#5 – Dr Swami Shankardev’s medical, yoga therapy, psychotherapy practice – interview with Ron Ehrlich

In this podcast, we discuss my approach to mind-body medicine and how I incorporate meditation and Eastern and Western methods of mind-body medicine and psychotherapy into my medical and yoga therapy practice.

We discuss the history of mind-body medicine, what it is, and how relaxation is a foundation technique that enables positive changes.

I describe how both Western methods of healing and psychology and Eastern healing, psychology, and various spiritual and wisdom philosophies have defined my journey. The main focus of my approach to medicine and therapy is based on yoga and meditation as methods of connecting more to oneself, developing the power to feel, experience, and what is actually happening within the body and mind so that you can make appropriate changes and optimize your life. Meditation and psychotherapy also support you in understanding the role that illness plays in the world and that it plays in your life.

To achieve these goals, methods to cultivate self-awareness have been the foundation of everything I do.

When you are self-aware, you can strengthen your sense of self, both as an individual and as a universal being. Jungian depth psychology and Eastern approaches to psychotherapy really facilitate your ability to pierce your awareness deep into the psyche, in the dark recesses of your soul, to discover your strengths and your weaknesses, which means your humanity and how wonderful each one of us is despite our flaws.

In this podcast episode we also discuss:

• My medical journey.
• Polyvagal theory, which is a revolutionary new view of the autonomic nervous system
  
• The difference between counseling and psychotherapy
  
• What reparenting means in therapy and how we focus to develop a mature internal adult, which enables you to stand on your own two feet in life, physically, mentally, and spiritually. This means that you no longer depend so much on external sources to make decisions but have access to your own inner strengths and abilities
  
• And how I use yoga and meditation to support patients in connecting with their inner strength and ability to heal themselves.

Listen to the Interview

Get our FREE Introduction to Yoga Tantra