• 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.

Since we began the session with a check in, I decided to end the session with a "check out" of sorts - asking the client how she felt about the session: what is the appropriate level of physical challenge without being too little or too much? Is there something she wants more of in the sessions? She indicated that she would like to find a practice to help let go of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual burdens she is carrying with her mother-in-law's health challenges. With her love and desire to move every day, I encouraged her to think about a physical ritual she could use to help her let go of what she does not need to carry - whether it is when she is washing her hands leaving a visit with her mother-in-law, or doing a short grounding practice outside before she walks up the steps into her front door. In addition I would create some additional options for her to explore for our next session so she could find the practices that best support her.

The session began with giving the client space to share challenges she has been facing with her extended family's health over the past month. (A family medical emergency had delayed this session over a month from our initial intake.) While this took more time than I had anticipated, it was important to her.

Prior to the first practice of the session I shared Rumi's poem, The Guest House with the client as an encouragement to "meet...at the door laughing" and "invite in" any sensations, emotions, thoughts and experiences that arrive during this and any of our sessions together.

I guided the client through an awareness practice, encouraging her to simply notice without trying to change sensations present across the koshas - first in her physical body, then her emotional and intellectual layers, moving to her energy, and then returning awareness to the breath. I gave her the option of finding the posture that was most comfortable for the practice, and she chose supine. While the YCAT Awareness Practice does not follow the panchamaya kosha model "in order," so to speak, I appreciate the way it is structured from the perspective of how a client might notice their koshas as they experience the practice - noticing any emotions present and in response to spending time focusing awareness on the anamaya kosha.

Next I offered her a breath inquiry practice encouraging attention to the pause at the end of the exhalation. She shared that she usually focuses on the inhalation with her breathwork, and enjoyed exploring the exhalation and the pause at the end. I let her know that we will spend some time in every session engaging with the pranamaya kosha through pranayama practices and breath explorations.

The client mentioned that she had been feeling more discomfort in her low back recently, so instead of working from a tabletop position I opted to turn her tabletop supine and introduce her to the deadbug as a movement for both core stability and breath awareness. I directed her to explore working with her breath an energy, as if she were "lying in thick mud" - pushing energy out as she extended opposite arm and leg, drawing energy in as she pulled arm and leg in; inhaling as she lengthened and expanded her body, exhaling as she contracted, feeling the engagement of her deep core muscles.

I then encouraged her to find her most comfortable posture for Yoga Nidra and guided imagery, using the Integral Yoga Nidra scripting for progressive muscle relaxation, and weaving in the Favorite Place Imagery script from Belleruth Naperstack, followed by five minutes of allowing the client to rest in silence before bringing her out of deep relaxation.

The client was very engaged throughout the session - I appreciate her willingness to give what I would call "real time feedback" - it makes the session feel like an ongoing moving conversation between us, which I love. She is overall sattvic in her mind while knowing that she tends to feel more anxious as any medical appointments approach. She listens to her body well in terms of her own brahmacharya, which I use here as energy moderation/stewardship throughout her day.

I still find myself over-planning the content of the session - I imagine part of this due to my inexperience as a novice yoga therapist in training, but also my pitta dominant dosha who struggles with slowing down and my own balance between movement and stillness, doing and being. As I cultivate greater sattvic balance in my own practice and life, I will be curious to follow how it influences my yoga therapy work.

The client is very interoceptively aware, with a natural understanding of ahimsa when it comes to finding the balance of effort and ease in her body with her movement frequency, intensity and duration. I feel like I can best support her goals in our time together by always offering a short movement practice she can incorporate into her routine, whether daily or weekly - while focusing on more subtle practices of pranayama and meditation that she can weave into her day to be more present and aware across all koshas.

For session 2 I would like to introduce some standing balance postures - with her love of nature and the outdoors I think she would enjoy Vrikshasana and Garudasana. I would also like to explore Virabhadrasana II with her as a pose to support strength and balance across all koshas, especially when she experiences an increase in anxiety prior to an oncology appointment.

At the end of the session she asked me if I was familiar with guided imagery to "fight cancer." I responded that felt guided imagery could be an extremely helpful tool for her, and that I would look into any studies done including it - as well as include an imagery intake in our next session so that I could craft a guided imagery for her.