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Health & Fitness

WE .NESS

On The Cutting Edge from page 33

menting their work through detailed
patient studies, "we're trying to get more
and more insurers to cover what we do:'
says Fink, a native Detroiter who holds a
master's degree in public health from U-M.
"I fell in love with yoga in college says
Fink, a Commerce Township resident
whose doctor dad took her to her first
yoga class. "I was working in health care.
And it just came to me that this is what
health care needs."
Guided by a medical advisory board
of physicians, psychologists, therapists
and featuring 15 trained yoga therapists,
YogaMedics combines medical evidence
and protocol with yoga philosophy and
practice.
"In our western world, we won't do any-
thing without a study:' says Julie Levinson,
who runs the Vita yoga program at Henry
Ford Hospital, West Bloomfield (HFH),
just one of the many local hospitals that
now feature wellness centers.
Levinson of West Bloomfield leads
therapeutic yoga classes directed at
patients with cardiac problems, cancer,
multiple sclerosis, spinal issues or who are
recovering from surgery. Classes to combat
depression, alleviate menopause and ease
sleep are in development.
"It's about helping these patients make
the mind/body connection:' says Levinson,
who also holds community yoga classes.
"It's beyond the yoga postures. It's about
visualizations, deep relaxations, guided
imagery"
Despite the growing commitment by
hospitals to therapeutic yoga, many doc-
tors remain unconvinced.
"Physicians should take the blinders
down:' says HFH Dr. Michael Seidman,
M.D., a nationally recognized ear and
facial nerve surgeon and a skull-based and
acoustic neuroma surgeon who is medical
director of the HFH wellness center.
Approaching doctors "one at a time, I
do my best to get them to understand the
importance of utilizing our services:' says
the West Bloomfield resident who also is
considered an expert on the molecular
basis of aging.
"There is compelling medical evidence
that yoga can help:' says Seidman, whose
undergraduate degree in human nutrition
and medical degree are from U-M. "But it's
a hard sell:'
Some of that evidence has been col-
lected in Yoga As Medicine by Dr. Timothy
McCall. "As someone who has been an
M.D. for over 20 years, I can tell you that
yoga is simply the most powerful system
of overall health and well-being I have
ever seen:' McCall writes.
The book details medical evidence for
18 conditions, including alcoholism, asth-
ma, diabetes, high blood pressure, insom-

34

November 5 2009

Left: "Physicians should take the blinders down. Studies show many results of yoga therapy are beneficial," says Dr. Michael

Seidman, medical director of Henry Ford Hospital West Bloomfield's wellness center. Middle: "l feel like the Tin Man," says for-

mer dance teacher Barbara Fink, who uses yoga therapy to cope with multiple sclerosis." Right: "My students are a gift," says
yoga therapy teacher Mindy Eisenberg.

nia, neurological and neuromuscular
diseases and menopausal and menstrual
problems.

Making Headway
"It's such a new field:' Levinson says. "It
will take time to make headway with doc-
tors. We're on the cutting edge of some-
thing. We're the innovators."
"It's up and coming;' agrees Dr. William
Leutcher, M.D., a Southfield neurolo-
gist who prescribes yoga therapy for MS
patients (see related story). But he also pre-
dicts: "I don't know that this will be covered
by most insurances for a long time:'
"It's well established that both premeno-
pausal and postmenopausal women who
are physically active have a 30 to 40 per-
cent lower risk of developing breast cancer
compared to sedentary women:' says Dr.
Laura Freedman, M.D., a radiation oncolo-
gist at Providence Hospital in Southfield
and Novi.
She cites an M.D. Anderson Medical
Center study in which half of the 60
women undergoing radiation for breast
cancer attended yoga class during treat-
ment. Those who participated in the yoga
sessions reported less fatigue and daytime
sleepiness and better overall health, the
Huntington Woods resident reports.
"The stretching involved in yoga may
also help women retain good mobility
after surgery:' says Freedman, who gradu-
ated from U-M medical school.
"Science moves slowly:' says Dr. Arthur
Efros, M.D., a Southfield internist who
regularly practices yoga. "Everything
starts out not being paid for. Doctors are
wisely the gatekeepers. They need to see
the studies.
"What determines the quality of your
life is not your heart, not your liver. It's
your mobility:' says Efros, whose medical
degree is from WSU. Yoga helps you with
strength, flexibility and balance, which
are especially important starting in late

middle age.
"A large percentage of the elderly fall:
says Efros, who recommends yoga and
yoga therapy, especially to his older
patients. "It becomes not just the quality
but the safety of your life."
Lynn Medow of Yoga by Design leads
five "gentle yoga" classes a week at Karma
Yoga in Bloomfield Township that can
usher people into or back to regular yoga.
She also takes her yoga therapy practice
on the road, traveling to clients' homes to
help them recover from illness or injury or
combat the signs of aging. "I always want
to have a medical person involved."
Medow, who spent 22 years employed
at JARC in Farmington Hills, brings that
experience to her studies of yogic phi-
losophy and the universal principles of
alignment. She works with patients with
MS, Parkinson's disease, cancer, and those
referred by psychologists.
Insurance, she says, does cover clients
who have been injured in auto accidents.
"A doctor wanted to bring me into his
practice the Bloomfield Township resi-
dent says, but the insurance issue made it
impractical.
Unlike many yoga therapy programs,
several insurance plans do cover eating
disorder treatment at Inner Door in Royal
Oak, a licensed addiction clinic built
around Beverly Price's Reconnect With
Food program.
"We're a yoga-based program:' says
Price, a nutritionist, exercise physiologist
and yoga teacher from Huntington Woods.
"Many of our insurance contracts are
carved out that way." The staff includes
a psychiatrist, psychologist, social work-
ers, counselors, a chef, dietician and yoga
specialists.
"I get calls from all over the country
asking how to integrate yoga into eating
disorder therapy" Price says. "It's not just
about the poses. The philosophy is in
everything we do." I I

What is Yoga
Therapy (YT)?

A qualified yoga therapist guides
individuals on a healing path and
road to wellness.
YT is a multidimensional approach
tailored to the whole person and
utilizes the disciplines of structural
and therapeutic yoga, breathing,
meditation and relaxation tech-
niques. Lifestyle factors are taken
into account and recommendations
are made.
YT empowers individuals to feel
comfortable in their own bodies and
requires active participation in their
therapeutic plan.
YT compliments medical treat-
ment and is not a substitute for
clinical care.
— courtesy of Lynn Medow and
Mindy Eisenberg
For more information about yoga
therapy from those interviewed:
• Mindy Eisenberg
www.yogaspiritwellness.com
(248) 417-5985
• Sarah Fink
www.yogamedics.net
(248) 225-0275
• Julie Levinson
www.henryfordwestbloomfield.
com/vita
(248) 325-3870
• Lynn Medow
www.yogabydesign.us
(248) 939-1367
• Beverly Price
www.reconnectwithfood.com
(248) 336-2868
• Suzanna Ran
www.yogatherapy-om.com
(248) 507-4008

