Fox Paul - Yoga on Prescription: The Yoga4Health Social Prescribing Protocol

I found Yoga on Prescription both inspirational and pragmatic! Mason and Fox generously share the scientific rationale for the creation of their 10-week Yoga4Health series and provide us with a behind-the-scenes tour of this comprehensive course. They offer evidence-based practices with demonstrated efficacy. In addition, they provide collegial support to those of us who dont live in countries that currently social prescribe. I especially appreciated their encouragement for us as yoga teachers and therapists to draw upon their model and feel empowered to integrate therapeutic yoga into the mainstream medical system by creating similar programming within our own communities.

Robin Rothenberg, yoga therapist, author of Restoring Prana and Chair of the Accreditation Committee for the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT)

In Yoga on Prescription , Paul Fox and Heather Mason provide a timely response to the mental and physical health consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. In their readable book they outline a succinct yoga intervention programme that may profoundly benefit those whose health has been disrupted by the pandemic. The book provides the public health justification for their intervention, which can be efficiently implemented on the chair or the mat, as well as a plausible explanation of how yoga would enhance health.

Dr Stephen Porges, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and author of The Polyvagal Theory

Restoring health and successfully managing lifestyle-related disorders is presented in Yoga on Prescription (The Yoga4Health Social Prescribing Protocol) by Paul Fox and Heather Mason, which makes for an informative and interesting read. This book combines traditional principles of yoga with research-based guidelines for practice and addresses a much-felt need in integrative healthcare.

Shirley Telles, Director, Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India

Yoga for better health like the approach presented in this book has the potential to transform the lives of millions of people through embracing functional breathing from three dimensions; biochemical, biomechanical and cadence breathing. Having a deeper understanding can impart the wisdom to open airways, improve blood circulation, increase oxygen delivery and balance the nervous system.

Patrick McKeown, Clinical Director, Buteyko Clinic International, author of The Breathing Cure

Worldwide healthcare is undergoing a paradigm shift driven partially by necessity stemming from the prevailing broken system but also by innovative pioneers who clearly see the virtue of fostering health instead of treating disease. They can help us envision a path forward that optimally combines both modern invention and time-tested approaches heretofore bypassed by mainstream medicine.

Yoga on Prescription by Paul Fox and Heather Mason is an important contribution to this process. It not only provides compelling empirical evidence but also a lucid explanation of how therapeutic yoga fits and functions within the realm of social prescribing and patient activation. For those interested in the real-world aspects of the health paradigm shift, this is a must read.

James Marzolf, Senior Director, Health Sector Finance & Policy, Whole Health Institute

This gem of a book, which very well could prove to be one of the most important books of this decade, gives us the essence of yoga as a possible modern-day prescription for real health. As Sat Bir Khalsa puts it in the foreword, our modern acute care healthcare system model is so focused on symptom treatment, dominated by technological approaches including pharmaceuticals and surgery. Heather Mason and Paul Fox have done an amazing job this book is a clear glass of water, refreshing in its simplicity!

Goran Boll, creator of MediYoga in the Swedish public healthcare system

Bringing yoga into social prescription is a stroke of genius. Occupying the ground between specialized medicine and general wellbeing, it tackles the biggest problem facing modern healthcare unhealthy lifestyles. The UK is ideally situated to pioneer this approach because its National Health Service reaches everyone and within reach of nearly everyone there are yoga teachers who are competent to hold suitable yoga classes, given a little specialized training for which this is the course book.

Dr Robin Monro, founder of the UK yoga therapy profession

This book provides an excellent overview of the history of yoga practices and applications to health, as well as the recent scientific advances explaining modern understanding of the underlying mechanisms, by which yoga can improve physical and mental health. This book can be used as a useful tool for teaching to appreciate the therapeutic benefits of yoga and training of healthcare practitioners and students who want to integrate yoga therapy into their clinical practices.

Dr Helen Lavretsky, Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA

Yoga4Health, through Paul and Heathers innovation and passion, is at the forefront of bringing yoga and its wide range of benefits, safely into our healthcare systems on prescription. This evidence-based protocol targets not only prevention, but also treatment of chronic disease, while working in conjunction with modern medicine.

Dr Avi Sharma, GP, Kilmarnock

This detailed (but at the same time eminently readable) book is a trailblazer that describes the rapidly developing acceptance of the use of appropriate yoga in the management of common lifestyle conditions. Undoubtedly, this ground-breaking work will be a reference source, an inspiration and a guide for all advocates and practitioners of lifestyle medicine.

Dr Ruth Gilmore, yoga therapist, anatomy teacher, and author of Ask Ruth

This methodical book serves as a great resource for people working in the health and wellness sectors in a number of ways. It not only provides a literature overview of the growing base of research to support the profound restorative power of yoga; it also illustrates the importance of not reducing yoga to a mere physical practice. As the NHS takes on its greatest transformation in decades, this book demonstrates the tremendous potential of social prescribing. Including yoga in social prescribing will make the practice more accessible to underserved communities and support their ability to take control of their own health and wellbeing. This serves as one essential step in reducing health inequities in society.

Dr Stacie CC Graham, author of Yoga as Resistance and founder of OYA Retreats

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YOGA ON
PRESCRIPTION

The Yoga4Health Social
Prescribing Protocol

PAUL FOX and
HEATHER MASON

Foreword by Sat Bir Singh Khalsa

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers