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  • susanne@yogahealsus.com

What is Yoga Therapy?

Healing Starts Here

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.” --Anaïs Nin

You’ve lost something.  You’ve lost your vitality.  Maybe it slipped away overnight.  Or maybe it seeped out of you so slowly that it’s hard to remember what feeling good feels like.   Sometimes the body needs to rest.  And illness is one of the ways that can happen.

At some point in our lives, many of us will experience a serious health event.  This may be physical, mental, or spiritual or a combination.  Often these events are brought on by stress or eventually cause stress related health challenges including depression, indigestion, inflammation, insomnia, weakened immune system and so on.  The body is an amazingly resilient colony of organisms whose sole purpose is to return all systems to balance.  Sometimes the systems of the body have been challenged so long and so hard that deep work is required to assist the process.

Yoga therapy offers tools and supports that can help you create the conditions in your body so that deep inner healing can happen.  Inner healing – it’s an inside job.  You make the commitment and take the steps necessary to live the life that makes you feel healthy, happy, and whole.  As your Yoga Therapist, I am a partner in your journey toward health and happiness.

“Those who wish to change their thoughts or any other aspect of their lives in a lasting way had best remember that everything is connected. Thoughts, feelings, sensations, actions, conditioning, environment, and so much more all influence one another. Real change, sometimes called transformation, can, of course, come through powerful life shocks, but intentional change requires desire and knowledge. It also requires a kind of global consciousness, an ability to see things in their connectedness.”–Dennis Lewis 

Inner Healing Yoga Therapy offers a variety of tools for whole person wellness and personal transformation.  Some of these tools include: 

  • Yoga philosophy of health and healing
  • Movement
    • Joint freeing and muscle stretching
    • Gentle Yoga postures
    • Chair Yoga and modifications using props for support
    • Restorative Yoga
  • Breathing techniques for physical and emotional balance
  • Relaxation techniques
  • Meditation techniques including hand mudras and yoga nidra
  • Yoga education related to lifestyle, philosophy, and spirituality

 

A typical session begins with a check-in to learn about your specific needs for that session.  Then we’ll move on to some of the tools and practices.  Usually this starts with a centering and an intention.  Then we may have a sharing about the focus for the session.  Next, some sort of movement.  If your yoga therapy need includes healing from an injury, surgery, or disability, all movement practices will be modified to meet this need.  This may take place in a chair or on a mat.  There may also be some standing poses.  And some resting poses on the floor.  Chair yoga is always an option if getting onto the floor or back up again is a challenge for you.  Breathing techniques are used in every session as well as hand gestures, called mudras, that assist the breath.  Each session includes a relaxation.  In fact, some sessions may involve a lot of relaxation and stress release, again, depending on your needs.  Meditation techniques are offered as well to support your healing journey. 

Yoga education may include: discussion and resources that support your move toward a healthier lifestyle; yoga philosophy having to do with the chakra model of human development; as well as the spiritual supports of the yamas and niyamas which help us to become happier and more authentic in our daily lives. 

Are you ready to focus on your needs?  You can do this.  I can help.  Contact me for a confidential consultation.