Shouldn’t All Yoga Be Therapeutic?

Certainly, yes. The holistic vision of yoga sees the human being as a composite of physical and subtle energies. Though there are various models of who and what we are according to yogic philosophy, they all describe the individual as an integrated whole. A whole that is made up of interpenetrating layers and energies that include body, breath, mind, emotions, and spirit. 

Yoga offers practices that address, nourish, and harmonize each of these component parts of ourselves to foster equilibrium, integration and connectivity. 

Done from this perspective, how could these practices NOT lead to a greater and deep-seated sense of well-being and integration?

I consider myself neither a yoga therapist, nor a healer. I’m a teacher. 

In the alignment-based approach to asana that I teach I often work with students who are in pain, or are experiencing physical, mental or emotional imbalances, and wish to use yoga as a tool to gain freedom from their pain or promote greater balance. 

As my colleague Lisa Paterson says, "in the end, whatever we call ourselves, it is that willingness to accompany a person and listen and experiment that I think creates the space for healing." 

Here’s the way I approach this work:

I do NOT:
👉🏼 Diagnose
👉🏼 Seek to cure
👉🏼 Assume I have the remedy
👉🏼 Impose or insist upon anything

I DO:
👉🏼 Observe
👉🏼 Ask a ton of questions
👉🏼 Listen
👉🏼 Share my experience and knowledge
👉🏼 Help students re-pattern movements that might have caused injury or be keeping them in pain
👉🏼 Try things out
👉🏼 Remain open to adapt and change what I think I know
👉🏼 Require a co-participation with the student

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions.