I believed that the psychologic and physiologic benefits of yoga were as portable as a yoga mat. I believed that when brought into the hospital, it would fulfill its promise to reconnect us to our center and convey the wisdom and clarity we were all searching for. Yoga is, after all, the original experiential learning, why wouldn’t it work in medical education? All of the intangible competencies of medical practice were embedded in the postures and meditative practices. Lessons that would simply lack power if offered as observations or in didactics had the potential to transform when self-discovered.
It’s been difficult watching it fail.
One issue is that it was brought in to augment resilience in individuals, in institutions that weren’t addressing more systemic issues. A physician struggling with the documentation requirements of the electronic medical record is documenting at lunch, not attending yoga. Workload and compression of time dictate the day’s schedule. Additionally, by nature of where and when the courses were offered, the yoga itself was reduced to its barest elements. It was by nature, made reductive.
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