JY reports overall good physical health with no current pain or injury. She engages in regular yoga practice and tolerates gentle and flow-based movement well. Her blood pressure is medically managed and stable. From an annamaya perspective, she demonstrates adequate strength, mobility, and body awareness. However, prolonged stress may contribute to subtle tension patterns and sympathetic nervous system dominance that warrant gentle pacing, grounding, and restorative support.

JY’s history of chronic stress, relational strain, and hypertension suggests long-standing autonomic activation. While she is familiar with breath through yoga classes, her breath patterns may be unconsciously shallow or held during emotional stress. Supporting slow, rhythmic breathing and conscious regulation of breath will be an important entry point for calming the nervous system and increasing felt safety.

JY presents with clear insight and reflective capacity but reports internal conflict, fear, and rumination related to her marriage and future. There is evidence of emotional holding and anticipatory anxiety, particularly around loss, separation, and identity change. Yoga therapy will focus on creating space for emotional awareness without overwhelm, helping her observe thoughts and feelings without immediately needing to resolve or act on them.

Although currently obscured by stress and uncertainty, JY has access to moments of ease, enjoyment, and connection, particularly during yoga practice. The anandamaya kosha may be experienced fleetingly through movement, breath, and stillness. Therapy will aim to gently reconnect her with a sense of inner steadiness and contentment that is not dependent on external circumstances.

JY’s spirituality is experiential rather than religious. She defines spirituality as a sense of connection to herself, her inner truth, and moments of presence. She expresses this through yoga, quiet reflection, and intentional pauses that allow her to listen inward. Her spiritual orientation supports self-inquiry, meaning-making, and alignment rather than doctrine, and yoga therapy will honor this by emphasizing embodied awareness, curiosity, and compassionate self-observation.

JY demonstrates strong vijnanamaya capacity through her ability to articulate dissatisfaction, recognize fear-based patterns, and seek supportive inquiry rather than impulsive change. She is actively questioning long-held roles and beliefs and is beginning to sense the difference between obligation and inner truth. Yoga therapy will support discernment, values clarification, and embodied decision-making without pushing toward conclusions.

1. Yoga Sutra 1.2 – Yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ

Yoga is the settling of the fluctuations of the mind.

Application: Supporting JY in reducing mental noise and emotional reactivity so that insight and clarity can arise organically rather than through force or urgency.

2. Yoga Sutra 2.33–2.34 – Pratipaksha Bhavana

The practice of cultivating conscious alternatives to habitual reactions.

Application: Helping JY gently explore new internal responses to fear, avoidance, and long-standing relational patterns, without self-judgment.

3. Yoga Sutra 2.42 – Santosha

Contentment that arises from acceptance rather than resignation.

Application: Supporting JY in cultivating inner steadiness and self-acceptance in the present moment, even while actively considering change. Santosha offers a framework for holding peace and agency simultaneously, allowing decisions to emerge from clarity rather than desperation.

1) Streeter, C. C., Gerbarg, P. L., Saper, R. B., Ciraulo, D. A., & Brown, R. P. (2012).
Effects of yoga on the autonomic nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric acid, and allostasis in epilepsy, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical Hypotheses, 78(5), 571–579.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2012.01.021

Application: Streeter et al. (2012) found that yoga practices emphasizing slow movement, regulated breathing, and mindful attention support parasympathetic nervous system activity and reduce stress-related arousal. These findings inform JY’s care plan by prioritizing breath-centered practices, longer exhalation, and gentle pacing to support nervous system regulation and emotional steadiness during periods of fear and uncertainty.

2) Gard, T., Noggle, J. J., Park, C. L., Vago, D. R., & Wilson, A. (2014).
Potential self-regulatory mechanisms of yoga for psychological health. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 770.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00770

Application: Gard et al. (2014) demonstrated that yoga enhances interoceptive awareness and self-regulation, improving an individual’s ability to notice internal sensations linked to emotional states. This research supports the use of somatic awareness and inquiry practices in JY’s care plan to help her differentiate between fear-based reactivity and intuitive signals when reflecting on relational decisions and life transitions.

Will discuss when I see you later.

• Check in, centering, balanced hatha yoga set considering contraindications, relaxation (with imagery as appropriate),
• Balanced pranayama considering contraindications, meditation/centering.
• Include at least one suggestion from Karma, Bhakti, Raja, or Jnana Yoga tailored for this client.