Kells woman hopes to roll out 'yoga on prescription' programme throughout Ireland

A KELLS woman who has brought in the first 'yoga on prescription' programme to Ireland says she hopes the therapy will go hand in hand with traditional medicine in Ireland in the future.

Martina Meegan spent 20 years as a radiographer working with cancer patients in St Luke's Hospital in Dublin before merging her passion for healthcare and complimentary therapies and undertaking a pilot scheme in the Kells Resource Centre based on yoga improving health and well being.

When Martina started the initiative in 2023, she was the only teacher in Ireland trained in the programme, there are now many based around the country.

Yoga4Health is a 10-week social prescribing prevention programme that was commissioned by the NHS in England and delivered by Yoga in Healthcare Alliance teachers. It's aimed at supporting groups of 12-15 people to achieve lifestyle change through daily yoga practices. Classes are taken in a chair or on a yoga mat.

In the UK you can be referred into the service if you suffer from mild depression, mild anxiety, have prediabetes, need to improve your heart health, feel socially isolated or are registered with a GP.

The initiative is not offered as part of the healthcare system in Ireland but Martina is hoping that will change.

So passionate about the cause is Martina, she has started a Social Enterprise called Yoga4Health Ireland in a bid to integrate the Yoga4Health Programme into Healthcare in Ireland with support from Meath Partnership uPOWER Programme and Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Ideas Academy.

“When we started the pilot programme in Kells in 2023 I was the only teacher trained in Ireland for the Yoga4Health programme and we now have nine and in March we will have three more. Each year it is getting bigger and bigger and it is very exciting to see,” said Martina.

“The programme is offered in Louth, Cavan and Meath, It has just flown in the north east,” she added.

“We are also in An Cosan educational centre in Tallaght since January and there are a couple of teachers coming on board this Spring in Cork.

“We advertise through our local GPs, primary care centres and people self refer to the programme, it is specifically designed for people experiencing mild to moderate anxiety, stress, depression, social isolation or are at risk of type two diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Or people who just want to make positive changes to their lifestyle to support themselves.”

The original programme was commissioned, designed and delivered in the UK by the NHS as the yoga teacher explains:

“There was a group of yoga teachers and medical professionals who came together to design the programme.

“It has been shown to have a positive effect on many levels including a decrease in stress, anxiety, and depression with increases in social connectedness, sense of wellbeing including physical health and happiness.”

The yoga programme in Kells Family Resource Centre offers people an opportunity to bring about positive lifestyle changes using yoga techniques including breathing, mindfulness and gentle movement. The practise of yoga has huge benefits for people who are experiencing health difficulties according to Martina who said:

“Non-communicable disease(NCD) that are directly related to lifestyle currently places the biggest burden in healthcare in terms of its negative impact on mortality, healthcare costs, medical and psychological symptoms, wellness and quality of life.

“NCDs includes cardiovascular diseases, obesity, Type-2 diabetes and are often associated with poor lifestyle behaviours. So it focuses on how can we help people bring about better lifestyle choices and deal with anxiety.”

Martina who has been teaching general yoga to the public for over six years now trained in Yoga4Health in 2022 says the ethos of offering this alternative therapy free of charge under the UK model is something she would like to see in Ireland.

“The programme made available most importantly to people who can't afford to go to a yoga class. Very often people have other issues or chronic illnesses,” she said.

In the UK it is offered under the umbrella of social prescribing so that a GP or a member of a primary health care team can send people to participate in a yoga programme.

“It has been proven that people who participate in the programme need less medical care,” said Martina.

“Thanks to funding from Healthy Meath, we can offer the programme free this year.”

There has been a shift in how healthcare professionals are approaching treating patients with a more holistic method being taken into consideration as Martina explains:

“GPs are looking at supportive therapies and looking at lifestyle as opposed to the model where you just write prescriptions. I think there is change at how we are looking at the medical model as well. The important thing is it sits alongside the medical model. We are not suggesting by any stretch of the imagination that it replaces medical intervention, actually quite the opposite, we want to work alongside the medical profession.”

Yoga can help improve health and well being in a number of ways says the passionate advocate.

“There is a huge amount of research and randomised clinical trials that show the benefits of yoga in lots of areas including in the treatment of lower back injuries, helping people to self regulate and regulate emotional stresses and to help support reactions to a lot of life's challenges.

“The practise of yoga helps people to become more grounded and helps people self reflect and find answers within themselves.

“For example if you are feeling stressed, you can learn to use your breath practise to soothe the nervous system. We create a yoga tool kit and that can vary from learning very simple breath techniques, doing gentle yoga postures and identifying stress in the body, to help to stretch and strengthen, becoming more mindful and learning very simple meditation techniques. The whole thing is that they are available for free, you don't need anything to learn how to breath.

“It is a huge anchor and support for people in their lives. “

Martina points out that although we often refer to yoga as an alternative type of new age medicine, it is in fact an ancient practise .

“Traditional medicine often refers to older medical practices such as Chinese Medicine, Ayuderic Medicines while our western medical systems are more known as conventional or current medicine systems.

“Yoga, has its origins in traditional Indian medical practices. The thrust of the Yoga4Health programme is to align the yoga practices within the current/conventional western medical model.”

It was an important year for the former radiographer who presented her work in Meath at The Irish Society of Lifestyle Medicine Annual Conference at The Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin.

“We are considering using the work we have done over the last two years in Meath for the pilot programme. We shared information with the medical community there that would have an interest in lifestyle medicine and sharing some of the scientific background of yoga with them and the evidence based background for the Yoga4Health Programme.

“In November, I also represented the Yoga4Health Ireland Programme at an Inaugural Yoga Research Symposium at The University of Westminster, London.

“The Yoga4health Programme in Ireland works very much in tangent with the group in England called Yoga and Healthcare Alliance and a lot of their research work is taken on by the university of Westminster.”

For more information see www.yoga4healthireland.com