GOM is a 47-year-old male and a student in my regular Sunday night yoga class at my local studio. He is physically strong and practices hard. He will often do push-ups in the studio before my class starts and is generally well-built. He played offensive lineman in high school and was once close to 300 pounds before getting down to his current weight of 198 pounds. He does seem to be physically stimulated quite often when I see him, I don’t often see him in a lower-energy state.

He has indicated that he has lower and middle back pain on his intake form. Despite this, his posture is pretty good, with no obvious pelvic tilt or kyphotic/lordotic curves. He doesn’t seem to have any obvious physical limitations. His fluctuations in weight and occasional stress eating are also worth noting, more will have to be discussed about his relationship to food and his weight.

He is practicing yoga consistently; he has been attending 5-6 classes a week for several months now. His history of abuse and trauma could be linked to his practice through “sensation-seeking”, and I do feel that he is lacking integration between the mental and physical aspects of his being. The Rishikesh series seems to me like it would be a perfect way for him to use his body as a tool for integration of all aspects of his Being. To me, this would mean doing a warm up like modified leg lifts and sun salutations, and then a move through cobra, locust, and/or bow , onto seated forward fold, wide legged forward fold, and/or janu sirshasana, and then onto an inversion like crow (within his practice), downward dog, and/or legs up the wall, and ending with a very gentle modified twist - perhaps even just a mental twist - as twisting aggravates his back pain.

GOM seems to be energetically sound upon first glance and through watching him practice, though his intake information and what I’ve gleaned from conversations with him indicate that he does struggle with energetic ups and downs. His breathing is great while he practices, and he always seems to be breathing through his nose at a steady pace when we interact before and after my Sunday night class. On his intake, he mentions difficulty breathing through the right nostril due to previously broken cartilage.

He seems to be using his energy on his self-improvement practices quite consistently, while also expending energy on his work responsibilities and raising his daughters. He does have sleep apnea, which he uses a CPAP for. Yoga Nidra could be a very useful practice for him, as he seems to tend towards compulsivity once his energy has been expended: watching TV, using his phone, stress eating. While eating and watching TV are, of course, fine in moderation, I believe this client could really get to the next level with a more conscious style of relaxation like yoga nidra, or gentle breathing exercises while he listens to an audiobook by Swami Satchidananda, Vivekananda, Eknath Easwaran, or the like.

I also believe pranayama is exactly what he needs and will likely feel like he has been missing once he starts to practice it. We can only do so much with the grosser movements of our physical bodies; pranayama is the step that comes after asana for a reason. After his yoga practices, he can start to add the more subtle practices like pranayama and yoga nidra, and his energies will start to transform even further.

I would recommend he start with Nadi Suddhi. After Nadi Suddhi, I would advise Dirga Pranayama. After that would come a 5-5-5-5 box breathing, and then Kapalabhati, taught as the “HA” breath in the stress management teacher training. There are other pranayamas that I would include in later sessions: Brahmari, perhaps Bhastrika, but I think these four would be a good start.

GOM is a high-functioning systems engineer that possesses remarkable capabilities for attention, memory, and executive skills. He similarly functions at a high level as a father. He has been diagnosed with ADHD, depression, anxiety, and sleep apnea.

He is looking to develop tools to help him with his depression, anxiety, stress, and negative thoughts. He is also looking for insight into, “thoughts vs feelings and how they affect me physically”. Between this statement, the previous observances regarding his physical and energetic sheaths, his prior abuses/Traumas, and his recent dissolution of a profound relationship, he seems to be aware that he could use some intentional work on integration of all these levels.

In order to bring about this integration, I believe GOM will need to practice witnessing, as well as a reframing of his perspectives on the issues he has had in the past. Rather than wonder why things have happened TO him and focusing on his need to verbalize and understand exactly why these things happen, we can discuss the yogic idea that all of our experience of nature is for the education of the soul. Every painful experience that we have had can be used to sculpt our soul. Given his background as a systems engineer, a discussion about the theory of Maya, and the related idea of panpsychism (All matter is mind-like Consciousness) in quantum physics might wind up being beneficial for him, as if all of this is just the Cosmic Dream, then none of it can hurt the real Self of GOM.

Sangha is going to be key for this client, as he is in the fundamental and deeply embodied emotional state of grief over the loss of his profound relationship. He clearly needs more social support based on his intake and casual conversations I’ve had with him. Making an effort to reconnect with his old friends will be important. Working on visualization and manifestation of a new romantic relationship might be worth exploring (is this within scope of practice?)

GOM seems to live a very sterilized, scientific lifestyle. Getting out into nature, practicing grounding by walking barefoot in the grass, doing some breathwalking outside while on a hike, and similar practices will be useful for his mental and energetic bodies.

GOM does not strike me as the spiritual type, so I believe the key with him will be to help him to understand that yoga is an exact science. Just as a chemist can not call out “Oh, chemistry, come to me!” and then attain knowledge of advanced chemical combinations, we cannot just call out and say “oh, God, come to me” and expect to attain Divine Knowledge. We must practice, and experiment, and be persistent through our mistakes and the discomfort that is an unavoidable part of any process of growth. We practice, and all is coming.

I believe Jnana Yoga would be best for him in this, and he might find a text like the Vivekachudamani to be interesting. In any case, he seems open-minded, and with an explanation of the benefits of practices like prayer in a practical sense might be enough for him to start to believe in That Energy which is within us and around us always.

GOM seems ripe and ready for the wisdom teachings that yoga has to offer, particularly those related to Jnana yoga and Raja yoga. I plan to start by reviewing the yoga sutras with him and discussing the ultimate goal of his yoga practice, which might be as simple as freedom from suffering or control of the mind-stuff. Introduction of the idea of yogic sadhana/spiritual discipline will hopefully give him a new perspective on all the meditative practices he is doing now.

The four locks and keys will be useful for him, as it will offer him a new perspective on his experiences with people in the world and help him to maintain holistic and dynamic equilibrium.

Pratipaksha Bhavana could be useful for him in moving beyond his grief. When he is disturbed by negative thoughts of the people who have hurt him, he can instead practice compassion, disregard, or even turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts related to manifestation of new relationships, or the revival of old, positive relationships.
Kriya yoga, or the ideas of accepting pain for transformation, Self-study, and dedication to God/surrender of the fruits of our actions is also worth discussing with this client.

In yoga, we talk about human problems as fundamentally problems of patterns and compulsions. We are creatures of habits and tendencies – samskaras and vasanas. In order to break out of one habitual way of thinking, our best course of action is to develop new habitual ways of thinking, as suggested in the practice of pratipaksha bhavana. I plan to share with him this article linked below, and discuss the sutras and the practice further:

Pratipaksha Bhavana can be a powerful tool for transformation, and help him to develop a new perspective on what has been going on with him in his difficult relationship.
I also plan to discuss with him the idea of tapas in the greater context of yogic sadhana, as I feel this is something he will take to immediately as a very disciplined and highly organized person. If he can frame all of his various practices – studying, meditating, practicing yoga, mindset shifting tools – as united under the idea of the spiritual discipline also known as Yogic Sadhana, and focus on the purifying aspects of these practices, I think his commitment to the Path will increase even further. I plan to send him the link below and discuss.

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/heating-up-your-yoga-practice-understanding-tapas/

For this client, the guidelines will be to prioritize consistency over intensity, as he seems to be in a cycle of working out to the point of exhaustion, after which negative compulsions take over. His mention of low back pain is worth paying attention to, we want to make sure we are not overdoing it on his back and make sure we are strengthening and stretching the right muscle groups: the piriformis, the quadratus lumborum, and the gluteus medius come to mind.

His ADHD seems to be well controlled with medication and his current yoga practice. In terms of his depression and anxiety, he seems to be in a state of grief over his lost relationship and past traumatic experiences. The scientific research I would cite to him would be related to how yoga can be useful for grief and PTSD:

van der Kolk BA, Stone L, West J, Rhodes A, Emerson D, Suvak M, Spinazzola J. Yoga as an adjunctive treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial. J Clin Psychiatry. 2014 Jun;75(6):e559-65. doi: 10.4088/JCP.13m08561. PMID: 25004196.

https://www.psychiatrist.com/jcp/yoga-adjunctive-treatment-posttraumatic-stress-disorder/

Taylor J, McLean L, Korner A, Stratton E, Glozier N. Mindfulness and yoga for psychological trauma: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Trauma Dissociation. 2020 Oct-Dec;21(5):536-573. doi: 10.1080/15299732.2020.1760167. Epub 2020 May 26. PMID: 32453668.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32453668/

Chawla V, Brems C, Freeman H, Ravindran A, Noordsy DL. The Future of Yoga for Mental Health Care. Int J Yoga. 2023 Jan-Apr;16(1):38-41. doi: 10.4103/ijoy.ijoy_25_23. Epub 2023 Jul 10. PMID: 37583539; PMCID: PMC10424272.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10424272/

I do have a question that I hope to discuss during our mentor group on Wednesday.

• 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.