How Yoga Can Enhance Your Therapy Practice

Psychotherapy and emotional growth and maturation can be akin to some of the ebb and flow of a yoga practice.

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Where yoga and psychotherapy may differ from most other endeavors is in part what they asked us to do with discomfort. They both ask that we become more aware of the sensations within our body or mind and asks that we create room for any discomfort as a way to reconfigure our relationship with suffering. Additionally, they ask us to cultivate a greater and more pronounced attitude of kindness and compassion within ourselves.

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Being a human will bring up discomfort at times.

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We often are quick to tense up around pain, whether it be physical or emotional, and want to get rid of it as quickly as possible. In yoga, we may grit our teeth and tense our shoulders during an intense pose causing our bodies to tighten and hold on to our defensive posture. Within our emotional realm, if we distract ourselves with screens and substances during an intense and unpleasant emotional experience we also can become defensive and psychologically resistant to our own growth and development.

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Yoga and therapy are both beautiful ways to expand the part of us that is the "container" for all of our experiences. In tandem these practices grow on each other, helping us to move our lives in a more mindful and value-driven direction.