The assessment process is used to identify a yoga therapy intervention in developing an appropriate therapeutic plan in accordance with the individual client’s needs, goals, learning style, life circumstances, and access to resources.

I will use the phone interview as the initial healing relationship encounter to identify the challenges the client faces with her condition, ask what self-healing interventions she has used as an experienced yoga instructor, and to create a therapeutic plan together where she can be successful in her intervention practices by the next time we meet.

The client is a 59-year-old female, with onset of Vertigo, initially affected her hearing, which has since been resolved. Unresolved balance affects driving, work, dog-walks, exercise, cooking, etc. to the extent these tasks are no longer doable. Cautiously optimistic, not knowing when challenges with balance will eventually go away, she experiences angst about going out and using a walker, etc. Quality of sleep is affected, and overall quality of life is debilitated.

My plan was to assess where the client was at the beginning and the end of the session on a scale of 1 to 10 on a Happiness Scale and on a Stress Scale, to elicit information on her present mood by asking questions, follow-up questions when I sought further information or clarification, and then to use the practices of Pranayama for 5 minutes, Progressive Relaxation for 5 minutes, Witness Meditation for 10 minutes, and Imagery leading into Silent Meditation for 5 minutes.

The Goal of Integral Yoga, and the birthright of every individual, is to realize the spiritual unity behind all diversities in the entire creation, and to live harmoniously as members of one universal family. To achieve this goal, we are to maintain our natural condition of a body of optimum health and strength, senses under total control, a mind well-disciplined, clear and calm, an intellect as sharp as a razor, a will as strong and pliable as steel, a heart full of unconditional love and compassion, an ego as pure as crystal, and a life filled with Supreme Peace and Joy. In our session, I used Raja, Hatha, Bhakti, and Jnana Yoga.

I used Raja, the path of concentrations and meditation, Hatha, breath control and relaxation, Bhakti, transcending the limited personality, and Jnana Yoga, the path of wisdom, ceasing to identify with the body and mind through awareness and self-analysis.

More easeful going first to a 45-degree angle rather than going right from horizontal to vertical
Has the least amount of energy at the end of the day
Low-dose steroids help her calm down at bedtime around sundown
Practices alternate nostril breathing hoping to balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain
Goes to Vestibular PT for Brain-Eye Coordination
Always a happy optimist, teaching, reading, and art doodling when able
Knows that “There is a God out there”
Pleasurable Images - “The oceans at sunrise, Atlantic Ocean, or sunset, at the Pacific Ocean”
Favorite Colors - Blue, Green, Pink, Turquoise, basically all colors
Bringing her Joy - Her dogs, friends, kids, Yoga Mat, Being out in Nature, and Horses
Bringing her Comfort - Her Family and Friends currently offering her support
Bringing her Strength - Her Faith, her own Independence, and Confidence with her Inner Peace

therapeutic aid as she was already familiar with the topic, would not find the material dense or hard, which might lead to some enjoyment being somewhat back to her former self. I also suggested possibly working with a mandala coloring book starting with the areas in the mandala centers that might be more easily achievable, and might tend to make her feel more successful in doing so. She said that she really liked that idea, already has mandala coloring books and that she had seen some of her friends’ anatomy coloring books, but had never herself bought one, which she might now purchase.

I feel confident that our therapeutic relationship session went very well. All of my goals had been accomplished in that the client Is now being given the opportunity to return to what was her primary motivation for seeking yoga, which was as a therapeutic tool to acquire “Peace” and as an outlet for stress. In suggesting that she return to her original inspiration using Progressive Relaxation, Becoming the Witness, and Self- Guided-Imagery, one practice every third day, I also feel confident that she has a better chance of success in keeping up this practice until we meet again. At the beginning of our session, her Happiness measured 8, and her Stress measured 5. I forgot to ask the client this same question at the end of the session, but her response that she felt relaxed and peaceful, led me to believe that these measurements might have both moved in the correct directions.

I did not have to adapt anything in my original plan.

I would approach any client who exhibited similar circumstances in the same way because entering an authentic healing relationship built on trust and authenticity, allowing on my part to listen, observe, and be attuned to my own “in-the-moment” intuition that hopefully comes from a higher place outside of myself, might well guide a client to self-observe, be the witness, and be a partner in their own healing.

I would not change anything I did yesterday. The client received and agreed with the couple of coloring book suggestions that I made, and felt relaxed and peaceful at the end of the session, which sounds like it was a healing session for her.