Do You Need Yoga Therapy?

When it’s decided that something's needed to feel better and you have just the idea in mind, you've probably said or heard others say, jokingly, chocolate therapy or ocean therapy as if it could be a modality of treatment. Many yoga-goers will even say yoga therapy when referring to the healing and revitalizing power of the practice.

As it turns out, yoga therapy is actually a professionalized and distinct field. While we may use yoga therapy to indicate the self-soothing nature of the activity, it has key differences from the group yoga class at the local gym on Tuesdays. 

When it comes to this new profession, how it works and how it helps, Lifestyle Coaching and Yoga Therapy, a body and mind business leader, outlines the essentials.

And if you’re in a hurry, take a skip and a hop to this at-a-glance view of Yoga Therapy.

What You Need To Know

Yoga Therapy is an expansive toolkit of practices, tools and techniques that support the nervous system and tissues of the body. You can expect to use the breath in particular ways, hold physical postures for specific purposes and adjust lifestyle to create new patterns in being and doing that extend well beyond the session. 

From the introduction to yoga in the west at the World Parliament of Religions in 1893 to the earliest medical studies of yoga in 1918 at a Yoga Institute in Santacruz, Bombay, the history of yoga in America is relatively new and Yoga Therapy is newer still. 

Make no mistake, yoga is an ancient practice stemming back to the Rigveda dating ~1500BCE, originated in modern-day India and southeast Asian territories, and became a robust philosophy of existence.

While not a religious practice itself, it has a spiritual side. Think: connection to meaning and purpose. If you’re familiar with the term biopsychosocial, consider yoga therapy biopsychosocial plus, in the way it supports more than just the mind and body in its endeavors. 

You might be surprised to learn that no experience with yoga is required nor flexibility or ability to be on the floor. Yoga therapy is for everybody, every age, and ability. 

Yoga Therapy is helpful support for many medical conditions like hypertension and diabetes, neurological disorders, and insomnia, but no condition need-be present. Some enlist yoga therapy because they feel ‘off’ in search of striking balance and feeling more like themselves. 

How It Differs from Group Yoga Classes

The biggest difference is assessment and private setting. Yoga Therapy begins with assessment of the musculoskeletal system, breathing mechanics, and a conversation on all dimensions of health for a complete picture of where support may be needed. An individualized plan of care is created and guided in a series of following sessions.

The Benefits of Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapy is curated, 1:1 support for what you're struggling with in physical, mental, and emotional health and the benefits are far-reaching

More specifically, yoga therapy can:

• Assist in chronic pain recovery and chronic illness

• Improve focus and attention

• Increase nervous system regulation

• Improve balance and energy

• Restore a sense of safety after illness, fall or accident

• Build awareness and depth of breath

• Rediscover joy in life and movement

• Create work-life balance

• Live more connected to self and others

• Develop fuller sense of meaning and purpose

Where is Yoga Therapy Offered?

Most popularly, Yoga Therapy is practiced in one-on-one settings in private practices in-person and online, making it accessible to many. The barrier to practice potentially presents itself only in the out-of-pocket cost, without insurance able to reimburse. However, HSA and FSA’s can be used.

Yoga therapy can also be found in small group settings, often at a behavioral health clinic or hospital, and occasionally at community centers and yoga studios. There’s significant work and advocacy for this service to be as integrated and recommended in care as psychotherapy, massage, acupuncture are.

While not offered yet, there’s great hope for this service to be reimbursed by insurance in the near future, stay tuned!

Simply Put

This practice of yoga therapy is for those needing practical and accessible daily support to move the needle in thinking, feeling and doing.​ ​It's the skill set you move through life that matters most – yoga therapy can help build that toolkit. ​

Learn more about Elise's private yoga therapy service in her business: Lifestyle Coaching and Yoga Therapy.