What is a Yoga Therapist?

What can I expect from my session?

What is Yoga Therapy?

Yoga therapy is the professional application of the principles and practices of yoga to promote health and well-being within a therapeutic relationship that includes personalized assessment, goal setting, lifestyle management, and yoga practices for individuals or small groups.

The yoga tradition views each human being as a multidimensional system that includes numerous aspects—including body, breath, and mind (intellect and emotions)—and their mutual interaction.

Yoga therapy is founded on the basic principle that intelligent practice can positively influence the direction of change within these human dimensions, which are distinct from an individual’s unchanging nature or spirit.

The goals of yoga therapy include eliminating, reducing, and/or managing symptoms that cause suffering; improving function; helping to prevent the occurrence or re-occurrence of underlying causes of illness; and moving toward improved health and well-being.

What is a Yoga Therapist?

Yoga therapists draw from the principles of yoga and the full range of yogic practices and assessment skills, as well as familiarity with biomedical and psychological foundational knowledge.

Yoga therapists work with the client to develop and implement a self-empowering therapeutic plan appropriate to the client’s needs and oriented around prevention and health promotion. An IAYT-Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) has undertaken specialized training beyond that of a yoga teacher, in accordance with the IAYT’s educational competencies for the training of yoga therapists or has met IAYT’s requirements for certification under alternate pathways.

My Approach

I focus on the somatic experience of the body with regard to building your awareness of internal sensation/interoception, nervous system awareness and regulation, pain, injury recovery, and functional movement.

I primarily focus on the tools of breath, embodiment, movement, grounding in present awareness, somatic awareness of emotion, trauma resiliency and awareness/recovery. I help with working with and managing the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD/C-PTSD, and issues with embodiment regarding gender and body image.

I am trauma-informed regarding many intersections of experience: transgender/gender-diverse, body image, gender dysphoria, eating disorders, attachment and developmental trauma, family-of-origin issues, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, sex work, intersections of race and gender identity (inasmuch as possible, being white-bodied and living in a space of privilege), also broadly neurodivergent and Autism spectrum informed. I am also polyamory and kink informed. I primarily work with adults.

I hold a firm container of warm familiarity, with plenty of dry humor, and an open-ended approach with regard to offering a spread of tools and techniques for building an arsenal of coping mechanisms and grounded healing that is tailored to your individual needs and temperament.

Everything is connected and we can start anywhere, physical issues or mental/emotional issues and the spaces in between.

I ground the work we do together with a detailed treatment plan of about 8 to 10 sessions, depending on your individual needs. I check in on your progress once a week for accountability and support, if needed.

Our work is somatically based in the body and your experience of it. I am not a talk therapist or a psychotherapist. I am not qualified or licensed for that work. I can personally refer you to a list of qualified mental health professionals to work with in conjunction with our work together.

If you have any questions about whether or not Yoga Therapy or mindfulness coaching can support you with your healing, wellness, or empowerment towards your most embodied and resilient self, please reach out and let’s talk!