In this episode, we discuss integrating yoga into therapeutic practices. Kaleigh, who combines traditional talk therapy with yoga, emphasizes the power of movement, breath, and mindfulness as therapeutic tools. We discuss how Kaleigh uses yoga to help trauma survivors reconnect with their bodies, the role of trauma-informed language, and practical strategies for incorporating yoga into therapy sessions. Kaleigh shares her journey of discovering yoga, its integration with EMDR and parts work, and offers a demonstration of a yoga practice aimed at grounding and releasing tension. 

• Practical applications and client stories
• Yoga practices and techniques
• Advice for therapists

MEET Kaleigh Beddingfield

Meet Kaleigh, LCSW – Founder of Living In Alignment Therapy & Wellness. Kaleigh is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the heart behind Living In Alignment Therapy & Wellness, where she offers individual therapy for girls, women, and LGBTQ+ identifying individuals. She specializes in trauma work and is EMDR-trained, with a passion for helping clients safely reconnect with their bodies, deepen self-understanding, and heal from the inside out.  Her holistic approach integrates mind-body practices and values-based exploration, creating space for clients to show up authentically and move toward lives that feel aligned and meaningful. Kaleigh is especially energized by supporting clients navigating trauma, anxiety, attachment wounds, identity and existential concerns, and relationship challenges — including the relationship with themselves. She’s deeply committed to holding space with care and curiosity, and to being a steady, empowering presence as clients learn to show up for themselves and honor their own needs.

Find out more at Living In Alignment Wellness

The Top 10 FAQs on Integrating Yoga into Therapy

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Yoga Basics: The Therapist's Guide to Integrating Trauma-Informed Yoga into Sessions

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Self-Care for the Counselor: A Companion Workbook: An Easy to Use Workbook to Support you on Your Holistic Healing and Counselor Self-Care Journey ... A Holistic Guide for Helping Professionals)

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They're powerful therapeutic tools, whether it's grounding, anxious clients through somatic awareness, or helping trauma survivors reconnect with their bodies. Kay shows us how yoga creates space for healing in ways that words can't tune in For a grounded heart opening conversation that might just change how you think about therapy and your own relationship with your body.

On today's episode of Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast.

So whether you're here to expand your skills, enhance your self-care, or both. You are in the right place. Join me on this journey to help you be one step closer to bringing Yoga into your therapy room.

Welcome to the Yoga in the Therapy Room Podcast, the non-traditional therapist guide to integrating Yoga to your therapy practice. I'm your host once again. This is Chris McDonald. And today I am excited 'cause I'm gonna bring one of my graduates for my Yoga Basics course to give you insights and ideas on how she integrates yoga into her sessions.

Deepen self understanding and heal from the inside out. Her holistic approach integrates mind, body practices, and value-based exploration, creating space for clients to show up authentically and move toward lives that feel aligned and meaningful Through movement, breath work, and somatic awareness, she helps clients tune into their bodies, regulate their nervous systems, and reconnect with parts of themselves at traditional talk therapy alone.

May not always reach. In this conversation, Kaylee shares how she integrates yoga into her therapeutic work. We dive into the how and when she brings it in, how she introduces it, and how she brings it in with EMDR and parts work. Let's jump in. Welcome to the Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast, Kaylee. Thank you Chris.

Thank you for having me. I'm so glad I ran into you at a networking event. That was too funny 'cause I had only seen you online.

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Yeah. It was nice to actually get to meet you in person after doing a tour with you. Yeah,

Chris McDonald: absolutely. So can you share with listeners how you first discovered yoga?

And again, that's a bit different than sometimes what we do in yoga and therapy, but discovering yoga and going to a yoga class. My first time was actually when I was in my grad school program. I think, uh, my roommate had said that she was going to yoga and, you know, invited me along. So, yeah, the time I tried it in, uh, first time in my grad school program, which was really nice to get to see again, just like what it could be like to slow down and, you know, have intentional movement.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. And what was that

Kaleigh Beddingfield: like

Chris McDonald: for you by the end?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: I think I found yoga more challenging than I thought at first. Exactly. Uh, I think it was definitely more challenging than I thought, but also, yeah, I think now the more that I've done it, I think that my body just feels better after a class or after intentional practice.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. And can you tell listeners what kind of clients that you work with?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Yeah, so I have my own private practice and I focus on working with girls, women, L-G-B-T-Q individuals.

So I really like to work with more teens and adults. And I really focus on trauma work, anxiety, attachment wounds or concerns. I don't do couples counseling, but if you wanna come to work on boundaries, relationships, relationship with yourself, that's really the work I focus on and that I'm really energized by.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. So when did you realize that you wanted to integrate yoga into your sessions?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: I think this all kind of came together in the last few years for me, grad school. Right. I think we talked about this in our training. I really only learned CBT and motivational interviewing in grad school, but a few years ago I took a training in EMDR, and I think that was the first time it really like set in for me that, oh, therapy can look different.

I came across your training and. I don't know, it just felt like it was all aligned at the moment, right when I'm, you know, we're always wanting to do continued education and further our skills too, but it really felt like, oh, this could be a good opportunity to hone in on something. And again, really work on my skills there for bringing in more somatic practice.

'cause that was gonna be something that was really important for me going into private practice.

Chris McDonald: Sounds like you knew early that we gotta offer more to clients than just talk therapy to really be effective, especially with trauma.

Chris McDonald: I love how you're on top of your game.

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Yeah. I think when you're brand new, it. I imagine most of us feel this way, right? It feels like, oh, I need to learn all of the things. I need to know what to do with clients.

And yeah, I just found like I, I took some continued education along the way and, you know, a lot of like ethics trainings and whatnot, but there really weren't a lot of trainings I had at least come across in the first few years about practical skills. Um, like what are you really doing in session? What are things that can help clients?

And so I think doing something like EMDR or your training also is really helpful to see like. The demonstrations, the practice of. Okay. But yes, how do we bring that into session? And like you said, I think when I was noticing, I feel gravitated towards wanting to support clients navigating anxiety, trauma, nervous system regulation.

We need a bit more than just talking about it.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. To go deeper. For sure. So what was most helpful for you from the Yoga Basics course?

We don't always have to think about it as active yoga. Right? Again, attending that yoga class, doing fitness, yoga. So again, just like I think retraining our brains, rewiring a little bit of like, okay, what does this actually look to bring into the therapy room? Again, learning some practical strategies and poses and things to do with clients or exercises, so to speak.

But again, not fitness,

Chris McDonald: right? So redefining what yoga is in the therapy room, which we've done a lot in this podcast and 'cause I think that a lot of people. Are hesitant, a lot of therapists, especially to bring in sessions 'cause they think, oh my gosh, we're gonna sweat in session and we're gonna have to go for a whole 50 minutes.

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Yeah, for sure. And I think also just reinforcing maybe language. I think I had some of it before the training, but I think, you know, that trauma-informed language, I really enjoy using the phrases, right?

Like I'm wondering if we can try something together or. You know, I invite you to notice, right, that trauma-informed language. I think just going through your training, that really helped of like, yes, I, I enjoy practicing this way. I enjoy talking with clients this way, and again, getting away from traditional talk therapy.

Chris McDonald: Can you share with listeners how you bring it in your therapy room? Do you tend to bring it in the beginning of a session in the middle or towards the end, or does that vary based on the client need?

And I would say most often that's probably happening middle to end of session maybe if somebody comes in the door, right, and I can tell we're really dysregulated from the start. You know, I might invite a client to slow down and maybe use a practice or a resource we've talked about, or again, try yoga at the beginning.

But I would say most times I find myself using it in the middle to end of session as again, a regulation tool or to help clients just to get back in tune with themselves.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, absolutely. And I know you mentioned that you integrate with EMDR. Can you talk about that, what that could look like for those that also use EMDR?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Yeah, good question. I, again, find myself using it to help clients maybe widen their window, right, for window of tolerance or when we're in that resourcing. Stage. So finding maybe some grounding practices, right? Things that are really helpful for clients to tune into their body to notice what's happening, that feedback.

So breath work, body scans, maybe gentle releases. Right? I feel like we learned some poses for that or some, um, practices for that in your training. So some release poses too. That can be good, especially after an EMDR session or again, teaching clients up front like, hey, this is a tool you can use in session and out of session, right?

Like, um, shaking it off or again, maybe some opening or some gentle twists. Those can all be really helpful and I think good for clients to know that that's there for you when maybe going through a process like EMDR.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, and I know you mentioned too in your bio that you talk about parts work too with clients.

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Yeah, I think yoga naturally integrates really well with both EMDR and parts work. I think that introspection, I think especially if clients are engaging in parts work and we're doing it like eyes closed, noticing what's coming up, a lot of that again already naturally.

Feels like we're kind of in yoga mindset, right? And so I would say like that, noticing the body, being in tune with what's coming up. Maybe locating right where sensations are. And again, I think sometimes with parts work, I'm noticing like, say. I'm noticing an anxious part right, is showing up and maybe that's in my chest.

Okay. Maybe we can spend some time there and maybe at that point we use a practice to either release or see if we can find some space or even like send some gratitude there. I think that that's mainly how it comes up in parts work too. But again, I think it just, it's not really something you think about.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. I love what you said though about bringing gratitude because I know we can thank our parts for protecting us, looking out for us. What could that look like? So if somebody felt like in their chest, like apart, and how could we give gratitude to that? What would that be like?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Yeah, I think that could be, you know, noticing.

I think that looks like noticing the area, maybe that we have some heaviness. So first just noticing and maybe thinking about like, okay, we noticed that is here. But maybe we also send some light, maybe we send some gratitude towards that heaviness and just see if maybe we can gain some space from that feeling, from that sensation.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, and I love the imagery too. You're mentioning about light and dark and

Kaleigh Beddingfield: mm-hmm.

Chris McDonald: Being able to bring the light. And I think that that can be really powerful too, to integrate that with movement or breath practice.

Kaleigh Beddingfield: And I would say those are probably not in your first few sessions. Right? You're not gonna automate.

Right, right. Maybe, um, go to gratitude or send light to yourself. I think especially early on in trauma sessions, but I think after having worked with a client for a while and you know, maybe just seeing like, what would that even be like to speak to ourselves kindly or to send gratitude towards maybe this part of the body that is trying to protect you and holding onto these

Chris McDonald: sensations

Kaleigh Beddingfield: for

Chris McDonald: you.

Typically notice. Yeah, what's going on in the body?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: I feel like I've said that a lot in sessions lately that I don't know that our society is set up well to slow down, and so that's something I, no. Yeah, it's not, and so it's something I've been bringing into session a lot. If it feels relevant again with clients of, right, this is not our norm.

We are not necessarily equipped or supported day-to-day. I think, again, by society, by work, by whatever, to intentionally slow down. But we're allowed to. Right? We're allowed to. We're allowed to. Yeah. We're allowed to do that and we're allowed to give ourselves that space. And it's really gonna be okay if we take 30 seconds or five minutes right in our day to do something for ourself.

Chris McDonald: therapists, are you wanting to bring yoga into your therapy room, but feel unsure what is allowed.

What really works and you wonder where to start. I hear you. I've put together a free guide just for you. The top 10 FAQs are frequently asked questions on integrating yoga into therapy, what every therapist needs to know. Inside, you'll find clear, practical answers to the most common questions therapists have, so you can feel more confident, grounded, and intentional in offering yoga informed care.

That's TOP, the number 10 questions. That's HC podcast.org/top 10 questions. It's also in the show notes. Get your guide today. And how do you introduce yoga practices to clients? 'cause a lot of therapists get kind of hung up on this and worry about clients that they may be uncomfortable with yoga. How do you handle that?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Yeah, I think just having it be an open dialogue conversation. I think naturally it might be part of paperwork and consent, so maybe clients already see that coming in. But I think having open conversations and you know, some of that language I mentioned earlier. So I might say to a client, yeah, I'm wondering if it might be helpful if we, um, can try a yoga practice together today, or maybe a little movement, maybe something different, right?

And, you know, I, I think a couple of your episodes have talked about that, right? Just being mindful of what's going on for your clients and their mind, their bodies, um, and going at their pace. So again, I really try to use that. I'm wondering if this would be helpful. I'm wondering if you'd like to try something new and always using that like inviting language, right?

Like, I'm gonna invite you to try this, but if we don't like it, if this is not for you, that is totally okay. You let me know.

Chris McDonald: Yeah,

Kaleigh Beddingfield: and given options. I love how you said that too. I remember we did a lot of options in, in the training, right? Talking about if we need to cactus, if we need to be mindful of different, again, postures and yeah, just giving options for both mind and body, right?

Chris McDonald: Yeah, for sure. Because I think that the yoga world, I think we do have to redefine that it's not one size fits all.

Mm-hmm. Especially with yoga in therapy. 'cause we are trying to individualize treatment plans and goals and we can't just say, okay, this is going to work for every single person I see. So we can't fit people in boxes. I think that we really gotta find ways to accommodate different needs, different issues, and individual preferences too.

Yeah,

Kaleigh Beddingfield: I agree.

Chris McDonald: So can you share a story that when you've tried to bring some yoga session and it went really well and it's been beneficial for a client?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Yeah, I would say there are a few that come to mind. I would say there was one, again, more introducing yoga. Um, an example of that. I had a client talking, you know, just a lot of.

And again, introducing. I'm wondering if you would like to try something new. We had not done yoga prior to this session, so just introduced it as I'm wondering if you would like to try something new, maybe a little bit of movement and see if we can just make that feel a bit lighter, see if we can release some of those sensations, um, that are coming up in session today.

And again, if you don't like it, we don't have to keep going with it. Wondering if we can try this together. And then demonstrating, I believe for that one we did some chest openers and um, I think also maybe just like some belly breath too. So I typically, when I'm doing belly breath, I invite clients to try hand on chest, hand on belly.

I was able to notice. I was able to notice my body. I felt like I slowed down and also I would feel a bit lighter. I would say that, again, that's a word that gets used a lot in sessions too, just feeling a bit lighter. I think it might be important to note maybe the sensation doesn't always go away a hundred percent.

Right. But do we feel a bit lighter? And again, if I can help my clients feel a bit better, that

Chris McDonald: that's my goal. Yeah, and that's one thing that I always challenge clients too, 'cause. I don't know about you, but I give a lot for homework for some of the yoga practices. 'cause I think that really reinforces it.

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Mm-hmm.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. We, I do try to really, uh, confront them about it. Be like. Hmm,

Kaleigh Beddingfield: that didn't take that long. I feel you. I feel you. Again with that, just the quickness and the hustle, and again, how our culture is set up. I think again, we feel like, oh, I can't take the time, but yeah, exactly. We can and we're allowed to.

We're allowed to invest in ourselves and that's it. And take some time to self care or to. Again, tune into our body. I think so. So often we maybe miss that feedback and our body's trying to tell us a lot.

Chris McDonald: We can, but allow, it's like giving yourself permission, isn't it? To that It's okay to pause. Yeah. To take some time for you, because I think that's the other piece is people just feel like they have to keep going.

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Mm-hmm.

Chris McDonald: All day. Stopping for themselves.

Again, we did this together in session, so what would that look like for you? What time of day maybe can you see yourself trying this? Or when do you find that it might be helpful? Right? Trying to help clients think about how can I use these practices? We're talking about yoga, grounding. Yeah. How can we translate that to our day to.

Chris McDonald: And getting that clarity on when, and even just associating it with something else. 'cause a lot of times we can develop habits by having something that we're already doing. Like you already have your coffee or tea in the morning, so could that be time to do yoga practice before or after? And really getting into the weeds about creating a more consistent practice so that they can help, like you said, improve the window of tolerance.

And so I think something I am working on, and I, I feel like it might've been in one of your recent episodes, was. Working on the pause in session and also like working with clients to slow down to pause. Right. I said that that's something that's been coming up a lot. So working on that. Yeah. But inviting clients to pause, right.

What you said you know is really important or it maybe feels a bit heavy. I wonder if we can just take that moment to pause and again doing more of this in session. 'cause I think it's so helpful to. To practice with clients and to model that a bit. Um, so maybe they feel more comfortable and are more likely to use it outside of session.

Chris McDonald: That's true

Kaleigh Beddingfield: too.

Chris McDonald: Can you share a yoga practice with listeners today?

Chris McDonald: Alright, excellent. Let's go.

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Awesome. So I'm gonna invite listeners to start with, if you're not driving, maybe do this at a different time. But if you are somewhere where you can be seated, I'm gonna first invite you to just notice your feet on the floor again, if that is possible.

Just noticing how your feet feel on the floor to start with. Maybe taking a few quiet moments and just noticing our feet, noticing our breath as that goes in and out naturally. And when you are ready, I would like to invite you to bring your arms out to the side. We're gonna try a few chest openers together so your arms are out to the side.

We'll take a few of those just rounding, bringing our arms in. Inhale. An exhale, releasing, opening that back up, arms up open, chest open, feeling that stretch. I'll invite you to take a few of those at your pace. Again, rounding, if that feels good, and letting that go, opening back up.

Yeah. Listener spines, yes, that was a demonstration of a chest opener. Again, might do that when a client might be noticing sensations in chest or even just a slow down again, like we've talked about today. That's true. It can be good for that too, but also really good for sensations. Maybe noticing carrying tension in upper body or chest sensation.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. No, you have such a calming, soothing voice though. I think I was just like, can I just hear some more?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Thank you. I

Chris McDonald: appreciate that. It really, because you're, I love how you got the trauma-informed language so well, it just really. It did feel just totally invitational. Just like, okay, well I'm gonna really wanna do this.

'cause she's really just kind of walking me through this. It, it felt like you, I was really being led through and I appreciate you sharing that.

Chris McDonald: we'll do our best.

Right. The, this, it's the hard part sometimes with queuing on just, um, sound. But give it a go listeners. See how that feels for you. So what advice would you give to therapists who may be hesitant about bringing yoga in their therapy room?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: That's a good question because I think before I took your training, I think I was hesitant and I think I had thoughts like, oh, I have to have yoga teacher training to do this, and I have to, you know, do X, Y, Z.

Right? And that is something I still want to do personally, but again, not required as long as. You take a training and are, you know, operating within your scope. So my advice to therapists, again, if you're interested in it, I think follow that interest. I think that is something that is so helpful in the work that we're doing.

Absolutely. We should be doing that. I'm, please do. Yes, we should be doing that. Again, continued education is a very real thing. We should be, you know, taking these trainings anyways. But I think also, yeah, really hone in on what feels important to you, what you feel, again, energized by interested in. I think somatic work is becoming a bit more popular, if you will, too.

I think there is more interest in it, but I think pay attention to what feels right for you, but also the clients you work with. So again, I think it feels, it just makes a lot of sense and it clicks really well when we're talking trauma, when we're talking nervous systems, when we're talking about doing that deeper healing, I think it makes sense to go again beyond what grad school maybe taught us and to dive into the body a bit more and.

Yoga can be helpful in doing that.

Sometimes just like you said, just even self touch. Right hand on chest, hand on belly. Grounding in the moment. You know, you can even just do a deep dive into breath work that's still part of yoga. So there's so many different options. I think just keeping your options open. Yeah. 'cause there is so much somatic that we can learn and bring in the therapy room.

Kaleigh Beddingfield: Agreed. And I think that was something I didn't think about before your training, but again, just knowing that breath work is also yoga. Right. And like you said, doing those. Different practices and I think you shared in a recent episode too, that you might not dive into to touch or correcting clients. And again, knowing that like this can look so different, right?

Noticing and paying attention to what our bodies have to say.

Chris McDonald: Yes, and we'll end with that wonderful way to end this episode. And what's the best way for listeners to find you and learn more about you?

Kaleigh Beddingfield: I have a website for my practice, and that is living in alignment wellness.com. So my private practice is called Living in Alignment Therapy and Wellness.

Clients or listeners can also find me on Psychology Today, um, by looking at my name, Kaylee Bedingfield. Um, but those would be the two best ways to learn more about me. Reach out if you need to and thank you so much, Kaylee, for coming on the

Chris McDonald: podcast today. This has been great. Thank you, Chris. Thank you for having me.

Go to HC podcast.org/yoga in therapy collective. That's HC podcast.org/yoga in therapy. Collective, and once again, this is Chris McDonald sending each one of you much light and love. Till next time, take care. Thanks for listening to today's episode. The information in this podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only.

Always check with your doctor to see if it's safe for you. If you need a professional, please find the right one for you.