{Guest Post} Doctors Who Do Yoga

My dear friend, and fellow blogger, Sharon P. is a yoga devotee and just returned from a medicine and yoga symposium in Colorado.  She blogs from MamasteNYC and is an active contributor to i heart my yogi and elephant journal.

Sign me up. What’s better than having your doctor practice yoga. Imagine the benefits.

Last weekend I attended the Second Annual Copper Mountain Pose Medicine & Yoga Symposium in Colorado. This is the brainchild of Dr. Satkirin Khalsa,  a board certified  physician in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has a fascinating past, having met Mother Teresa and Sir Edmund Hillary, and an even more fascinating future. You heard it here first — she is on the cutting edge of changing the health care system in our country. To put it simply, she wants physicians to focus on wellness not dis-ease.

Satkirin says: “By reaching health care providers, in teaching them yoga for their own health and wellness, my hope is they will share this valuable therapeutic practice with their patients across America.”

So with the beautiful scenery and eclectic mix of folk, we were ready for an enlightening and mind opening weekend. The physicians in attendance were there to learn, practice and gain continuing educational credits, CMEs, which they have to do in order to keep their license. The lectures ran from oncology to heart health, nutrition to insurance.

The lectures were interspersed with yoga classes and meditation. This is where the beauty of the conference was significant. It was the subtle lessons that Satkirin and the others were teaching. It was in those classes that the doctors and health care workers began to realize the calm that came over them once a yoga class was finished. And there was no Sanskrit to confuse anyone.

Satkirin explained the physiology in a language that they could absorb.

Like when you take a deep breath, all the areas of the lungs are fired up. In turn the organs begin to function properly.

Now, this is program in its infancy and there is a lot of work to be done. But think for a minute, how beautiful would it be if the next time you take your little one in for a check up, your doctor could sit down and do two minutes of deep breathing with them. If he/she could explain the values of eating properly and taking time out to just chill. Imagine the health care professionals prescribing a mommy and me yoga class instead of a prescription.

I’m not saying that there isn’t value in the system, the way it is. But I am posing this to think about. Our country is in a healthcare crisis. Childhood obesity is at an alarming level. More children are diagnosed with problems that, just a decade ago, were non existent. And I’m not even going to address the health problems of moms and dads.

I’m just raising this question. What if, the next time a doctor’s visit is in order, you ask if he/she does yoga? And if not, would he/she be willing to incorporate that into their practice. If they would…I’ll give you Satkirin’s info.

{About the Contributor: Sharon Pingitore, better known as Mamaste, is a yoga teacher by passion and people-connector by default. Some of her duties include (but aren’t limited to): virtual manager, eVision board designer, recruiter, editor, professional playlist maker, reporter, ambassador, blogger, Pinterest pro, Facebook fanatic, and head cheerleader. If any of these “jobs” intrigue you, send her an email and she’ll be glad to explain! mamastenyc@gmail.com  Follow her @mamastenj }