When the body becomes the teacher | The evolution of Therapeutic Yoga
I’m in love with the practice, I always have been. But it’s not the same practice....
When I first opened AbaYoga, 10 years ago, I believed I was teaching people how to move better. I believed in the richness of energy & effort in movement, the ‘yang’ part of the practice. I believed in Vinyasa and sun salutations. It fit my forty-something body and my post burn-out corporate mind.
The studio attracted students who were like me then, driven by the energy of the practice and the feeling that brings. Niche additions like Hot Yoga and Aerial Yoga would fill the studio compounding this, in a very positive way.
But, 10+ years of life has not left me unchanged.
I’ve now had two, activity caused, orthopaedic surgeries permanently altering my body.
Yes, mind still thinks I’m 25 years old (hence the surprises when I look in the mirror) but my body knows better and has been telling me so.
What I want has changed a little. What I can do has changed a lot.
Accepting this has become a spiritual pathway.
Aligning with what my body knows and adjusting my practice accordingly has been the birth place of “Therapeutic Yoga” in our studio. As it turns out I am not alone. I’m noticing a now growing number of students, who, like me now, are looking for more than exercise and are finding freedom from stiffness, pain, poor sleep and mental clarity.
The more I taught yoga through these experiences, the more I realised I wasn't really teaching movement anymore. I was helping people navigate real life changes...
Recovery from injury.
Menopause.
Chronic stress.
Arthritis.
Burnout.
Loss.
Poor sleep.
Anxiety.
These students didn’t need harder yoga. They needed yoga that met them where they are, just like I do. The evolution towards a more therapeutic style of yoga wasn't a business decision. It felt inevitable. As life changed me, so my teaching changed too
My fascination with the “yin” styles including Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Gong Meditations and Myofascial Release are all born of the need to adapt for the ageing body. As sort of “Yoga for the wise” if you will J
That’s not to say we let go of the Yang – that would be a big mistake because we need yang for life. It gives us stability, strength, confidence, bone density and healthy heart. I will continue to teach Yoga for balance for this reason.
My hope is that YinWave becomes a place where people don't feel they have to keep pretending they're twenty-five. A place where experience is valued, bodies are respected and practice evolves with the person rather than asking the person to fight against themselves.
So what is Therapeutic Yoga?
Therapeutic Yoga isn't a recognised style of yoga as such, not in the way that Vinyasa, Ashtanga or Yin Yoga are. Therapeutic yoga better understood as an approach. An approach which might favour certain styles, like Yin, Nidra and breathwork to achieve the down regulation of the nervous system.
Rather than asking, "What posture should I practise next?" Therapeutic Yoga begins by asking, "What do I need today?"
Some days that might be strength, like Hatha or balance work. Some days it might be freedom of movement, like Yin & MFR.
Some days it might simply be permission to stop striving for an hour, like Nidra and Gong.
In my experience, more and more students don't arrive at YinWave because they want to perfect a pose. They arrive because something in life is asking for their attention. Things like living with persistent pain, recovering from injury, struggling to sleep, navigating menopause, feeling overwhelmed by stress or simply noticing that their body no longer responds in quite the same way it once did.
Therapeutic Yoga meets those realities with curiosity rather than judgement.
It uses movement where movement is helpful, stillness where stillness is needed, breath to calm the nervous system and rest as an essential part of practice rather than a reward for working hard.
That's why the classes at YinWave have gradually evolved.
Yin Yoga creates space where life has created tension.
Myofascial Release helps restore ease to tissues that have become stiff or guarded.
Yoga Nidra offers profound rest in a world that rarely slows down.
Gong Meditation gives many people an opportunity to experience deep relaxation that they often struggle to find on their own.
Alongside these practices, I continue to teach strength, balance and stability because healthy ageing isn't about becoming passive. We need resilience as much as we need recovery. We need yang as much as we need yin.
For me, Therapeutic Yoga is about finding that balance.
Learning to work with your body, respecting it and allowing it to become your teacher.
If that's where you find yourself in life, perhaps you'll discover, as I have, that yoga becomes less about what you can achieve and more about how you choose to live.
If these reflections resonate with you, perhaps our path will cross at YinWave.
