How is this different from and how does it work with other therapies?
Therapeutic applications of yoga offers great tools for creating mental, emotional or physical balance and ease whether you’re considering it as a standalone practice or as a complimentary tool to another therapy, such as talking therapy. Here’s how and why.
Therapeutic yoga offers practical, simple and accessible body and mind supporting tools which can be used on their own or in addition to existing treatments and therapies.
I have a good mix of clients who either just attend therapeutic yoga sessions with me as their main form of therapeutic support or use them in combination with their other therapy such as talking therapy or a regular body worker such as a physio.
How does it work?
Simply put, therapeutic yoga is made up of:
movement
breath
guided relaxation
These are biomedically, psychologically and trauma informed so practices are selected carefully to support your particular physical, mental and emotional requirements.
This careful selection of practices are then used to gently and safely connect, support and promote different qualities of experience depending on your needs and can include:
providing greater calm and ease from your stresses, pain and/or strain
boosting confidence, mood and energy levels
reducing and/or better managing feelings of overwhelm
learning tools to soothe, manage and/or reduce pain - whether chronic or acute
observing your physical holding patterns, habits, sensations with informed and reduced reactivity
noticing and making mind/body connections between physical, mental and emotional experiences
connecting to and expressing yourself fully - physically, mentally, emotionally, creatively
This is achieved without deep or long analysis
I will always check in with you at the start and end of each session to see how you are doing and how you’re feeling. This helps us set the tone and needs for the practice session.
We then let movement, breath and rest offer you the support you need rather than going into deep analysis in the way that you might do with a talking therapist.
This helps us work on a practical, safe, friendly and accessible level and, very importantly, without interruption to any existing treatment you might have or be considering elsewhere.
During our sessions, I may share some practical knowledge with you relevant to your situation, condition or complaint. For example, information which may help you to
learn about, understand and apply how your nervous system works and how breath, rest and movement can assist in practically and simply regulating your nervous system so that your inner balance can be restored
support your ability to connect to your inner world safely so that the whole of you can feel seen, present and welcome
slowly develop mindful self-monitoring and self-awarenss tools so that you have greater recognition and choice in your actions and responses which gives you greater self-agency, ability to work with and through things with greater ease and confidence in daily living
These are all important tools whatever your situation or complaint. They can help to connect, let go, contain and ease whatever is needed.
We also do this without hands-on adjustments
While therapeutic yoga includes movement practices, any movement we do is done holistically. This means we work gently and safely with consideration for your whole body, your energy levels, your mood, emotions, events and circumstances.
Our practices are never dogmatic and always invite you to be your own lead, to notice your own sensations, and to always have choice so that you can guide yourself through the practices with support from me in whatever way you need with confidence.
Ultimately, we will always work together safely, without pain and without force.
We do not use any hands-on treatment or adjustment in the way you might do with your physio or chiro.
Instead you are empowered with visual and verbal queues, tools, observation skills and plenty of options to work with your own range and needs.
Communication with your other treatments
Some clients welcome communication between their therapists and medical professionals and some clients don’t.
I may refer clients to other therapists in areas which I feel are outside of my remit or beyond my expertise. This offers my clients the best care - both targeted and holistic - the support they need, a safe approach, and so greater progress sooner and in a way that is really right for them.
But I will always discuss this with my client first.
Whatever your position, I wholeheartedly support it. Everything we do is treated in confidence, with full respect for your privacy, and is guided by your consent.
When is the therapeutic yoga approach of benefit as a stand alone practice?
This can apply in a range of situations. Some of my clients who use the therapeutic yoga approach as a standalone practice have:
1) have never tried any form of therapy or movement practice
2) never tried any other form of therapy but have tried some form of movement practice, perhaps noticing some of its benefits but now want something more targeted, want to understand how it be applied to them personally and for the benefits to feel more sustainable so that they can develop a personalised toolkit
3) tried other therapies before coming to me but felt that they did not enjoy the approach - talking therapy or hands on body work are not for everyone so it is great to have another option
4) tried other therapies before coming to me but felt that it did not provide sustainable solutions as injuries reoccured or anxieties resurfaced so wanted to try new or additional tools which therapeutic yoga can offer them
All of these are totally valid and here are some examples of the ways in which some of my clients have experienced these
Talking therapy is great (I’m a really big fan and often refer clients) but many talking therapists do not and can not work with the body. This can be limiting for some clients as science now shows that the body is key to many aspects of mental health including anxiety, depression and trauma recovery as neuroscience explains that trauma (or any important information) is a body based memory so for many of us we have to work with the body and not just the mind.
Physios and chiros are total saviours for many of us (I used to suffer from terrible back pain and pelvic instability so visited my chiropractor at least monthly!) but treatment often only works with clients mechanically. This can be relieving temporarily but limiting long term as the mechanical approach fails to deal with the person’s movement patterns, habitual holding patterns and bodymind conditioning which shapes how we hold and carry the body, including the tone and shaping of our fascia, and so creates imbalances or dysfunctions in the muscular-skeletal structure.
So what’s best?
The best and preferred approach - standalone or in combination - is the one that is most suitable for you, the client. This simply means it is the one most likely to offer you the best care for your needs.
I usually recommend that clients working with a talking therapist or counsellor also do some form of somatic therapy (working with their body) such as therapeutic yoga with a trauma sensitive and therapeutically informed practitioner as this can help to better their journey.
And for those clients suffering from muscular skeletal issues (especially if they are reoccurring!), it is important to learn about your patterns, habits and behaviours as any body manipulation work your physio might do will only act as a bandaid and temporary relief if the fundamentals of how you hold and use your body are not understood and do not change with mindful care and personal insight.
And to sum up
Therapeutic yoga will never work to contradict or get in the way of any therapeutic support you’re already receiving.
Instead, my aim is to help you develop accessible and practical tools to connect mind to body and body to mind in a safe, nourishing and informed way as these connections are vital for your sustainable and empowered recovery and management which offers the greatest benefits for long-term change and progress.
Here it is worth remembering the words of Peter Levin - he has a PhD in psychology and has has worked in the field of stress and trauma for over 40 years - who tells us that what makes a great therapist is “presence, the ability to remain centred and resonate in a primitive way with their clients… nervous system to nervous system… and resonate emotionally. The treatment modality is only 15% of the therapy. 85% is the relationship you develop”.
Get in touch if you have any questions! If your therapist or medical practitioner have any questions about how this approach can compliment your existing care I also happy to have a chat. Please feel free to get in touch here >
Warmest
Juliana x