Three reasons ITHP integrates principles and practices of yoga into psychotherapy work with clients

It is amazing and powerful to see how so many of the core elements of traditional Yoga are now being understood as foundational to mental health and overall wellbeing. There is still a bit of misunderstanding though, about what Yoga actually is, particularly in the West, with meditation still being seen as a separate activity, and postures being highlighted and treated as primary. However, based on the teachings of Patajanjali, Yoga is much more than meditation, breathing, and postures. Yoga is a beautiful system comprised of several parts, that is most effectively practiced and implemented as a whole. Yoga at Inner Thriving Holistic Psychology (ITHP) is therefore defined as incorporating and cultivating mindful, non-judgemental awareness, understanding and implementation of relevant philosophy (e.g., the importance of intention and core values), pranayama (life force control through specific and focused breath work), asana (physical postures, movement, and embodiment), Ayurveda (e.g., attentiveness to unique needs of the individual in terms of diet, cold temperature exposure, etc.), Nada Yoga (sound/vibrational healing), interiorization, concentration, guided reflection and visualization, stillness/meditation, and deep relaxation.

Here are three primary reasons that at ITHP these practices are seen as an integral aspect of much of the psychotherapy work we do with clients:

Yoga sharpens self-awareness

As Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri, Meenaskshi Devi Bhavanani, and Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani of Gitananda Yoga have repeatedly emphasized, Yoga generates and maintains a 5-fold, level of awareness that helps us be mindful of:

·      The body and how it operates

·      The effect that emotions have on the body

·      How the mind can control emotions and the body

·      Of awareness itself, and lastly, helps us cultivate an understanding of…

·      How unaware we actually are

These principles are key to mental and physical health because that which remains unconscious, lying under the surface will continue to impact our lives in ways that may not be useful. In other words, what we remain unaware of has the capacity to completely overtake our lives including, relationships with ourselves and others, therefore any regular practices that nurture the development of awareness as well as a willingness to see ourselves clearly through a compassionately, honest lens, so that we can take caring and loving personal accountability, will be extremely useful in our own healing trajectories.

Through daily practices such as, Svadhyaya, a Niyama (recommended quality to observe) found in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, loosely translating to, “self-study”, which is integral to traditional Yoga, we commit on a regular basis, to checking in with ourselves and with objective, trusted others, to gain perspective about ourselves and our blind spots.

Yoga helps to regulate the nervous system; both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branches, the yang and the yin

It is sometimes assumed that humans simply need to learn to relax and that being in drive is negative or bad. However, both the ability to enter into, increase, and sustain drive when needed (yang; acceleration), as well as, to completely rest, feel calm, and restore when beneficial (yin; braking) are essential to mental and physical health. Neither is better than the other. Yoga teaches us that both energies, known as, Ida and Pingala, Chandra (moon) and Surya (sun), are essential parts of the life force - catabolic and anabolic energies, that help us to thrive, but we must be able to turn each of them on and off, or modify their intensities, when necessary. Specific skills taught in Yoga also aid in harmonizing the link and communication between the brain and heart - nourishing heart-brain coherence.

Yoga fosters embodiment

Through the regular practice of specific Yoga postures we learn to tap into and express the energy, the essence hidden within and behind each pose. For example in Mehruasana, often called “Downward dog” in the West, we envision and start to feel as if we are, a sturdy and unmoving mountain. In Viryasana (Warrior) we transform into a courageous and open-hearted individual, feeling increasingly capable of encountering and overcoming the stresses of life.

As Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani has emphasized so often, “Yoga is what you become.”

References

Gitananda Giri, Y. S., Bhavanani, M. D., Balayogi, B. A. (1971). Yoga step-by-step course.

Basu-Ray, I., (2021). A mechanistic model for Yoga as a preventive and therapeutic modality. International Journal of Yoga, 14 (2), 152-157.

Patañjali. (1975). The Yoga sutras of Patanjali: the book of the spiritual man: an interpretation. London:Watkins.

Shobana, R., Maheshkumar, K., Venkateswaran, S. T., Bagavad Geetha, M., & Padmavathi, R. (2022). Effect of long-term Yoga training on autonomic function among the healthy adults. Journal of Family Medecine and Primary Care, 11(7), 3471-3475.

Streeter, C. C., Gerbarg, P.L., Saper, R. B., Ciraulo, D. A., & Brown, R. P. (2012). Effects of Yoga on the autonomic nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric-acid, and allostasis in epilepsy, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical Hypotheses, 78(5), 571-579.

This blog was written by

Dr. Kamala Pilgrim, C. Psych., CYT the founder, owner, clinical director, and a full-time psychologist at ITHP. As is clear here, Dr. Pilgrim is passionate about integrating Yoga and other somatic, mindfulness-oriented practices inherent to it, into her work with clients and has a particular interest in helping people manage anxiety, stress, burn-out, and trauma as well as, in aiding people in truly getting in tune with their core, heart-felt, meaningful values to help them to build a life aligned with them. To learn more, don’t hesitate to reach out to her.