With the staggering cost of healthcare on the island, Joanne Wohlmuth is answering the call to take responsibility.The yoga therapist said that with more than 60 per cent of residents overweight, 14 per cent living with diabetes and the leading cause of death being from circulatory system diseases, she hoped to shoulder some of the burden with her sessions.“We continue to hear that lowering the cost of healthcare in Bermuda is not just the responsibility of major stakeholders, but of every one of us,” Mrs Wohlmuth said. “Some individuals, the ones whom we see gracing the door of our yoga studio, are already prepared to do something to make themselves feel better and are coming to us for help.”She said that although yoga as a practice was therapeutic, there were significant differences between a yoga teacher and a yoga therapist.Citiksa is the therapeutic application of yoga, which she and the International Association of Yoga Therapists defined as “the process of empowering individuals to progress towards improved health and wellbeing through the application of the philosophy and practice of yoga”.“People want to practise yoga not just for general wellness, but to address particular issues that they have,” she said. “Backache, back pain, hip issues, structural issues, problems with the neck and feet, carpal tunnel syndrome. They may not get that addressed in a general yoga class. “What a yoga therapist does is show one how to do it and work with the person so that they can do it correctly.“This becomes more important as more yoga studios open up in Bermuda and doctors make referrals not knowing the difference in yoga and yoga therapy.”She described modern yoga as a more “athletic practice” — a form of exercise — but traditional yoga is a tool for self-investigation and self-development.“A lot of people talk about doing yoga or practising yoga in so many different ways, but people really don’t understand about how it works as a therapeutic modality,” she said.“Generally, yoga helps. It will make you feel better and improve your health but there are also ways it can cause more injury than benefit.“Particularly when you’re looking for something to help you in healing the body and in the way of improving your whole wellbeing through the practice.“It could be mental health, physical health, spiritual health. You become more conscious of the way your body feels, whether it is through what you’re eating or how you’re living your life or the stress you’re combated with.“Once you get that good feeling of doing the practice, you want to do the kinds of things that support that.”Rather than focusing on yoga poses, yoga therapists focus on their clients’ needs. Their job is to understand and assess clients through listening, questioning and observing.Therapy begins with an assessment to “talk about your overall health and what your concerns are”. She looks at how people stand. “Often one shoulder may be higher than the other, the feet may go out or in, the knees may go out to the side, which then causes a problem in the hips,” she said.Her regular class “Structure, Strength and Core” addresses many of these complaints. Another — Hips, Pelvis, Legs and Feet — looks at common problem areas. But yoga therapy goes deeper. “It could be structural, it could be mental — anxiety, insomnia, depression — and the way in which you work with them is different”, she said.“For the mind, we work with breathing practices. “The mind is like a restless monkey. It’s going to continuously make you run to that thing you think is going to bring relief. One minute you’re running to the right, the next you’re running to the left.“What we’re told to do in the practice of yoga, meditation and mindfulness is to step back and look at what the mind is doing.Mrs Wohlmuth started practising yoga while at New York University. “I was stressed, trying to get through things, and just needed to figure out something that would do that. I went to The Yoga Centre and never left. I’ve been training and learning ever since. A registered teacher through Yoga Alliance since 1976, she cofounded The Yoga Centre in 1994. She has since certified in Cardiac Yoga Therapy, Yoga for Depression, Yoga for Grief, Structural Yoga Therapy, Yoga for Cancer; Pain Care Yoga Therapy, Mindfulness Yoga Therapy and Ayurveda for diet, health and nutrition.There are more than 3,000 certified yoga therapists in the world — Mrs Wohlmuth is Bermuda’s first and only. A yoga therapist must have 800 hours of yoga therapy training“Yoga is for everybody — the sick, the healthy, the old, the young, the rich and the poor,” she said. “[But] yoga therapy is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ deal.”“My latest thing is really looking at yoga as therapy so that we can in some small way help to bring down the cost of healthcare in Bermuda. “Yoga therapy is not a substitute for good allopathic healthcare, but we go hand in hand with clients and their healthcare professionals.”As the island’s doctors become more aware of alternative therapies, she hopes to guide them in the right direction. “It is meant to complement, not replace mainstream medicine,” she said. “Helping doctors understand the difference between a standard yoga class and a yoga therapy class is paramount to establishing collaborative healthcare management.“The cost of healthcare in Bermuda trumps that of all other countries in the developed world, save that of America.“I strongly believe yoga therapy offers a bridge in helping clients help themselves.”To learn more e-mail: yogaontherock@logic.bm. The Yoga Centre, 7 Victoria Street, Hamilton[naviga:ul][naviga:li][/naviga:li][/naviga:ul]