Does Online Yoga Therapy Work for Anxiety, Depression, and Trauma?
If you’ve been struggling with anxiety, depression, or unresolved trauma, online yoga therapy could be the gentle, supportive approach you’ve been looking for.
Let’s explore how online support can help you feel more balanced and empowered.
‘Researchers looked at more than 60 studies and found that seeing a therapist online is just as effective as face-to-face sessions for most people with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)’. (from UCLA Health)
Research suggests online therapy is just as effective. In fact, many people prefer it.
Benefits of online therapy include that it’s more convenient, affordable, approachable, and accessible.
Talk therapy (psychotherapy) is perhaps the most widely known form of therapy, but is talk therapy enough when it comes to healing trauma, anxiety, and or depression?
In this article, we’ll explore:
What is Yoga Therapy vs Talk Therapy?
What to Expect in an Online 1:1 Yoga Therapy Session
Choosing the Right Therapy: Yoga Therapy vs. Talk Therapy
Client Story: How Online Yoga Therapy Helped Manage Anxiety
Is a yoga therapist qualified?
Who’s online yoga therapy for and the benefits
When it comes to healing trauma, talk therapy is not enough because the area of the brain responsible for language can shut down when people get close to the story of their trauma
Sometimes, getting close to a trauma can leave you speechless.
This is where body-centered therapies like Yoga Therapy or Somatic Therapy can help. They give you a safe space to be with yourself without needing to talk through everything.
These sessions allow you to process experiences internally first, making it easier to share or explore them in a traditional therapy setting later.
What is Yoga Therapy vs Talk Therapy?
There are many different types of body-centred therapy. Yoga Therapy is rising in popularity as people are understanding that ‘the body keeps the score’.
Online Yoga Therapy focuses on the body and breath as a resource for healing and improving mental health. It’s a bio-psychosocial approach meaning the clients illness or challenge is looked at from all angles: how it shows up in the mind, the emotions, the physical body, and the spirit.
What to Expect in an Online 1:1 Yoga Therapy Session
Clients can book a 1:1 online Yoga Therapy session to address wellness goals, such as releasing trauma or managing anxiety or depression. Each session is personalized and may include:
Physical practices: such as stretches to release tight nerves and muscles.
Emotional practices: such as inquiries and affirmations to rewire the brain and build new positive habits.
Spiritual practices: such as metta meditations (self-compassion meditations) and yoga nidra (considered a gentle form of hypnotherapy) to reduce stress, regulate the nervous system, and balance hormones.
Before the session, the Yoga Therapist reviews the client’s intake form and prepares a session tailored specifically to their needs.
Online Yoga Therapy follows a very similar process to a traditional therapy session or a physio session.
Based on the intake form a client submits, a private yoga therapy session is personalized to support the client’s specific illness, health challenge, or wellness goal.
An online Yoga Therapist will guide you through a gentle, personalized holistic practice that uses research-backed techniques for your specific illness or challenge. Techniques include a mix of western psychology and easy yoga practices to improve your body function and emotional state.
Online yoga therapy taps into research-backed holistic practices suggested to reduce symptoms, prevent injury, and restore optimal wellness in clients.
Practices explored in online 1:1 yoga therapy might include:
Breathing techniques
Physical postures for stretching, lengthening, and strengthening
Fascia tapping
Guided meditations and Yoga Nidra
Holistic practices for nervous system regulation
Inner-awareness exercises: journal inquiries, affirmations, and more
Embodiment and conscious touch exercises
Choosing the Right Therapy: Yoga Therapy vs. Talk Therapy
If you're someone who’s explored traditional talk therapy (psychotherapy) you might be curious to explore an approach which allows you to move beyond language and to actually befriend what’s happening inside your body.
For example: Most trauma survivors aren’t getting clear info from their body which can cause a disconnect between what the body experiences and how the brain interprets it.
A body-centred therapy helps clients to build a connection between emotions, thoughts and physical sensations in the body. Building this form of inner-awareness is incredibly empowering as it allows clients to self-regulate and self-heal.
Client Story: How Online Yoga Therapy Helped Manage Anxiety
I work with many clients who are seeking relief from anxiety.
Anxiety doesn’t just affect the mind, it also impacts the body and spirit, showing up as muscle tension, shallow breathing, disrupted sleep, and a constant sense of worry or unease.
In this case study, we’ll explore how one client used private online Yoga Therapy to address these challenges and begin restoring balance in their life.
Anxiety can impact the mind, body, and spirit in many ways:
Mental symptoms: racing thoughts, constant worry, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, and disrupted sleep.
Physical symptoms: muscle tension, shallow breathing, headaches, stomach aches, or unexplained pain, and heightened stress responses.
Spiritual symptoms: feeling on-edge, disconnected, or unable to fully rest in the present moment.
1-1 Yoga Therapy helped my client use her body as a gateway to healing. What she discovered during our sessions is that anxiety was living in her body as tight upper body tension, shallow breathing, and a dysregulated nervous system. She had never considered soothing what she felt in her body.
In each 60-minute session, she explored research-backed breathwork, meditation, and mindfulness exercises that helped her release stored tension, regulate her nervous system, and feel more balanced.
After just a few sessions, she was feeling more grounded and centered in her body.
Is a yoga therapist qualified?
A Yoga Therapist C-IAYT has an 800 hour certification (minimum) and has also completed a 50 hour practicum that typically takes 6 months to one year. A Yoga Therapist C-IAYT works with individuals in private sessions on a specific illness, challenge, or wellness goal.
A Yoga Therapist has additional credentials and studies (beyond a yoga teacher) to work with clients privately on specific illnesses or challenges.
Who’s online yoga therapy for?
Honestly, everyone! People of all ages could greatly benefit from online private yoga therapy. It supports a vast range of physical and mental health issues including:
Healing and releasing trauma,
Depression, anxiety, stress,
Chronic pain and fatigue,
Period cramps, irregularity, heavy bleeding
Fertility awareness
Pre/post natal support
Cysts, fibroids, yeast infection, PCOS,
Deepening connection to body, sexuality, creativity, and womb,
and more.
Benefits of online yoga therapy
It empowers clients to be their own healer with easy practices they can continue to use consistently beyond the sessions.
It accesses healing in the body, mind, and spirit.
It’s an affordable, accessible, and approachable form of therapy.
Bottom Line:
Online therapy is just as effective and many people prefer it. Some of the benefits of online therapy include it’s more convenient, affordable, approachable, and accessible.
If you’re someone seeking to release trauma or manage depression, stress, or anxiety… talk therapy is not enough.
The area of the brain responsible for language can shut down when people get close to the story of their trauma
Online yoga therapy gives clients the space to just be with themselves and not speak. This can be helpful in internally processing stories before going on to articulate their experiences in more formal, therapeutic settings.
Next Steps
Get started with a free consultation, find out if private online yoga therapy is a perfect fit for your needs.
Thanks for being here,
Joss | Yoga Therapist C-IAYT
Joss Frank
Hi! I’m Joss Frank, founder of Wild Womb. I understand how healing ignites when you look within for guidance because I self-healed from painful menstruation, depression, and anxiety after years of failed efforts to feel better about myself.
My vision is to empower women to break through the barriers of shame, guilt, fear, and self-doubt so they can love themselves - inside & out - and unapologetically shine as their most authentic selves.
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