Therapeutic Yoga is restorative yoga with breath work, guided meditation and hands-on healing to support an individual in experiencing the deep relaxation where healing can take place.

The goal is to set this client up for a successful restorative practice in her own home, to help her find the props she already has and guide her in using them in ways she can recreate on her own for rest, stress reduction and healing.
I will meet with her twice in her home to guide her through a practice, and administer the Perceived Stress Scale

female; early 60s; vast medical history including heart attack, High blood pressure; eating disorder, addiction, osteoporosis; hates her job; lost her mom during COVID (but not because of COVID); big people-pleaser, so never takes time for herself. Approached me to see about starting yoga as a "last resort" to get her blood pressure down. I've guided her in breathing practices already, and she is noticing the benefits.

I envisioned holding restorative yoga sessions at the client’s home, guiding her through a practice that she could draw from for independent practice. The session(s) would include gentle movement, restorative poses, some discussion about her stress. The Therapeutic TT manual mentions stress no fewer than 75 times, most in reference or explanation to how these practices are ideal for someone who feels a lot of stress. This statement, “The practices of Therapeutic Yoga disengage “fight or flight” and engage the processes of “rest and digest,” inducing a physiological state that is the exact opposite of the stress response.” was the ultimate goal of this practice with this client.

Hatha - for the poses, breathing practices, and guided meditation.
Raja - for returning to the true self within, which deep relaxation can promote.

We had a lovely session. Ct was willing to try new things - poses, breathing practice (which we began before this session), self-massage/palming.
Session outline: check in, gentle movement (lying hip circles and gentle windshield with legs), POSE gentle mountain brook with breath awareness, sit up for gentle side stretches, POSE waterfall with legs on ottoman with palming and self- scalp/occiput massage, POSE: supported final resting

My suggestion was that she try at least one practice every day, and to report back to me about how she was feeling.

I applied the intended plan - loosely. I adapted the poses more than I thought I would due to the client's physical limitations or preferences. I was hoping to meet for another full session before this TCA was due, but schedules did not permit that. I will add that she realized enough positive effect that she attended her first yoga class last week.
I was not able to have her fill out the formal assessment for a second time to compare scores, but her reactions and personal observations are that the practices do work and do make her feel less stressed.

I adapted the poses more than I thought I would, and we didn’t get to meet in person the following week due to a change in her schedule. We did meet by phone, and in another context where we were able to chat about her progress.
I was planning to do a very modified forward resting pose, but as we gently began to move toward that, it was obvious that it would not be at all restorative or beneficial. I also had in mind to try a resting butterfly, but had the same observation with that pose. I had over-planned, so we did 3 poses instead of 4-5.

I thought I took seriously the suggestion from class to ‘undertreat’ on the first meeting. I will consider undertreating even further in the future.
What went well was her reaction/response to the session. She felt great and said she wished we could do this every week.

• Supported-final-resting.pdf
• Waterfall.pdf
• Gentle-Mountain-Brook.pdf