialect was attractive to many." For example, in the book, Iyengar claims that the asanas of the Eka Pada Sirsasana cycle
  ...tone up the muscular, nervous and circulatory systems of the entire body. The spine receives a rich supply of blood, which increases the nervous energy in the chakras (the various nerve plexuses situated in the spine), the flywheels in the human body machine. These poses develop the chest and make the breathing fuller and the body firmer; they stop nervous trembling of the body and prevent the diseases which cause it; they also help to eliminate toxins by supplying pure blood to every part of the body and bringing the congested blood back to the heart and lungs for purification.
  The history of such claims was reviewed by William J. Broad in his 2012 book The Science of Yoga. Broad argues that while the health claims for yoga began as Hindu nationalist posturing, it turns out that there is ironically "a wealth of real benefits".
caption: Styles of yoga differ in their approach to the asanas. Iyengar Yoga emphasises correctness, seen here as a practitioner uses a yoga brick to attain correct alignment in Utthitha Trikonasana.[8]
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