Yoga Therapy makes use of mind-body technologies to improve mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. Yoga therapists guide and support individuals in developing or strengthening their personal relationship with mind-body practice in a way that accommodates their own unique physical and psychological needs and spiritual goals.
Yoga therapists prescribe specific practices or practice regimens that treat specific health conditions or that help you to advance towards specific wellness goals or practice aspirations. Stretching and tension-release practices, mindful strength-building, breath-work, stress relief and rest/relaxation strategies, postural education, meditation techniques, and development of self-compassion, self-regulation, and self-supportive lifestyle habits are among the many mind-body interventions that might be explored in yoga therapy.
Unlike a group class or studio setting, yoga therapy offers the privacy and depth of working one-on-one with a highly skilled and experienced instructor who can guide you in the practice as it relates specifically to your own body, heart, and mind. Together, we will explore and shape the practices in a way that fits you.
Yoga therapy does not require physical fitness or flexibility at all! Despite how yoga is often portrayed in popular media, it has very little to do with physical feats of strength or twisting your body into exotic poses. Yoga is a system of healing, self-care, and personal awakening. If you are breathing right now, you can do yoga.
The Sanskrit word yoga comes from the root word yujir, meaning “to yoke” — referencing the human journey towards integration and wholeness.
Evidence-based research ranks yoga and meditation among the most effective preventative and complementary therapies alongside traditional western medicine. A strongly emerging field in wellness and disease prevention, yoga therapy endeavors to support and strengthen the whole person. Mainstream initiatives like Dr. Dean Ornish’s Lifestyle Management Program place yoga and mindfulness front and center as integral tools in shaping healthier lifestyle, reducing stress and inflammation that contribute to chronic illness, and providing relief and accelerated healing when we encounter ill-health, whether physical, mental, spiritual, or emotional.
I have been working with clients of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels for almost two decades and have identified three primary approaches to private sessions. Sometimes a client’s needs and goals fit neatly into one category and other times a combination of the three can best address the whole picture.
Yoga Therapy for Mental Health & Healing the Nervous System. As someone with a personal and family history of trauma and mental health challenges, the life-changing neuropsychological benefits of mind-body practice is what inspired me to become a yoga therapist. Gentle yoga, breath-work, guided rest and progressive relaxation, as well as compassion-focused meditation practice have the power to foster “positive neuroplasticity” — the ability for the brain to reorganize and form new synaptic connections that better regulate and calm the nervous system, that change how we relate to stress, that reduce and down-regulate symptoms of chronic illness, and that transform outmoded psychological patterns in favor of self-compassion, ease, joy, resilience, and equanimity. Mind-body practice teaches us how to access and nourish our inner resources and wisdom, how to return to and stay in touch with our center in the midst of adversity, how to digest and move through grief and trauma, and how to strengthen our overall resiliency towards a better quality of life and long-term healing.
Yoga Therapy for Physical Health / Supporting the Body. Yoga is like an owner’s manual for the body. Through practice, we can learn how to relieve pain and tension, aid recovery from injury or illness, manage or relieve chronic health issues, improve circulation of blood, lymph and synovial fluid, care for our joints, improve and maintain flexibility and mobility, strengthen coordination and balance, nurture respiratory and digestive health, sharpen memory and mental focus, reduce blood pressure and inflammation, increase strength and bone density, regulate the nervous system, relieve back and neck pain, and learn to make healthy posture our second nature. And that’s the short list! Individual yoga therapy sessions are an ideal way to identify specific and precise practices that best support your personal needs and wellness goals.
Private Instruction for Deepening Your Relationship with Mind-Body Practice. Individual sessions are an ideal way to study and explore mind-body practice with a highly skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable teacher. Maybe you are totally new to yoga, or interested in trying out meditation or tai chi, and want to get started in a one-on-one capacity. Maybe you are an experienced yogi or meditator seeking to deepen and hone your practice or you simply prefer a one-on-one atmosphere at this time. There are few things I love more in this world than working one-on-one to support an individual’s relationship with their personal mind-body practice.
Examples of conditions my clients come to me for help with:
Stress relief / Stress reduction
Moving through a major life transition
Establish or strengthen a meditation practice or other mind-body practice
Grief & Loss
Chronic Pain
Chronic Illness
Surgery Recovery
Injury Recovery
Back Pain / Neck Pain
Generalized Anxiety
PTSD & Complex PTSD
Racing thoughts or Intrusive thoughts
ADD / ADHD
Memory Loss or Concentration Issues
Alzheimer’s Disease
Parkinson’s Disease
Long Covid (PASC)
Shallow breathing / Limited respiratory capacity
Reactive Airways, Asthma, PVFM & Vocal Cord Dysfunction
ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
Social Anxiety Disorder
Bipolar Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Depression
Codependency or Attachment Issues
Substance Abuse / Addiction Recovery
Disordered Eating / ED
Domestic Abuse Recovery
Anger Management
Harsh self-judgment / Building self-compassion
Building New Habits
Self-Discovery
Arthritis
Osteopenia / Osteoporosis
Difficulty with Balance
Improve Flexibility / Range of Motion
Improve Coordination / Ease of Movement
Mindful Fitness / Strength-Building / Core Strength
Posture / Structural Alignment
Improve Circulation / Manage Heart Health
Improve Nervous System Regulation / Dysautonomia
Piriformis Syndrome
Joint Pain
Fibromyalgia
RSD & Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Acute Illness Recovery
Kyphosis
Sciatica pain
Sacroiliac Joint pain
Spinal Fusion
Scoliosis
Hip / Knee / Shoulder Replacement Recovery
The sanity of the body is the sanity of the mind.
thich nhat hanh
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