10/25/2026
I get the question, “what is the difference between yoga and yoga therapy?” a lot. The attached article from Yoga International touches on this and I wanted to agree on points and add some points that have become more clear to me as I travel through my practice.
- absolutely all Yoga is therapeutic 🧘♀️🫶🏼
- Yoga asanas are shapes we use to move through our stuff maybe it’s mind or maybe it’s body or both.
Yoga Therapy is not concerned if the shape you are doing is correct or even if it is the same as the person beside you. And because we are not concerned about the correctness of the shape you, the practitioner of yoga, get to feel, sense, experience and notice what feels good in their body. Instead of working from the mind into body we base our body practice with the potential of working your way into the mind. When you are given permission to be curious and explore rather than directed into yoga shapes your nervous system gets to shift out of defensive “fight or flight” state and enters a state of safety, self regulation and deep neural plasticity.
We could call it “bottom to top therapy.” Which doesn’t replace top down talk therapy but embracing both methods can assist mental, emotional and physical shifts.
The difference between a yoga teacher and a yoga therapist.
