Hello

What do you love most about yoga therapy?

  

Yoga therapy is universal and accessible!  I believe very strongly that individuals should feel that they have power over their health and well-being.  We don’t have control over everything, but it’s not always necessary to put your diagnosis, your prescription for healing and wellness, and your thoughts and feelings about your condition, in another person’s hands.  Yoga therapy provides people with the skills to be able to tune into their bodies, witness the fluctuations of their minds and accurately perceive their meaning, agenda, and behavior, shift their state of being, regulate their nervous system, and more.  What I have witnessed my clients do is profound and has implications not just for their mental health but also for their physical health!
 

Once learned, the capacity to intervene on your own behalf is something you will have for life (although it’s natural sometimes that we forget a skill if we don’t practice it regularly).  No one can take this ability away from you, you are transformed.  That’s wellness sovereignty!  My personal mission and the mission of this association of yoga therapists is to make sure as many people know about this as possible!  Equity in access is a must.  

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What do you wish everyone knew about yoga therapy?

It could just be called “yoga,” if we refer to yoga’s original intentions thousands of years ago, which was to understand and work with the mind through the body.  However, to call it yoga today would be to unintentionally mislead most people who believe that yoga is for physical fitness and relaxation.  Since yoga has changed so much over the years, it’s natural that yoga therapy is not practiced in exactly the same way by all providers, nor should it be.  All schools accredited by the International Association of Yoga Therapists must adhere to rigorous standards, but they have flexibility in some of their curriculum and focus.  For that reason, some practice yoga therapy much more like physical therapy with positive mental health benefits, on a similar trajectory to what yoga has become.  
 

I want people to understand that yoga therapists differ (like talk therapists), and they should take time to learn about their therapist’s approach.  My training is in mental health and wellness, and I consider myself a mental health provider.  Like all providers, we refer clients out to other experts when some aspect of their situation is outside of our purview.  Yoga therapists can help most people!    

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How do you embody yoga therapy in your life?

My training included a great deal of philosophy, and where my foundational training stopped, I continued studying!  It’s no surprise as I was one life-defining meeting with the Dean of the Philosophy Department away from becoming a philosopher!  The beautiful symmetry of yoga therapy is that there is the application of the philosophy, it just doesn’t exist cognitively, we embody it daily.  

 

Yes, I have a movement and meditation practice.  Yes, those tools help me immensely to show up to the world in ways that I (and others) prefer!  However, it’s living the philosophy in all things that I do, that has dramatically reshaped who I am and given me access to so much peace and joy.  Of course, there are times in my life that are challenging, painful, or uncomfortable, but I have the power to choose how those things affect me.  It feels a bit bold and scary to put in print, but it’s true.  I have so much more freedom thanks to yoga therapy.  I live it in all things I do.