Therapeutic yoga incorporates restorative yoga poses with aids of props and breath work which in turn allows clients to completely relax and release tension in the body and mind.

The goal is to conduct a 60 min therapeutic yoga session in order to enhance joint movement, strengthened the muscles along the spine and relief the tension of the lower back. The session will also incorporate deep breathing with visualization.

The client is an 80 years old female. She is in relatively good health, but does have issues with degenerative dice of the lumbar spine (she does not have any pain, but does feel the effect when she is working in the garden/farm) and stiff joints. She sometimes does not sleep very well and has a hard time relaxing and letting go.

I envisioned that I would offer a 60 min restorative yoga class that incorporated gentle yoga (to enhance joint mobility), restorative poses that focused opening the chest and stretching and strengthening the muscles along the spine and lower back while guiding the client through breathing practice to allow the body and mind to completely relax.

I used Hatha yoga in my session. Hatha yoga (physical movement and breathing practice) addresses the first two layers of the five koshas, i.e., Annamaya kosha and Pranamaya kosha (Foundation of Yoga Therapy lecture). Further, restorative yoga poses allow the physical and emotional bodies (Manomaya kosha) to let go (Therapeutic Yoga Part I manual). Gentle stretching also lengthens and reduces the tension from the muscle and releases fascia constrictions that in turn increases range of motion and reduce soreness. I also used Raja yoga by guiding the client to witness the body, breath and mind and to recognize the divine within that always there and unchanging (Yoga Sutras, Book 1, sutras 2 & 3 and Book 2, sutra 26). In sum, during the 60 min session, I guided the client from gross to subtle layers of the five koshas so that the client could completely relax and letting go.

I started the session by checking in with the client on how she felt that day and asked a few questions to get some clarifications from her intake forms, especially issues related to her lower back. She reported that the degenerate disc has been with her for a long time, but has not created a major issue for her. I then guided the client through gentle yoga and restorative poses as planed. For the supported spinal twist pose, I stacked several blankets and a small pillow over a bolster so that the client was able to completely relax. Throw pillows were also used to support her hands during the pose. For mountain brook pose, we opted for a gentler version, i.e., use only one square fold blanket instead of a thicker layer of blanket below the bottom of the shoulder blade (Therapeutic Yoga manual).

I followed up with the client the next day to check how she felt. She reported that she had good quality sleep after the class and felt wonderful with a lot of energy the next day. I suggested to her to take it easy and to listen to her body, as the client tends to do too much and be impatient with herself. I recommended her to practice pelvic rock, cat-cow and gentle mountain brook, especially after spending long hours in her garden and tending her horses.

Yes, I did. I felt that the goal was achieved because the client felt relaxed and peaceful after the session. The benefit of the session also carried over to the next day.

As mentioned above, I needed to used a lot more (or less) blankets and pillows than what I learned during the Therapeutic yoga training. I learned that each person is different and I need to adapt the poses for individual clients. Constantly communicating with the client to ensure that she is comfortable and able to relax is very important. I felt that the body scan part was a bit too long because I only had a few minutes of deep relaxation at the end.

Yes, I would mostly. The session went very well because I communicated with the client to make sure that she was comfortable and adapt and adjust the pose/props as needed. I also let the client know that she could let me know if any poses did not work well for her or if she needed any adjustment. I had several bolster, blankets, throw pillows and other props that I could offered to her; and this was very helpful. Only thing that I would change is shorten the body scan; perhaps asking the client to scan body on her own and take notes of where she holds tension or has discomfort, instead of I guiding her body part by body part. The latter would work well, if the class is longer than 60 minutes.

• TCA-report-photos.pdf
• Intake_Form_for_Therapeutic_Yoga_Sessions.pdf