What is Yoga Therapy?
“Yoga therapy is a self-empowering process, where the care-seeker, with the help of the Yoga therapist, implements a personalized and evolving Yoga practice, that not only addresses the illness in a multi-dimensional manner, but also aims to alleviate his/her suffering in a progressive, non-invasive and complementary manner. Depending upon the nature of the illness, Yoga therapy can not only be preventative or curative, but also serve a means to manage the illness, or facilitate healing in the person at all levels.”
Yoga Therapy to Me is….
1. Trauma-Sensitive, as we cultivate a sense of safety in all classes. Invitational language gives clients options at all times to move in a way that feels safest to them. Everyone’s experience is validated as we move toward awareness, acceptance, and eventually to empowerment. We work towards the understanding that we are not our trauma.
“Trauma is not what happened to us, it is what happened inside of us”
-Gabor Mate
2. Re-connection to all of our intricate parts. So often we keep each part of us separate: the mind, body, and spirit - all separate. We are interconnected beings, and when we begin to integrate all energetic bodies together our growth and healing expands.
3. Body Awareness. Tension and pain no longer take up residence in our mind and body when we employ mind-body techniques. Embodiment allows clients to ground themselves in the present moment, as they tune into what their bodies are communicating to them.
4. Playful and Fun as we discover new parts and rejuvenate the old parts. It’s laughing at ourselves along the way because life is too short not to laugh!
“Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it up to be”
-Eckhart Tolle
5. A Non-Judgmental environment where clients can show up as their authentic selves. No matter what cultural background, sexuality, gender, age, shape, size, level of mobility, or experience level, each client is embraced for exactly who they are and exactly where they are.
6. Releasing trauma that has been stored in the body over life-times. It’s understanding the conscious and discovering the unconscious energetic blocks that we carry within us. This practice helps to release stuck energy within the body, creating a more navigable terrain for growth in one’s wellness journey.
What’s The Difference between a Yoga Instructor and a Yoga Therapist?
Yoga Instructors are trained to be educators, leading groups of students in studios, gyms, or other community settings through yoga sequences, meditation, and breathing techniques. Yoga teachers have the option to go through a variety of different programs to become either a RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher who completed 200 hours of education) or RYT 500 (Registered Yoga Teacher who completed 500 hours of education), RYT 500 being more advanced. Most yoga teachers train to become an expert in a particular type of yoga (Hatha, Ashtanga, Kundalini, Iyengar, etc.)
In Contrast, Yoga Therapists are trained in 800+ hour programs to be patient/client centered. All programs are approved by the nationally accredited body International Association of Yoga Therapist (IAYT). Yoga Therapists are trained to develop holistic yoga programs of care that are tailored to each specific client. These classes are delivered in a therapeutic setting of either one-on-one or small group sessions. With client consent, Yoga Therapists can also work directly with the client’s other medical providers to address each client’s unique health, medical, and overall well-being needs.