May 31, 2024 • 22 mins
Yoga therapy. We talked about it back in Episode 20 with our good friend Nathan, but we never thought we'd end up embracing it on our own. Join CH this week as she discusses her personal journey into yoga therapy, finding solace and healing through a tailored program, and how a personalized approach can create a supportive container for both body and mind. Whether a seasoned yoga practitioner or new to the concept of how yoga therapy differs from just doing yoga, this episode offers perspectives on integrating yoga into life for a holistic sense of well-being, and its dual benefits for physical and mental health.
Show Notes
- CH is currently working with good friend and Share the Chair (Episode 20) guest, Nathan Waldvogel, for her yoga therapy program.
- For those interested in learning more about the practice of yoga therapy you can visit Nathan's Web site: YogaHausNW.com.
- Information on some of the different styles of yoga, including the definition of yoga therapy, can be found on Nathan's Web site under the Yoga Styles section.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This week's Life Note, embarking on a yoga therapy journey of my own.
Music.
Welcome to Life Notes from Chair 17, a podcast dedicated to sharing life stories,
wisdoms, and inspirations as we navigate life's journey.
(00:20):
Host CH aims to share thoughtful perspectives and insights from her own life
journey, as well as those of special guests and contributors.
Tune in for thoughtful conversations about lessons learned, wisdoms gained,
experiences had, and inspirations shared.
Find us where you get your podcasts and be sure to hit follow or subscribe so
(00:43):
you never miss an episode.
Now enjoy this week's episode.
All righty, welcome back in, friends, to another episode of Life Notes from Tier 17.
I'm your host, CH, and I thank you once again, as always, for finding me in
(01:04):
this corner of the podcast universe.
And as always, I'd like to start off by thanking our returning C-17ers for your
continued support and tuning in each week.
This does include our returning international listeners, which is growing,
I have to say, reaching different countries now, which is very cool.
(01:25):
So all of you who are continuing to hang out with us each week, thank you so much.
But if you do happen to be tuning in for the first time, maybe you've just found
us on one of the major podcast platforms,
or you are checking us out via our website
out on Life Notes from chair17podcast.com, a warm welcome in to you.
(01:49):
Thank you for wanting to check us out. Hope you like what you hear,
and you will want to continue to tune in and become a returning C-17er.
So by the time this episode airs, we will be rounding out Mental Health Awareness
Month here in the United States for 2024.
(02:11):
And as it so happens, for the last few months, I have embarked on a yoga therapy journey of my own.
Now, as always, I share this purely from the perspective of a life experience.
So the standard disclaimer applies that I'm not offering or advocating any medical
(02:36):
advice in sharing this story or this journey.
And you are to, of course, make that decision on your own or with your primary
care practitioner or however you receive your medical and wellness care.
But I thought I would share it because it's definitely something that has had
a really positive impact on me of late.
(03:00):
And it's really been twofold.
So it has been for some physical ailments that I've had, but also for a more,
let's call it holistic heart, mind, body, soul, therapeutic journey.
Now, some of you who have been listening for a while will remember that back
(03:23):
in episode 20, we did a share the chair share a session with our good friend Nathan,
who is actually on his own journey to becoming a yoga therapist,
a yoga therapist practitioner.
Now, sidebar, if you have not listened to that, or you are a newer listener
and might not have checked out that particular episode in the Share the Chair
(03:47):
series, I really do encourage you to do it.
You don't necessarily have to pause this episode, go check it out and come back.
That's totally fine if you want to listen to this first and then go back and check that one out.
But it does offer, I feel, not only the ability to learn about yoga therapy,
(04:07):
the practice of it, if you're not familiar with what it is or the difference
between doing yoga versus doing yoga therapy.
But it also just has some great inspiring life wisdoms from Nathan as he has
shared how he came on to that journey and what it has taught him.
(04:27):
And the main reason I actually started participating in some of the yoga therapy
sessions is as a result of being not only friends with Nathan,
but obviously we do live in the same city up here in the Pacific Northwest.
So we are both based in Seattle.
And he was aware of some
(04:47):
injuries that I have right now and as he's building out
his clinical hours he suggested maybe that I could be a good candidate for it
and I will have to say repetitive motion injuries are really just not fun and
honestly the struggle has been pretty real for me, of late,
(05:09):
both with my rotator cuff in my shoulder has some tendinitis, so fun times on that.
And I'm just going to call it a knee injury that's probably been around for
a long time, and it comes and it goes, and it just seems to be coming a lot
right now and bothering me.
So So ironically, as a result of playing more drums,
(05:35):
I have determined some of these,
both of these really, are being triggered by the repetitive motion of hitting
the right cymbal on my right hand side and using my left foot to control the hi-hat pedal.
Now that probably sounds like foreign language to those of you who are not familiar
with all the different parts of a drum kit. and that is totally okay.
(05:59):
Let's just say that drummers do have.
A particular risk of developing injury because it is one of the more physical
instruments to play, and over time, especially as we age, that physical and
repetitive motion can take a toll.
Now, I will say this is kind of new for me because I, in all my times prior
(06:21):
of playing drums just for fun, I never really had an injury or had the struggle.
I've had obviously injury from sports that I've played, but not repetitive motion types.
So I do attribute this to having upped my playing in the last year or so.
And even though I've been really trying to be mindful and practice good ergonomics
(06:43):
when I set up my kit, I'm obviously not escaping completely injury-free.
And I'm not necessarily only blaming the drums either.
This could be just a combination of age and timing and old injury plus new thing that I'm doing a lot.
So in talking with Nathan and hearing that story, he definitely thought,
(07:04):
hey, you know what, you would be a pretty good yoga therapy candidate.
And I have to say, he has been so right on that.
And now having had some firsthand experience in actually becoming a yoga therapy client,
(07:24):
really, it has given me a different approach to incorporating yoga into my life.
Now, some of you might remember, if you did listen to Nathan's episode,
how he framed the difference between just doing yoga and yoga therapy and the
(07:46):
way that he has learned it and is part of his practice as becoming a practitioner.
He helped define yoga therapy as yoga.
A very specific program that is developed and designed by the practitioner with
the client for what is currently best for them, both physically and mentally,
(08:11):
in a particular moment.
Or as Nathan puts it, to create this container to serve both the physical and the mental.
So while we might
incorporate some of the things that perhaps could
be done in a regular yoga class or in
(08:32):
a certain yoga flow they are put together
in such a way that is specific for the client right and that client being me
in this case but it's for for anyone who would be enrolled in yoga therapy working
with a yoga therapist and developing a program specific for them so in my In my case,
(08:52):
what we've been doing has really been to take care of my shoulder and my knee.
But as part of that container, the idea of yoga therapy may also lead to addressing
and building part of the program for the thing that maybe that person didn't
(09:12):
initially come into yoga therapy for.
And in my case, that has gone
beyond the knee and the shoulder and starting to take a look at the toll of
the last several months of essentially facing a layoff in one of the more difficult
(09:34):
job markets. a small sidebar on this.
As somebody who is on the front line of this right now, specifically,
and again, only referencing the United States, I can't and don't know the job
market situation in other countries.
But it is very tempting in our current media narrative to hear that we have
(09:55):
a very low unemployment rate out there in the United States.
But that figure is slightly misleading in the sense that it does not.
Account for what is called long-term unemployed
because if you're longer if you're unemployed for longer than six
months you fall out of those numbers doesn't account
for the people that who have given up looking for work
(10:16):
since maybe last year when we did start to see certain industries start to lay
off masses of people it doesn't account for some of the impacts of ai AI that
is eliminating or targeting certain jobs quicker than others.
It does not take into account what I'm going to call the AI and ATS,
(10:42):
which stands for Applicant Tracking System Factor, that is really changing,
or you could say upending,
how we as applicants get past the automated review of our resume and also coupled
with how many resumes are being sent in to at times what can be some depleted
(11:06):
recruitment departments.
And this is only just for one job. There's just not enough people to look at
all the resumes that are coming in for just the one job.
And I had a very depressing statistic that I saw the other day.
There's something like less than one job available now, something like 0.7 jobs
available for every two people that are unemployed or every one person that is unemployed.
(11:30):
So that makes competition very, very steep.
So when you think of all these factors, this is why the unemployment number is a little misleading.
And if you happen to work in a industry that is maybe disproportionately affected
by layoffs like tech or maybe in a type of work.
(11:51):
Like HR or recruitment, the challenge can get a lot harder.
So I'm not overstating the fact that this is taking a toll on a lot of us,
not just me, that are facing this right now.
Because for many of us, it's not a good time to be out of work or looking for work.
And it is not necessarily reflected, that struggle is not reflected in our low unemployment number.
(12:15):
So as I try to navigate these waters myself, which are very choppy right now.
In addition to the physical injuries I'm facing, I found a real need to be also
paying a lot of attention to my mental well-being.
And again, the irony of me recording the
(12:37):
Living Through a Layoff episode before I got laid off
just still makes me kind of laugh and
not in a good way but I digress but I will
say as as as I've been doing this now for I
think it's going on a little over six weeks
we're coming up on about two months what has really amazed me
about it and committing to
(13:00):
doing yoga therapy is that it has had the dual effect on physical and mental
which I'm sure there are some of you out there who who are regularly practicing
yoga and might be maybe laughing or maybe rolling your eyes going, well, yeah, duh,
CH, that's why I do yoga, because it is supposed to be good for you,
(13:22):
both physically and mentally.
So I will fully acknowledge I probably
sound like an uber newbie right now going, look, ma, yoga therapy.
I'm okay with that. And although I've had some experience doing yoga before,
I will admit I did not ever have a program that was specifically designed by
(13:45):
a teacher or a practitioner in this case to help me for what is ailing me in that moment.
I only ever did it by myself or maybe I took a class.
And so I am really finding the difference being that container approach that
Nathan talked about and how he crafts the program for what's going on for me.
(14:07):
Now, if you happen to have had that approach to your yoga practice since you
began, you are well ahead of me and well ahead of others.
And I tip my hat to you for taking that approach because I do think about it
now and wish maybe I had done it sooner.
(14:27):
Nooner, but maybe there are those of you that are hearing this for the first time, and you,
you, in hearing it for the first time, you might be thinking about it as embarking
on a program really designed to contain and support what it is the body and
mind need in that given moment.
And I didn't ever have yoga do this for me previously. Right.
(14:52):
And it could be, again, maybe I just never found the right class or the right
instructor or maybe I just didn't approach it the right way.
But even having taken, you know, like a restorative yoga class here and there,
I definitely look back on it now and know that even though the class was beneficial to me,
it wasn't specifically designed just for my age or my physical limitations or
(15:19):
to focus on maybe particular breathing exercises that work best for me.
Or ones that from week to week to week are changing slightly depending on maybe
the progress I'm making or where I'm at.
And that has been the part of this yoga therapy program that Nathan has designed
(15:41):
that's been super helpful to me and I give him all the credit for approaching
it the way that he has and has continued to fine-tune it.
And to get into a
little more of the nuts and bolts you know the way it has
been set up it's gone from my first session which has
been very much let's call it a q a session to initially talk through the goals
(16:05):
you know what we want to achieve while also doing you know a physical assessment
of my posture my breathing and
taking into account those factors of age of injury of of life experience,
of what is currently going on in my day to day.
And then, moving into the sessions weekly that start really with a sit down
(16:29):
and a little bit of talking through, how's it going?
How am I doing? What's on my mind? How have I been practicing the recommendations,
from the previous class of session that we had?
Is it working? Is it not working? To then moving into the actual,
let's say, session for that day.
(16:51):
So to the physical or the breath movements that have been outlined,
which potentially build off of what I might have done the previous week,
or might be ones that are brought up in the moment, perhaps as a result of something
I shared during the check-in part of the session.
So you can start to see how that really does feel like a container.
(17:12):
So it's not just a one-size-fits-all or one-stop shop.
And speaking again, just from my experience, I don't know that I ever saw yoga
in this context, this sort of 360-degree approach to improving both physical
wellness and mental wellness.
I think the closest I probably got was when I was actually doing rehabilitative
(17:37):
physical therapy to bring my ankle back after I broke it surfing many years back.
And I really did love doing physical therapy.
There was something, I don't know if I could call it inspiring or maybe beautiful or both,
to see this part of my body that had been really broken and unused and lost
(18:01):
all of its strength and just kind of was null and void for such a long period
of time be brought back to full strength.
And while I can say that doing that kind of PT,
as we would call it here, abbreviated for physical therapy, that it did have
a positive impact on my mental wellness because being physically injured for
(18:26):
a really long period of time takes its toll,
especially when you are a really active person like I was and still am.
I don't know that my PT program was designed with a mental wellness component.
I think it naturally developed, but it wasn't part of that program.
We were really focused on, let's get the ankle back to full strength.
(18:48):
But with yoga therapy
and in this specific instance the
combination of the mental and the physical has been there from the get-go and
it has been very unique to what i'm eating at this moment in time or at this
moment in life and it has really made me see and view yoga.
(19:13):
In a much different way than before. Now, again,
if you have been doing yoga a very long period of time and you already have
something that you've developed that is bringing some element like this to it,
even if you aren't particularly engaged in specifically yoga therapy,
that's really, really good.
(19:33):
And keep doing that because clearly you can tell I have found great benefit from it.
But, you know, if you've never thought about yoga as a therapeutic endeavor,
or maybe one that could be specifically designed for you privately,
maybe you've been intimidated to go to a class or take a class,
and you're looking to potentially think about how a practitioner could build
(19:58):
a holistic program that accounts for both physical and mental health at a given
period of time in your life.
If you have yoga therapy available to
you in your area obviously if
you're here in seattle we of course will share nathan's information if you're
interested or and or other resources that he provides on his website just to
(20:23):
learn more about it you can do that again i'm not a doctor right so i'm not
offering any sort of medical advice i'm not telling all of you please go do yoga therapy,
or please go do yoga therapy with Nathan.
This is really always something that you need to evaluate for yourself and potentially
(20:43):
evaluate with your primary care practitioner.
But if you are someone like me who's had a few aches and pains and you care about maintaining
both physical wellness as much
as mental wellness and maybe interested in
trying a new approach as someone who is really enjoying her yoga therapy experience
(21:07):
it's potentially something you can look into and as with anything right it's
particularly I think true with health and wellness you do really want to find
someone you can partner with to make it a good experience all the way around.
And I am really grateful to Nathan for wanting me to become part of that journey,
(21:27):
which is building that container for me and having helped restore in me both
that balance between physical and mental,
or at least we're on the, call it we're on the path to doing that,
at least at the time of this recording.
So there you have it. As always, I ask you to be kind to yourself.
(21:49):
Take it one hour at a time, one day at a time, and I will see you next time.
Music.
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Life Notes from Chair17.
Remember to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. We'll see you next time.
Music.
This week's Life Note, embarking on a yoga therapy journey of my own.
Music.
Welcome to Life Notes from Chair 17, a podcast dedicated to sharing life stories,
wisdoms, and inspirations as we navigate life's journey.
(00:20):
Host CH aims to share thoughtful perspectives and insights from her own life
journey, as well as those of special guests and contributors.
Tune in for thoughtful conversations about lessons learned, wisdoms gained,
experiences had, and inspirations shared.
Find us where you get your podcasts and be sure to hit follow or subscribe so
(00:43):
you never miss an episode.
Now enjoy this week's episode.
All righty, welcome back in, friends, to another episode of Life Notes from Tier 17.
I'm your host, CH, and I thank you once again, as always, for finding me in
(01:04):
this corner of the podcast universe.
And as always, I'd like to start off by thanking our returning C-17ers for your
continued support and tuning in each week.
This does include our returning international listeners, which is growing,
I have to say, reaching different countries now, which is very cool.
(01:25):
So all of you who are continuing to hang out with us each week, thank you so much.
But if you do happen to be tuning in for the first time, maybe you've just found
us on one of the major podcast platforms,
or you are checking us out via our website
out on Life Notes from chair17podcast.com, a warm welcome in to you.
(01:49):
Thank you for wanting to check us out. Hope you like what you hear,
and you will want to continue to tune in and become a returning C-17er.
So by the time this episode airs, we will be rounding out Mental Health Awareness
Month here in the United States for 2024.
(02:11):
And as it so happens, for the last few months, I have embarked on a yoga therapy journey of my own.
Now, as always, I share this purely from the perspective of a life experience.
So the standard disclaimer applies that I'm not offering or advocating any medical
(02:36):
advice in sharing this story or this journey.
And you are to, of course, make that decision on your own or with your primary
care practitioner or however you receive your medical and wellness care.
But I thought I would share it because it's definitely something that has had
a really positive impact on me of late.
(03:00):
And it's really been twofold.
So it has been for some physical ailments that I've had, but also for a more,
let's call it holistic heart, mind, body, soul, therapeutic journey.
Now, some of you who have been listening for a while will remember that back
(03:23):
in episode 20, we did a share the chair share a session with our good friend Nathan,
who is actually on his own journey to becoming a yoga therapist,
a yoga therapist practitioner.
Now, sidebar, if you have not listened to that, or you are a newer listener
and might not have checked out that particular episode in the Share the Chair
(03:47):
series, I really do encourage you to do it.
You don't necessarily have to pause this episode, go check it out and come back.
That's totally fine if you want to listen to this first and then go back and check that one out.
But it does offer, I feel, not only the ability to learn about yoga therapy,
(04:07):
the practice of it, if you're not familiar with what it is or the difference
between doing yoga versus doing yoga therapy.
But it also just has some great inspiring life wisdoms from Nathan as he has
shared how he came on to that journey and what it has taught him.
(04:27):
And the main reason I actually started participating in some of the yoga therapy
sessions is as a result of being not only friends with Nathan,
but obviously we do live in the same city up here in the Pacific Northwest.
So we are both based in Seattle.
And he was aware of some
(04:47):
injuries that I have right now and as he's building out
his clinical hours he suggested maybe that I could be a good candidate for it
and I will have to say repetitive motion injuries are really just not fun and
honestly the struggle has been pretty real for me, of late,
(05:09):
both with my rotator cuff in my shoulder has some tendinitis, so fun times on that.
And I'm just going to call it a knee injury that's probably been around for
a long time, and it comes and it goes, and it just seems to be coming a lot
right now and bothering me.
So So ironically, as a result of playing more drums,
(05:35):
I have determined some of these,
both of these really, are being triggered by the repetitive motion of hitting
the right cymbal on my right hand side and using my left foot to control the hi-hat pedal.
Now that probably sounds like foreign language to those of you who are not familiar
with all the different parts of a drum kit. and that is totally okay.
(05:59):
Let's just say that drummers do have.
A particular risk of developing injury because it is one of the more physical
instruments to play, and over time, especially as we age, that physical and
repetitive motion can take a toll.
Now, I will say this is kind of new for me because I, in all my times prior
(06:21):
of playing drums just for fun, I never really had an injury or had the struggle.
I've had obviously injury from sports that I've played, but not repetitive motion types.
So I do attribute this to having upped my playing in the last year or so.
And even though I've been really trying to be mindful and practice good ergonomics
(06:43):
when I set up my kit, I'm obviously not escaping completely injury-free.
And I'm not necessarily only blaming the drums either.
This could be just a combination of age and timing and old injury plus new thing that I'm doing a lot.
So in talking with Nathan and hearing that story, he definitely thought,
(07:04):
hey, you know what, you would be a pretty good yoga therapy candidate.
And I have to say, he has been so right on that.
And now having had some firsthand experience in actually becoming a yoga therapy client,
(07:24):
really, it has given me a different approach to incorporating yoga into my life.
Now, some of you might remember, if you did listen to Nathan's episode,
how he framed the difference between just doing yoga and yoga therapy and the
(07:46):
way that he has learned it and is part of his practice as becoming a practitioner.
He helped define yoga therapy as yoga.
A very specific program that is developed and designed by the practitioner with
the client for what is currently best for them, both physically and mentally,
(08:11):
in a particular moment.
Or as Nathan puts it, to create this container to serve both the physical and the mental.
So while we might
incorporate some of the things that perhaps could
be done in a regular yoga class or in
(08:32):
a certain yoga flow they are put together
in such a way that is specific for the client right and that client being me
in this case but it's for for anyone who would be enrolled in yoga therapy working
with a yoga therapist and developing a program specific for them so in my In my case,
(08:52):
what we've been doing has really been to take care of my shoulder and my knee.
But as part of that container, the idea of yoga therapy may also lead to addressing
and building part of the program for the thing that maybe that person didn't
(09:12):
initially come into yoga therapy for.
And in my case, that has gone
beyond the knee and the shoulder and starting to take a look at the toll of
the last several months of essentially facing a layoff in one of the more difficult
(09:34):
job markets. a small sidebar on this.
As somebody who is on the front line of this right now, specifically,
and again, only referencing the United States, I can't and don't know the job
market situation in other countries.
But it is very tempting in our current media narrative to hear that we have
(09:55):
a very low unemployment rate out there in the United States.
But that figure is slightly misleading in the sense that it does not.
Account for what is called long-term unemployed
because if you're longer if you're unemployed for longer than six
months you fall out of those numbers doesn't account
for the people that who have given up looking for work
(10:16):
since maybe last year when we did start to see certain industries start to lay
off masses of people it doesn't account for some of the impacts of ai AI that
is eliminating or targeting certain jobs quicker than others.
It does not take into account what I'm going to call the AI and ATS,
(10:42):
which stands for Applicant Tracking System Factor, that is really changing,
or you could say upending,
how we as applicants get past the automated review of our resume and also coupled
with how many resumes are being sent in to at times what can be some depleted
(11:06):
recruitment departments.
And this is only just for one job. There's just not enough people to look at
all the resumes that are coming in for just the one job.
And I had a very depressing statistic that I saw the other day.
There's something like less than one job available now, something like 0.7 jobs
available for every two people that are unemployed or every one person that is unemployed.
(11:30):
So that makes competition very, very steep.
So when you think of all these factors, this is why the unemployment number is a little misleading.
And if you happen to work in a industry that is maybe disproportionately affected
by layoffs like tech or maybe in a type of work.
(11:51):
Like HR or recruitment, the challenge can get a lot harder.
So I'm not overstating the fact that this is taking a toll on a lot of us,
not just me, that are facing this right now.
Because for many of us, it's not a good time to be out of work or looking for work.
And it is not necessarily reflected, that struggle is not reflected in our low unemployment number.
(12:15):
So as I try to navigate these waters myself, which are very choppy right now.
In addition to the physical injuries I'm facing, I found a real need to be also
paying a lot of attention to my mental well-being.
And again, the irony of me recording the
(12:37):
Living Through a Layoff episode before I got laid off
just still makes me kind of laugh and
not in a good way but I digress but I will
say as as as I've been doing this now for I
think it's going on a little over six weeks
we're coming up on about two months what has really amazed me
about it and committing to
(13:00):
doing yoga therapy is that it has had the dual effect on physical and mental
which I'm sure there are some of you out there who who are regularly practicing
yoga and might be maybe laughing or maybe rolling your eyes going, well, yeah, duh,
CH, that's why I do yoga, because it is supposed to be good for you,
(13:22):
both physically and mentally.
So I will fully acknowledge I probably
sound like an uber newbie right now going, look, ma, yoga therapy.
I'm okay with that. And although I've had some experience doing yoga before,
I will admit I did not ever have a program that was specifically designed by
(13:45):
a teacher or a practitioner in this case to help me for what is ailing me in that moment.
I only ever did it by myself or maybe I took a class.
And so I am really finding the difference being that container approach that
Nathan talked about and how he crafts the program for what's going on for me.
(14:07):
Now, if you happen to have had that approach to your yoga practice since you
began, you are well ahead of me and well ahead of others.
And I tip my hat to you for taking that approach because I do think about it
now and wish maybe I had done it sooner.
(14:27):
Nooner, but maybe there are those of you that are hearing this for the first time, and you,
you, in hearing it for the first time, you might be thinking about it as embarking
on a program really designed to contain and support what it is the body and
mind need in that given moment.
And I didn't ever have yoga do this for me previously. Right.
(14:52):
And it could be, again, maybe I just never found the right class or the right
instructor or maybe I just didn't approach it the right way.
But even having taken, you know, like a restorative yoga class here and there,
I definitely look back on it now and know that even though the class was beneficial to me,
it wasn't specifically designed just for my age or my physical limitations or
(15:19):
to focus on maybe particular breathing exercises that work best for me.
Or ones that from week to week to week are changing slightly depending on maybe
the progress I'm making or where I'm at.
And that has been the part of this yoga therapy program that Nathan has designed
(15:41):
that's been super helpful to me and I give him all the credit for approaching
it the way that he has and has continued to fine-tune it.
And to get into a
little more of the nuts and bolts you know the way it has
been set up it's gone from my first session which has
been very much let's call it a q a session to initially talk through the goals
(16:05):
you know what we want to achieve while also doing you know a physical assessment
of my posture my breathing and
taking into account those factors of age of injury of of life experience,
of what is currently going on in my day to day.
And then, moving into the sessions weekly that start really with a sit down
(16:29):
and a little bit of talking through, how's it going?
How am I doing? What's on my mind? How have I been practicing the recommendations,
from the previous class of session that we had?
Is it working? Is it not working? To then moving into the actual,
let's say, session for that day.
(16:51):
So to the physical or the breath movements that have been outlined,
which potentially build off of what I might have done the previous week,
or might be ones that are brought up in the moment, perhaps as a result of something
I shared during the check-in part of the session.
So you can start to see how that really does feel like a container.
(17:12):
So it's not just a one-size-fits-all or one-stop shop.
And speaking again, just from my experience, I don't know that I ever saw yoga
in this context, this sort of 360-degree approach to improving both physical
wellness and mental wellness.
I think the closest I probably got was when I was actually doing rehabilitative
(17:37):
physical therapy to bring my ankle back after I broke it surfing many years back.
And I really did love doing physical therapy.
There was something, I don't know if I could call it inspiring or maybe beautiful or both,
to see this part of my body that had been really broken and unused and lost
(18:01):
all of its strength and just kind of was null and void for such a long period
of time be brought back to full strength.
And while I can say that doing that kind of PT,
as we would call it here, abbreviated for physical therapy, that it did have
a positive impact on my mental wellness because being physically injured for
(18:26):
a really long period of time takes its toll,
especially when you are a really active person like I was and still am.
I don't know that my PT program was designed with a mental wellness component.
I think it naturally developed, but it wasn't part of that program.
We were really focused on, let's get the ankle back to full strength.
(18:48):
But with yoga therapy
and in this specific instance the
combination of the mental and the physical has been there from the get-go and
it has been very unique to what i'm eating at this moment in time or at this
moment in life and it has really made me see and view yoga.
(19:13):
In a much different way than before. Now, again,
if you have been doing yoga a very long period of time and you already have
something that you've developed that is bringing some element like this to it,
even if you aren't particularly engaged in specifically yoga therapy,
that's really, really good.
(19:33):
And keep doing that because clearly you can tell I have found great benefit from it.
But, you know, if you've never thought about yoga as a therapeutic endeavor,
or maybe one that could be specifically designed for you privately,
maybe you've been intimidated to go to a class or take a class,
and you're looking to potentially think about how a practitioner could build
(19:58):
a holistic program that accounts for both physical and mental health at a given
period of time in your life.
If you have yoga therapy available to
you in your area obviously if
you're here in seattle we of course will share nathan's information if you're
interested or and or other resources that he provides on his website just to
(20:23):
learn more about it you can do that again i'm not a doctor right so i'm not
offering any sort of medical advice i'm not telling all of you please go do yoga therapy,
or please go do yoga therapy with Nathan.
This is really always something that you need to evaluate for yourself and potentially
(20:43):
evaluate with your primary care practitioner.
But if you are someone like me who's had a few aches and pains and you care about maintaining
both physical wellness as much
as mental wellness and maybe interested in
trying a new approach as someone who is really enjoying her yoga therapy experience
(21:07):
it's potentially something you can look into and as with anything right it's
particularly I think true with health and wellness you do really want to find
someone you can partner with to make it a good experience all the way around.
And I am really grateful to Nathan for wanting me to become part of that journey,
(21:27):
which is building that container for me and having helped restore in me both
that balance between physical and mental,
or at least we're on the, call it we're on the path to doing that,
at least at the time of this recording.
So there you have it. As always, I ask you to be kind to yourself.
(21:49):
Take it one hour at a time, one day at a time, and I will see you next time.
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Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Life Notes from Chair17.
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