Yoga for Therapy is different from a regular yoga class in several ways. A regular yoga class uses poses and breath and meditation in a specific style to build strength and awareness, considering the person and their abilities second. There’s a particular formulaic yoga exercise pattern and the person molds to this style. Yoga for Therapy however, considers the person first: your abilities, limitations, history, goals, surgeries, injuries, background, beliefs, experience, comfort, etc. and uses ANY breath work style, meditation, yoga pose or no yoga poses at all(!!), to help you find wholeness, or whatever your goal may be. In Yoga for Therapy, there are no rules, no set patterns. Although from one session to the next, it may be very similar, because of a person’s goals and limitations, it can vary drastically from person to person what a session looks like. Yoga for Therapy is about wholeness, it’s about healing, it’s about uniting the parts of ourselves that are fragmented: be that broken bones, or mind/body, for cancer recovery, or high blood pressure, anxiety or depression, or just to learn what all this yoga hype is about! I think of a regular yoga class as Yang in nature: it’s regimented and specific (which isn’t bad!!), whereas Yoga for Therapy is Yin in nature: there are no rules, we’re using the art of yoga to serve you personally.
With a Yoga for Therapy session, there’s a complete in-depth interview of your goals, past experiences including injuries and surgeries, an assessment of your current state of health, experience with yoga (or lack of), religious background, mental health, etc., as well as an assessment of current physical abilities. This initial interview helps the teacher determine how to shape the best session(s) for you, or your group, meeting you where you are, and helping you achieve your goals. Each subsequent session includes a short checkin to make sure we’re all on the right path, recalibration if necessary and wanted.
I have found Yoga for Therapy to serve those that are brand new to yoga, those that have a busy and varied schedule and can’t attend a regular class, and those that have very specifics needs, be that injuries or surgery recovery, immobility of some kind, or a health issue that causes limitations. Yoga for Therapy is very forgiving and let’s you, the practitioner, shape your experience in a much more wholistic and interactive way than a traditional yoga class. Yoga for Therapy is often what a doctor has in mind when they prescribe yoga for and to their patients.
Let me know if you want to set up your own Yoga for Therapy session(s), individually, or for your group, in your own home, or at my private yoga studio in Redding, CA. 530-710-8870 or info@OnWaterYoga.com
