Yoga Therapy
What is Yoga Therapy?
When life throws you curveballs, yoga’s here to help. Whether that curveball is an achy hip or pelvic pain, a prolonged period of stress (2020 anyone?), or your sleep got off track, Yoga Therapy offers a personalized approach to support your unique needs.
Yoga Therapy is a holistic system of wellness. Drawing from ancient practices combined with our modern understanding of science, Yoga Therapy includes postures, breathing exercises, mindfulness tools and meditation, practical application of yoga philosophy, and Ayurveda, to foster healing and growth.
In both moments of stress - when there’s an injury or a spike in anxiety, and in moments of rest – when you have the space to build better balance or strength, this customized, therapeutic guidance will help you thrive in your life.
Hi, I’m Emily.
I’m a certified Yoga Therapist and a Holistic Nutritionist. I offer one-on-one Yoga sessions tailored to you. In our work together, we will co-create simple practices and strategies to enhance your mobility and resiliency, and to reduce stress and discomfort. With mindful yoga therapy, I will meet you where you are, and walk with you along the way.
(Certified by the International Association of Yoga Therapists, publisher of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy.)
Your Yoga Therapy session
A Yoga Therapy session begins with a conversation about the areas in your life in which you want support. Whether that's managing anxiety and pain, or building strength in your hips or shoulders, the tools of yoga are vast. Each session may include postures and other movement modalities, breathing exercises, mindfulness tools, and discussion on how to use the inner teachings of yoga to thrive in life.
I am committed to serving those living with anxiety and depression, trauma, and persistent pain. Our areas of expertise are often born of personal experience, and this is true for the list below and my life. I specialize in what I’ve lived and practiced, informed by everyone I’ve had the pleasure of working with, guided by science and tradition.
Anxiety and Depression
Prenatal Yoga Therapy and Postpartum Yoga Therapy Support
Respiratory Conditions
Persistent Pain
TMJD
Acute and Chronic injuries
While no two experiences of anxiety or pain are the same, they have some similar components and it can be helpful to have guidance from someone who has walked the walk - Hi again :)
I am dedicated to finding the yoga that works for you, rather than trying to fit everyone into a particular yoga box. My mission is to provide practical applications of the teachings and traditions of yoga, for our modern-day, “it’s complicated” lives. And I believe change and growth are possible.
In-Person and Online Sessions:
I am currently holding sessions in my home studio, and online. Here's what one student has to say about his online experience:
Watch Our Short Video Here!
Yoga Therapy or Physical Therapy?
Is Yoga Therapy the same as Physical Therapy? This is a question I get asked a lot. Physical Therapy and Yoga Therapy are both methods of addressing injuries and conditions with exercises and manual therapies. Similar to Physical Therapy, in my Yoga Therapy practice I utilize tools such as resistance bands and Yoga Therapy Balls for massage and balance, and I resource the science of neuromechanics, strength and mobility conditioning.
Where these modalities differ is that Yoga Therapy continues offering support beyond the physical layer. Yoga Therapy looks at each individual holistically, and includes postures, breathing exercises, mindfulness tools, as well as the practical application of yoga philosophy and Ayurveda. My intention as a Yoga Therapist is to incorporate the traditional teachings of yoga into our modern lives, and to celebrate both science and spirit.
A Yoga Therapy session begins with a conversation about the areas in your life that you want support in. Whether that’s managing anxiety and pain, or building strength in your hips or shoulders, the tools of yoga are vast. Our work together will be unique to you and your needs. You get to show up as you are, and I’ll be there with you.
The differences between Yoga & Physical Therapy
While Yoga Therapy and Physical Therapy both use exercise and manual techniques for injury, imbalances and pain, Yoga Therapy doesn’t stop there - Yoga Therapy goes above and beyond the physical. Our overall wellness also encompasses our psychological and emotional health, our sense of purpose and fulfillment in life. Yoga Therapy approaches health from a biopsychosocial-spiritual perspective, a truly holistic approach to wellness.
I incorporate non-traditional postures and exercises along with traditional asanas. I include ancient pranayama and concentration techniques with modern practices for the respiratory and nervous systems. I value the wisdom and tradition of the science of yoga, as I value modern science.
Yoga Therapy draws upon this vast understanding of body, mind and spirit, and of tradition and modernity. This creates many different potential “doors of entry” to our inner landscape, and to Self. For example, if the western science approach makes sense, we’ll enter through that door. If an experience feels more energetic, we’ll start there. If Ayurveda resonates, we’ll use those principles to inform the practices.
Together we will discover the therapeutic yoga that’s right for you. This may include therapeutic yoga poses, or therapeutic yoga sequences with breath work and concentration meditation. This may include help in aligning your daily schedule with your constitution, your menstrual cycle, the lunar cycle, or the season of the year.
The beauty of this practice is in its whole life approach. You are not just a physical body. And we cannot separate the body from the other layers of mind, heart, history, trauma, and life circumstances. Yoga Therapy can hold and tend to all aspects of our being, and this is the space of growth and change.
The differences in how a Yoga & Physical Therapist treat injuries
Certified Yoga Therapists and Physical Therapists both work with the anatomical body, including muscles, bones, connective tissue, nerves, blood vessels, organs and viscera. Some of the ways we work in this realm are similar in that often exercises, stretches or other movement practices are recommended. One main difference here is that the scope of practice for Physical Therapists includes diagnosing an injury, tissue condition, or other imbalance, whereas Yoga Therapists do not offer a diagnosis. Rather, we utilize assessments of range of motion, strength and balance, etc. to inform the practices we recommend. And, importantly, we work with Physical Therapists to provide an even greater spectrum of support for our mutual clients/patients, respectively. I have great respect for my Physical Therapist colleagues with whom I have the pleasure of working.
Yoga Therapists also work with the other aspects of our bodies, minds and lives. When there’s tightness in the body, it may be a simple stretch and adjustment of posture that’s needed to return to balance. Or, the tightness may be your body asking for strength and stability. But what if stretching and strengthening doesn’t work? We’ve all been there… we have a thing, we do the stretches and the thing is still there.
We are more than a bag of muscles and bones. The tightness may be tied to underlying anxiety or trauma. The tightness may be a strategy to manage stress. The tightness may be a need for more or different nutrition. The tightness may be your body’s way of communicating something else entirely. The role of the Yoga Therapist is to take all of these factors into account and to support you, the whole you… the beautiful and wonderfully complex being that is you.
Portland Therapeutic Yoga Instructor
The very first yoga book I purchased was “Yogic Management of Common Diseases” by Dr. Swami Karmananda. I was dealing with an abundance of my own stuff when I began my yoga practice: injuries, persistent pain, trauma, anxiety, eating disorders… there was no shortage of material to work with, all at the ripe age of 22. When I picked this book up, and held it in my hands, I could see it in my future library of yogic texts. I could see and feel myself resourcing this way of working with the practice for myself and with others: therapeutic yoga.
Five years after I began my dedicated study, I entered my first 200 hour teacher training, which took over 1000 hours to complete. The last assignment for the training was to create something yoga related to present to the entire group. It could be anything. A fellow trainee made a picture book of yoga poses (which was quite lovely, by the way!). I presented a case-study that I authored “Yoga Therapy for Eating Disorders”.
The path ahead of me was clear. I was invested in learning the therapeutic application of yoga. Soon I sought out more education. I traveled to southern India, lived in an ashram, and immersed myself in study with a Yoga Therapist named Swami Tureyananda. Swamiji taught me traditional Yoga Therapy, including the techniques and protocols that he had been researching at the University of Madras. Shortly after I returned to the states, I completed a two year Yoga Therapy program with Sarajoy Marsh, and earned my Certification in Yoga Therapy in 2017.
I have dedicated the last 20 years of my life to the practice, application and evolution of Yoga Therapy. As a Therapeutic Yoga instructor, I am committed to providing inclusive, trauma-informed yoga, with a mission to make yoga accessible to all.