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  4027 BUTLER STREET

  PITTSBURGH, PA 15201    

  PHONE | 412.728.2625

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“Before long, I was standing taller, walking longer, and even breathing became easier. I am simply amazed at how much the routines she has designed for me help me. I cannot speak highly enough of Lilith as a teacher!

 

 

Pratique is a yoga studio that combines private sessions and at-home practice to help students maintain health and well-being.

 

 

 

WHO ARE PRATIQUE CLIENTS

 

 

Yoga is a 5,000-year-old tradition whose classical aim is liberation from suffering in this life. Ancient texts make it clear that mental and physical illness or lack of health are impediments to this goal. Yoga is now regarded in the West as a holistic approach to health and has been classified by the National Institute of Health as a form of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM).

 

 

The benefits of Therapeutic Yoga include remedial movement education, pain management, and first-hand experience of the reality of mind/body unity as well as enhanced ability to clarify thinking, and the ability to choose new responses. Students learn proper techniques to restore wellness.

 

* A Therapeutic Yoga class is highly verbal and interactive with instruction on how to use Yoga to ease various ailments and stress.

*The modification of poses with props, such as straps or blocks, is commonly used to stimulate blood flow, support flexibility, or to compensate for injuries.

*An emphasis on standing poses to develop strength, stability, stamina, concentration, and body alignment.

 

Therapeutic Yoga is an amazing way to improve postural alignment, strength, endurance and balance. It can benefit everyone. If you are a very fit person, involved in many sports, you will find yoga to be a great way to warm up and stretch. If you have a more sedentary lifestyle, you will likely find that yoga might just fill that fitness gap you have been missing.

 

Therapeutic Yoga has an important positive effect on quality of life. People enjoy Therapeutic Yoga more than traditional forms of exercise, and exercise enjoyment is an important predictor of adherence to an exercise plan. This is particularly important considering that, on average, 50% of sedentary individuals will drop out of exercise within 6 months.

 

Therapeutic Yoga can play an important role in reducing the stress and frustration that results from pain and disability, while increasing positive feelings and improve coping as well as enhance immune functioning that contributes to greater overall health.

 

Physiological benefits are many– improved cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, improved glycemic control, slowing the loss of bone mass, managing stress better. In addition, many find improved energy levels, feel better about themselves, have a more upbeat approach to life, and become more relaxed.

 

For many older individuals, Therapeutic Yoga can maintain or improve balance, muscle strength, and help maintain the ability to perform functional tasks such as walking, rising from a chair, climbing stairs and even carrying their own groceries. Another beneficial effect of Therapeutic Yoga training pertains to bone health. In addition to weight bearing cardiovascular exercise, Therapeutic Yoga has been shown to help fight osteoporosis.

 

 

Lilith Bailey-Kroll came to Pittsburgh five years ago to pursue a graduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University. She is originally from San Francisco, where she first began studying yoga over ten years ago. She has taught locally in the Pittsburgh area at Breath Yoga Studio, Fitness Yoga, Yoga on Center, and Carnegie Mellon University as well as internationally in Berlin Germany, Tokyo Japan, Morelia Mexico and the Ocho Rios Girls Soccer league in Jamaica.

 

Lilith first began the practice of yoga in her teens to address physical discomfort from scoliosis, which has greatly improved with a regular yoga practice. Because of her personal experience, she has a compassionate approach to teaching others and to helping all students with their personal physical challenges.

 

Lilith has been studying yoga for over ten years and began teaching in 1999 after completing a two-year teacher training program at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco. The Iyengar method is based on the teachings of the Yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar, author of Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, and Light on Life. B.K.S. Iyengar began his study in India under the guidance of his brother-in-law T. Krishnamacharia at a very young age. He devised a method of working with props which function as aids allowing beginners to experience asanas more easily and fully than might otherwise be possible without several years of practice. Props also allow tired or ill students to enjoy the benefits of many asanas via fully "supported" methods requiring less muscular effort. Kathy Alef, a Certified Intermediate Senior Level III Iyengar Yoga Instructor, has been her primary teacher since 1997. Lilith has helped clients with a range of issues including but not limited to: general upper and lower back pain, high blood pressure, carpal tunnel, sciatica pain, sacroiliac joint pain, stress, depression, eating disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis of the knee and shoulder, slipped disks, flat cervical curve, and scoliosis.

 

In April 2006 Lilith Bailey-Kroll founded Pratique Therapeutic Yoga, aimed at providing a warm and supportive environment to promote health and well-being through yoga. Classes are customized to the needs of the individual, with personal attention from an experienced talented teacher.

Pratique is dedicated to supporting wellness and vitality through participation as an integral part of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Our work is to establish a successful dialogue around Therapeutic Yoga with other healthcare professionals such as physical therapists, primary care physicians, neurologists, chronic pain treatment centers, ob/gyns, psychologists/psychiatrists, and athletic trainers. Pratique's goal is to have Therapeutic Yoga offered as a treatment option as well as to create a rapport with other professionals documenting the effects.

 

Pratique serves individuals wanting guided instruction, structural realignment as well as postural corrections in order to restore well-being. Pratique provides individual and personalized attention with Yoga sequences uniquely tailored for each student in order to correct asymmetries, and thereby restore energy, strength and alignment.

 

 

The word Pratique means, clean bill of health. The "Pratique" logo is based on the magic wand of the Greek god Hermes (the caduceus), a short rod entwined by two snakes and topped by a pair of wings.

 

The rod represents the spine (sushumna) while the serpents represent positive and negative energy (Ida and Pingala), which start from the left and right nostrils respectively and move in a double helix pattern around the spine.

 

The junctions where Ida and Pingala intersect each other are called chakras. The positions of these chakras correspond to the nervous plexus & endocrine glands (Autonomous nervous system & Endocrine system). Ida and Pingala are micro tubes in fascia, which energy flows through. Imbalances in these energy pathways lead to imbalances in the physical body. These subtle energies manifest in physical form, which can be seen in diagonal lines of counter balance and a lack of tensengrity. The yogic postures and pranayama are designed in such a way to push the energy from the side channels to the main stream (Sushumna) and to increase the energy flow through the body channels.

 

 

 

“Yoga Is My Health Insurance” is a community action program between Pratique Therapeutic Yoga and existing organizations which strives to improve the health of Pittsburghers through onsite therapeutic yoga classes, educational seminars and a grass-roots advertising campaign.

 

A component of the Yoga Is My Health Insurance (YIMHI) campaign is a monthly newsletter designed to incorporate Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) information and health maintenance skills utilizing yoga to augment health and support an active lifestyle, thereby creating positive change.