Yoga is over 5000 years old and has evolved and developed through the experience and wisdom of many contributors from east to west. I’m grateful to have learned many insights and techniques from a group of amazing teachers and fellow students in Canada and the US over the years. In all my training the most important lesson I’ve learned is that to benefit from yoga, you actually have to practice yoga!

Like many people, the physical postures were my gateway into yoga, but it was the subtle or energetic body benefits of breathing and meditation techniques and slowing down, that really improved my wellbeing from the inside out. In my view, this is what makes yoga so beneficial and unique. It can truly benefit all of you.

Yoga classes for the masses

In most yoga classes, the students follow the teacher through a routine based on the title of the class such as “Hatha”, “Gentle Hatha”, “Vinyasa or Power Yoga”, etc. The teacher demonstrates and gives verbal direction, and students follow. As a yoga teacher at community centres, I encourage students to understand the focus of the class and ask about the style of the teacher to find a class that matches their abilities, goals and expectations.

Yoga Therapy for individual needs or common health goals

Yoga therapy is focused on personal empowerment by integrating embodied learning with yoga techniques selected to support individual health and wellness goals and restore balance in body and mind. Yoga therapy is provided in private sessions or small themed group classes.

While all yoga can be viewed as helpful or therapeutic, Yoga Therapy classes are small and focused on a health theme or common health goal of the participants and include a wider range of techniques including myo-fascial release. Yoga Therapists provide a trauma informed, evidence-based approach that complements western clinical care by empowering the individual with techniques they can easily incorporate in any class, or off the mat, to support health goals or address specific health concerns.

Yoga Therapist is a newer profession (the International Association IAYT was founded in 1989). Yoga Therapy holistically integrates the ancient practices and techniques of yoga with health research and evidence to help address individual physical, mental and emotional health concerns. A key goal of Yoga Therapy is to help clients look at shifting engrained patterns to create more balance in the physical, energetic, emotional, mental and spiritual parts of their being (known in yoga as the five Koshas). The IAYT certifies yoga therapists and is advocating to have Yoga Therapy included as a regulated allied health profession. You can search certified yoga therapists in your area on their website.

Personal Empowerment - “Use the pose to get into the body, not the body into the pose”, B. Clark A therapeutic approach to yoga means becoming aware of what’s going on in your own body, mind and emotions and empowering you to choose a movement, position or response that makes you feel physically and mentally calm and balanced. Hands-on adjustments to force you into a pose are not used.

The goal is not perfect alignment or doing it “right”. Instead Yoga Therapy’s focus is on target areas to strengthen and release as we move or hold positions. Everyone’s body is different and your position, movement or feelings may not look like mine or the person next to you in class. You may need more support, or less, than someone else to address your goal(s) . Yoga Therapy aims to calm the nervous system in order to create more balance (i.e. strength, flexibility and endurance) in your body and mind. If you’re feeling it, you’re doing it. Straining and engaging your sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system does not allow release.

Education beyond the session or class Yoga therapists provide client education based on research studies to understand why certain techniques are recommended. They also provide home practice support and ‘off the mat’ practice guidance to facilitate embodied learning so that beneficial techniques can be woven into the client’s daily activities. Individual or private sessions are based on a detailed confidential intake form and offer customized sessions to meet the client’s personal health goal(s) followed with specific techniques they can use (or perhaps what to avoid) in any class or setting.

Collaboration with your health care team Client approved collaboration with clinical care providers such as physio therapists or counsellors can provide an optimal therapeutic yoga approach and enhanced outcomes.