How I Help Therapy Clients Get Faster Results By Incorporating Yoga
“Yoga Isn’t My Thing”
People often tell me that they “can’t do yoga”. It’s just not their thing, they aren’t flexible, they can’t shut their mind off. Yoga wasn’t my thing either for a very long time. And it sure as hell did not come naturally to me. I am a “creative”, which is a nice way of saying that I have the attention span of an Oreo. Up until a few years ago, I couldn’t touch my shins, never mind my toes. I fall not only down the stairs, but up them as well. If your teeth were rotten would you say “My teeth are too filthy to go to a dentist”? No, you would need the dentist more. If you are struggling with mind, body and spiritual ailments, you need yoga more. There is an ancient piece of yoga wisdom that says “You should meditate for one hour a day. If you do not have time, you should do it twice a day”.
Opening. Grounding. Vulnerability. Trust.
There is a mountain of evidence proving that trust (between a client and therapist) is the number one factor in how successful therapy is for a client. It is called the therapeutic alliance. But how do we build trust? Trust takes vulnerability.
Yoga helps us open our body, which allows us to open our minds, and open up about ourselves. Have you ever been in pigeon pose and felt a sudden urge to cry? Feelings of “the jitters” and anxiety can be quelled by finding a “grounding” child's pose. Warrior 2 is a power pose, offering strength.
Yoga is healing. Therapy is healing. By combining the two, my clients get more bang for their buck. “We do stuff while we do stuff”.
When we do hard things, we learn that we can do hard things. This creates resilience, and builds confidence. The challenge that comes with this ancient practice is why I find it so helpful to incorporate yoga into therapy sessions with my clients. Yoga is hard and it is uncomfortable. So is life.
Yoga helps us learn to breathe through the discomfort. To sit with it, and learn that it will pass. To calm the mental chatter. To practice the practice of going inward and controlling what you can, and letting go of the rest. Through yoga, we learn to get comfortable with getting uncomfortable. For me, as my yoga began to progress, my heart began to heal. Even in spite of fear or vulnerability.
Acceptance.
Yoga is a NO JUDGMENT ZONE. So is therapy. Yoga is a place where you are accepted exactly as you are, that day, in that moment. So is therapy. The mat is a sacred space for unconditional self love and acceptance. So is therapy. Beyond the obvious benefits, the most important thing that yoga has done for my clients is change their relationship with themselves. Yoga is therapy for things. As a result, you can love others in a way that only someone that loves him or herself can.
