Yoga Therapy Meets Psychotherapy

In many traditional psychotherapy models, the focus has often centered on thoughts, behaviours, and language as the main paths to healing. But what if we’re overlooking a powerful ally in this work — the body? Yoga therapy invites us to expand our therapeutic toolkit by integrating breath, movement, and mindful body awareness. It’s not an alternative to psychotherapy — it’s an enhancement. When we involve the body, we gain direct access to the nervous system, creating opportunities for deep regulation, insight, and healing.

Why the Body Matters in Therapy

Emotions aren’t just “in our head.” As Dr. Bessel van der Kolk says, “heartbreaking and gut-wrenching emotions become encoded in the viscera.” Our bodies express the imprint of stress, trauma, fear, shame, and sadness — often outside of our conscious awareness. If we ignore this, we miss a core component of the human experience. In working with my clients and in my own work with myself, I’ve seen that incorporating yoga-based practices into psychotherapy can:

• Reactivate a sense of safeness and agency

• Help regulate a dysregulated nervous system

• Allow us to turn toward rather than avoid painful experiences

• Develop interoceptive awareness — the ability to feel and respond to internal body signals. You can read more about interoception here.

• Interrupt chronic postural and movement patterns shaped by fear, shame or other difficult emotions

  
  

In my work with clients, I use simple, accessible tools to support nervous system regulation and increase emotional resilience. Intentional breathwork activates the ventral parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) - the branch associated with safeness, connection, and calm. This supports emotional regulation and presence. Slow, mindful movement reduces muscle tension and helps anchor us in our bodies, promoting a sense of grounding and reducing dissociation. It also builds tolerance for interoceptive awareness. More energising movement can help shift us out of dorsal vagal withdrawal - states of collapse, numbness, or hopelessness - into activation and engagement. These tools aren’t about avoiding emotional discomfort. They help build the capacity to stay with it — to explore, to reflect, and to develop healthier patterns.

Supporting Cognitive and Emotional Shifts

Body-based practices don’t replace cognitive work — they prepare the ground for it. When we are stuck in rigid thought patterns or reactive behaviours, bottom-up regulation (through breath and movement) can connect us with the curious parts of us, unlocking a more flexible, open and creative mindset through which we view our situation. From this more regulated state, we are better equipped to reflect on what beliefs might be keeping us stuck or what behaviour might be reinforcing difficult emotions and suffering - these top-down strategies become more effective. The result? A virtuous cycle where mind and body reinforce one another toward healing.

Supporting Approach, not Avoidance

A crucial point: body-based practices are not used to avoid difficult emotions (in therapy speak we could call these safety behaviours). We’re not using movement or breath because the emotions are “too much” or because we can’t cope. We’re using them to stay present with the difficult, to approach and be with rather than to shut down or escape.

We can learn:

• How to tolerate distress and intense emotion

• That emotional states are temporary, not fixed

• How to access the kind, understanding, supportive and compassionate parts of us

• That even in pain, there is space for agency and choice

  
  

Psychotherapy and yoga therapy together offer a rich, multidimensional path to healing. When we bring the body into the therapy, we open up new pathways for resilience, insight, and connection. We shift from coping with life to being in relationship with it - even the hard parts.

If you're curious about how this integrative approach might support your journey - or your clients - you're not alone. There’s a growing community of practitioners and clients discovering the wisdom of this mind-body collaboration. My approach to therapy is one of integration, combining body-based and psychological methods, including CBT, EMDR, mindfulness-based approaches, Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – you can read more about CBT here and EMDR here. If you'd like to learn more or explore whether this approach could support your journey, feel free to get in touch.