Insights + interviews
In Conversation with Ed Dailey On Yoga Therapy & Essential Oils
We speak with yoga instructor and Young Living senior global trainer, Ed Dailey on the benefits of incorporating essential oils into workouts.
As a yoga instructor with a broad nursing background, Ed Dailey (ED) is currently a senior global trainer and educator for Young Living Essential Oils based in the States.
Following his successful implementation of integrative yoga programmes in various U.S. hospitals, we got Ed to share how the Singapore healthcare system could also focus on integrative medicine. He also shares more about yoga therapy and how the incorporation of essential oils in our workouts could help enhance them.
AA: Hi Ed, given your experience in healthcare, could you tell us more about integrative medicine and how it could benefit patients?
ED: Modern medicine has compartmentalised the patient. The problem becomes merely a body part such as the heart or the lung. An integrative approach, such as what Urban Zen Integrative therapy encompasses and looks at working with all parts of the patient, and not just the disease in isolation. With an integrative approach, many tools such as yoga therapy, aroma therapy, reiki, nutrition and contemplative care of the dying patient are used.
This way, we provide more avenues to help the patient. Most of all, we empower the patient to become part of their own recovery process and not just to rely on the healthcare team.
AA: Could you share about your experience implementing integrative yoga programmes in hospitals in the United States, and how applying this into Singapore’s healthcare system could be beneficial?
ED: The implementation of integrative yoga therapy in U.S. hospitals such as Beth Israel, UConn Health Centre, and Sacred Heart Hospital in Florida were all very successful because they helped to empower patients and involve them in their care. There was zero pushback from the physicians when I implemented these programmes. At Uconn, pain scores were reported to be reduced by 3.1 points over the year that I worked with patients on the Oncology and Surgical floors. This is significant as according to pain management programmes, any reduction of pain by 2 points or greater is considered to be significant.
I think as long as you can provide a broad spectrum of care to the patient, they will definitely benefit from it. I think hospitals want to provide all they can to help their patients and they are more receptive to this due to patient satisfaction. I am sure this approach could be applied to any hospital in the world including those in Singapore, but I would have to spend some time in Singapore hospitals to figure out what is specifically needed there.
AA: As a yoga teacher yourself, could you tell us more about yoga therapy? How does it work?
ED: Yoga therapy helps treat the body on a physical level by paying close attention to what is arising from the client’s body. Each person will present their own unique situation while an experienced teacher will provide help catered just for the person. So for instance, if the person presents exhaustion and fatigue as their situation, then something like a restorative sequence might be provided to give the nervous system a chance to recover. This is a highly specialised area that requires thousands of hours of training.
AA: How would the incorporation of pure essential oils during yoga practice impact the experience?
ED: The use of essential oils while practising yoga can definitely enhance one’s yoga experience by offering benefits from both therapeutic areas of yoga and aromatherapy. This includes accelerating and improving one’s mental and physical experience throughout and beyond the yoga session. Each time a student inhales an essential oil, his/her mind is then focused in the present moment. This is also the nature of yoga itself. Throughout the practice we would repeatedly bring our attention to what is happening at the present!
AA: What types of essential oils in particular, would you recommend to use during yoga? What about those who want to incorporate it for daily use at home?
ED: Young Living’s Beautiful Beginnings Collection. There are 10 bottles of 5 ml essential oils – four essential oil singles and six essential blends. This provides users a wide array of options to choose from. I would encourage people to use whatever oil they are drawn to at the time they are practising. I would personally use several oils in a 45-minute session at home and it changes each day depending on what I feel.
