ASIA PACIFIC YOGA THERAPY ASSOCIATION
Asia Pacific Yoga Therapy Association
Founded in the year 2016, Asian Yoga Therapy Association is one of the first endeavors in the field of yoga with a mission to collaborate yoga therapy professionals and institutions across Asian subcontinent.
APYTA was created to realize a long-standing wish among yoga therapists and physicians to connect, share each other’s expertise through networking, exchange programs and standardize yoga therapy.
Our Vision
- To promote evidence-based yoga therapy as a complementary medical science.
- To create a forum for professionals involved in yoga therapy: doctors, yoga therapists, and yoga teachers.
- To network all the stakeholders, to facilitate interaction and collaboration between them.
- To establish standards for yoga therapy based clinical services and yoga therapy association.
- Dissemination of knowledge through official annual international conferences, seminars, and disease-specific yoga therapy workshops.
- To create a directory of practitioners and therapists
- To create job and business opportunities globally.
APYTA is dedicated to the noble cause of serving the ailing and to promote a positive lifestyle through sincere and devoted service. The association strives to take the latest techniques and research in the field of yoga to make it available to the remotest parts of the world.
What is yoga therapy and how is it different from regular yoga? Yoga therapy is a system of healing in which any specific ailment is approached in a holistic way. It generally deals with non-communicable diseases (NCD’s) and lifestyle disorders. Whereas regular yoga is a way of life that can be practiced for positive health and spiritual growth.
History
Our founders are well known as the pioneers in the field of yoga therapy. Their extensive research has contributed towards the promotion of health and ineffectively treating NCD. Their work dating back to the early 1980s has laid a path towards making Yoga an evidence-based practice for human maladies.
Our chief patron Dr. H. R. Nagendra, Chancellor of S-VYASA, a world-renowned Yoga University, is a well-known expert in the field of yoga and related sciences since the year 1975. His association with the Ministry of Health, Government of India’s projects speaks for his commendable position in the field of yoga. It is worthwhile to mention that he is the monitoring mentor for IJOY - the International Journal of Yoga (ISSN # 0973-6131), a multidisciplinary tri-annual scientific Yoga journal, dedicated to Yoga research and applications. His approach, which is a gurukula way of education combined with modern scientific methods, has taken S-VYASA to its peak of excellence.
Laying emphasis on using an integrated approach in the treatment of ailments he has led many studies, research projects and laid the foundation for many organizations and associations. Chairperson Dr. Nagarathna, an M.D. in modern medicine has dedicated her life in the field of yoga therapy for over four decades and has created a model of the holistic health care system. Vice President Kazuo Keishin Kimura, who has devoted himself to making traditional yogic wisdom accessible in Japan, has been contributing internationally to the development of Yoga therapy through the medium of books. He has also established the Japan Yoga Therapy Society in 2003. Their valuable study papers published in peer-reviewed journals and recognized worldwide by experts and fraternities could be used as guiding lights by APYTA members in their journey in the field of yoga research.
APYTA - Timeline
A historic moment for India and other founding members - Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, and Sri Lanka - when they came together to form an association of yoga professionals and practitioners of all levels across the globe.
It was aimed at bringing the path-breaking scientific-based research and advanced integrated yoga programs and developments on to a common platform. To make them accessible to the entire human community to achieve a positive healthy holistic life through professionally trained practitioners. Based on a futuristic vision APYTA founders laid a path to record the valuable research information and while doing so, bringing to light the ancient wisdom possessed by seers and gurus in the evolution of yoga dating back to hundreds of years of Indian history to the present date.
This prestigious association in the future would prove to be the torchbearer for the entire yoga community and for yoga, bringing its rightful recognition as a safe alternate science to treat different ailments worldwide. APYTA would in reality become a pioneer in promoting evidence-based yoga therapy as a complementary medical science.
It was aimed at bringing the path-breaking scientific-based research and advanced integrated yoga programs and developments on to a common platform. To make them accessible to the entire human community to achieve a positive healthy holistic life through professionally trained practitioners. Based on a futuristic vision APYTA founders laid a path to record the valuable research information and while doing so, bringing to light the ancient wisdom possessed by seers and gurus in the evolution of yoga dating back to hundreds of years of Indian history to the present date.
This prestigious association in the future would prove to be the torchbearer for the entire yoga community and for yoga, bringing its rightful recognition as a safe alternate science to treat different ailments worldwide. APYTA would in reality become a pioneer in promoting evidence-based yoga therapy as a complementary medical science.
The first AYTC for the year 2016 was held at Shanghai Ever Bright International Hotel, Xu Hui District, China. The aim of the conference was to bring together the yoga community of Doctors, Researchers, Therapists, and Teachers. The forum helped to enable networking, interacting, and collaboration of Institutions pioneering in the field of yoga.
The second AYTC for the year 2017 was held at Miryang City, South Korea. Aiming at Global Peace through a Healthy Mind, this conference brought the world’s leading Yoga Masters and researchers from various countries to a common platform to share their professional experience on "Yoga for Health and Global Peace".
The third AYTC – 2018 held in Sendai, Japan, with a theme - Yoga Therapy -Global Trends and Future Directions - in collaboration with 16th Japan Yoga Therapy Society. The two-day conferences were aimed at highlighting the international growth of yoga therapy, its potential, and its role in integrative medicine and challenges to maintain high standards.
The fourth AYTC, 2019, was held at Prama Resort, Bali, Indonesia. This conference aimed to discuss and deliberate the role of Yoga Therapy in the field of medical science, and its application in terms of neuroscience, sports medicine, and regimen for selective common ailments.