Yoga Psychotherapy: Intervention that integrates mind and body

Yoga is quite a popular science which is known for its therapeutic effects bringing mind-body balance, muscle strength, endurance, and flexibility. It is accepted throughout the globe and is also celebrated every year internationally on 21st June. Yoga is believed to be a cardiovascular practice that using breath as a tool heals the mind as well as the body. It is a form of exercise that uses mindfulness as its most important and unique feature. It strongly emphasizes the coordination of breath and movement which inevitably brings an experience of moving meditation.

Psychotherapy is another popular modality that uses the principles of well-known psychological models in the context of therapy and counseling. However, when the healing effects of both these sciences are combined, it gives rise to a third science called Yoga Psychotherapy.

Yoga Psychotherapy mainly involves simple asanas in comparison to a regular yoga class. This is because the focus is less on creating flexibility or strength and more on bringing a calm state in the mind along with higher self-awareness. The aim of Yoga Psychotherapy is to align mind and body so that the practitioner is fully aware of his/her body sensations and their mind is completely relaxed and focused. Using such asanas as a tool when we combine it with breath ratio i.e. giving a precise count for one’s inhalation and exhalation, it gives rise to a very smooth and deep breathing texture. The goal is to generate such quality of breath, as the more one practices the production of such smooth breath the more it gets stored in our memory. This allows us to create such silky quality of breath at will, as well. The mind is directly linked with the body. Whatever we experience at the mental level the same is mirrored at the body level eg. When we are angry our breathing becomes rapid and when we meditate or are fully relaxed our breath is long and smooth. This clearly indicates the relationship between mind and body and is also a very handy and powerful tool that we have for transformation. If whatever we feel instantly translates as a shift in the quality of our breath, then it must also work the other way round. I.e. if we intentionally shift the texture and quality of our breath using various techniques of pranayama then it must immediately bring a relaxed and empty frame of mind.

So, using psychotherapy we do exactly what is explained. By using body movements along with the breathing techniques we create an ideal and joyful state of mind which becomes like the raw material for us to build a new positive frame of mind. When regularly practiced we are able to use it in various challenging events, as the idea is not to dissolve all obstacles that we face in life but to develop the ability to easily deal with all kinds of situations. Yoga Psychotherapy using the breath brings a harmonious rhythm in one’s heart beats and as per medical science when our heart beat is rhythmic and cadent it naturally brings all organs in a state of synchronicity which thereby produces all hormones in a precise amount thus bringing our mind and body in a holistically healthy state.

To know more or to book for a healing session through chakras, psychotherapy, yoga, CBT, EFT, Clinical Hypnotherapy, Psycho-Spiritual Counseling etc or to enroll for any spiritual course on Chakra Healing, Self- Empowerment, Mindfulness, Parenting, Law of Attraction etc call or wats app Ananya Vohra (Counseling Psychologist, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Yoga Psychotherapist, Spiritual Counselor, ThetaHealing Practitioner, CBT/Mindfulness Trainer)