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In this episode, I address common fears and doubts therapists face when integrating yoga into therapy sessions. We discuss overcoming blocks related to training adequacy, concerns about yoga's spiritual aspects, and the fear that clients may reject yoga practices. This solo episode emphasizes the importance of aligning yoga practices with clinical orientation and offers practical guidance for supporting hesitant clients. I also include a reflective journaling activity designed to help therapists identify and move past their fears. 

1. What fears or hesitations come up for me when I think about integrating  yoga into my sessions

2. Where do I feel those fears in my body, and what stories am I telling myself about what could go wrong

3. What is the deeper desire or value behind my interest in integrating yoga into therapy? What would be possible for you and your clients if you moved through that fear? 

4. What is one small aligned action I could take this week that feels safe enough to begin moving forward?

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You'll discover empowering reframes, guidance on aligning yoga practices with your clinical orientation. And tips for supporting clients who might be hesitant. Plus, I'll guide you through a reflective journaling practice to help you get to the root of your fears and move forward with confidence. Tune in to reconnect with your why and bring more authenticity to your work.

Overcoming blocks and fears with integrating yoga into clinical sessions. So if you haven't listened to episode 2 26, the first one, I highly recommend listening to that first and going back to that as this will build on what I talk about there. 'cause I'm not going to go through everything in that episode.

But just give you a quick summary right now. Then we're gonna get to some new stuff about ways to overcome some of these blocks and fears with integrating yoga as clinical licensed therapists. That is the number one reason I find from listeners and other colleagues of why they don't bring practices into session is a lot of fears, a lot of things getting in the way.

I also talk about how you can integrate these with things you're already doing, and you may already bring yoga into your therapy room without even realizing it. If you're doing mindfulness grounding practices, that's yoga. So just know that you may already be doing that and maybe through this podcast and through other learnings that you can find other ways to integrate and add more to what you're already doing.

Later in the episode, but let's start first, what are some common therapist beliefs, inner narratives that may be getting in the way, stopping you from bringing trauma-informed yoga practices into your therapy sessions? Some things I've heard from listeners, I'm not allowed to do this. This is very common.

And of course we're trained that we have to be very careful in what we bring in. We wanna be ethical, stay within our scope of practice, scope of competence. And again, that goes back to those issues that we're not gonna get too far in the weeds with those. But I just wanna say this, I can't continue without saying this is within your scope.

So you just just need to get some training if you haven't already, but you might have enough already. Just know that maybe you may be overthinking this. I also hear from some people that I don't look like a typical yoga teacher, and maybe you're a person of color or someone of a higher weight. To me, there doesn't need to be a typical yoga teacher.

What we see on Instagram of a very thin. White female with blonde hair. It doesn't have to be that way. Yoga comes in all shapes and sizes. I believe it should be accessible for all bodies, every bodies. And we need to find ways to bring yoga to different types of people. All kinds of people. We can't be just certain populations like moms who are looking just to get outta the house, so we need to bring it to every.

Doesn't have to be that way. No, no. Just start in the chair or I hear also, I'm not flexible. I'm not fit enough. To model yoga in front of my clients. This goes back to what I have been saying of the importance of embodying these practices, and I found this also with clients who aren't used to yoga practices.

Once they start doing these at home, maybe starting to go to classes, they start to feel better. Their bodies, they feel to feel more comfortable in their own skin. And that will happen to you as well. 'cause if you only learn the practices one time and don't continue with a personal yoga practice, it's gonna feel awkward.

Myself back then. So I think it is more mainstream than say, tarot cards. Sometimes people still get on edge about that, or there's more of a stigma, I think. But it's also identifying what is your belief. Do you think it's woo woo yourself, or can we just bring it to, this is a way to regulate the nervous system.

I. Period. It doesn't have to be super fancy with our description or spiritual. You don't have to bring spirituality in your therapy room. That is always an option. I give clients an option if they want it in their therapy room. I put that on my intake. How do you feel about talking about spiritual practices?

Are you open to it in sessions? Yes or no? And if they put no, I don't address it. We don't bring it in. We keep the client autonomy. That is so essential, part of our ethical codes. So it does not have to be a spiritual practice. Now, can it be Of course, but I don't think it's just one spiritual practice. I think it's whatever people you're seeing, whatever it is for them, how they connect with their spirituality, through it, through the divine or whatever they believe.

Therapist minds, that can be a scary place. Right? They're here to talk, not to move. Hmm. Right? They're here to talk, not move. I think we have to challenge that. Is it possible that we could really help them uplevel their therapy session to find more transformation, more healing by bringing the body into therapy, more somatic practices?

Is it possible that could be one way to reframe that, or what is their expectations? They're not here to, they're here to talk. Maybe they're not. Maybe they wanna bring some other practices and some coping tools. A lot of people come see me because they've been to therapists who don't say hardly anything in their sessions.

My challenge for you is to write down, as part of your homework, what are some of your beliefs about therapy? And somatic practices. Is there some of these beliefs that are getting in the way and how can you reframe that or put a plan of action? If you don't feel qualified, then maybe now is the time to look at trainings.

Maybe now is the time to review what trainings you have. I know for me, I felt for a long time not good enough. I don't have enough trainings, but then as I looked, I was like, well wait a second. Yeah, maybe I don't have a thousand hours of yoga therapy training to be a yoga, quote unquote therapist. But I have a lot of training and I have to give myself credit.

So that can be a really big addition to training as what you're doing to learn on your own. So just keep that in mind that we don't always have to have certifications, and I'll try not to go on my soapbox, but. I can't help it. As a clinical supervisor, I tell supervisees this as well, you do not need a certification for every single thing that you bring into the therapy room.

I think there is a racket out there that like for trauma, quote unquote certification, maybe that's helpful, but I. I really didn't need that. I got certified in Brainin 'cause that was something I was passionate about. I think just finding trainings and figuring out what's most important to me. 'cause it's really hard out there.

Okay, so that's the therapist beliefs, inner narratives. I think that was important to address with, with you to, hopefully that can help you as well to move past some of the blocks. The next thing I wanted to talk about, how can you align yoga practice with counseling theory? That you bring into your therapy room.

So maybe you don't like polyvagal theory, you don't use that. That's okay. What do you use? So just remember, integration does not mean reinvention, that there probably is some yoga practices already that can align with the counseling theory that you're using. Adding into your existing skillset, not replacing it.

So the more familiar you are with something, it's more, it's gonna be easier to bring in yoga practice 'cause you're comfortable with the theory. So guess what? Most of us are trained in CBT. You can bring it in with kind of behavioral therapy, believe it or not. Maybe your psychodynamic. There could be ways with that.

Integration with act. I do talk a little bit about that in my course. You can integrate with DBT so many ways, so many different ways to bring it in with clinical theory. Here's a couple examples of integration with CBT. You could reflect to a client, this is just an example. I noticed as you talked about the upcoming work presentation, your breathing got more shallow, your shoulders were hunched up towards your ears.

Without challenging 'em yet? Just notice what's there, allowing for what is there, and just remembering that if we calm their nervous system, that we are bringing the front of their brain, that prefrontal cortex back online with these bottom up practices so that they can access more thoughts and being able to really challenge them.

Is there another way of thinking about this, if that is something that you do in your therapy room? I know not everybody brings CBT, but that's just something to think about. Another way to bring CBT and yoga practices together. If a client has a thought, I'm failing at this, just an example that keeps showing up, you could say to them, what's a more compassionate or realistic alternative you could think instead.

So you're making changes with thinking and. Embodying the practice. See what happens. I know if clients aren't used to movement and they're not embodied, they may be like, what? What do you mean? How do I bring it in? You could model this for them. So the new thought, I'm doing the best I can. Could it be placing hands on the shoulders?

Inhaling? Bringing the elbows together. I'm doing the best I can opening the chest. There's no right or wrong answers. With a practice like this, you could even use DBT. Can you connect with your inner wisdom, your wise mind? What does your wise mind say? Let's pause a moment, give a little silence and listen.

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What do we do? Right? We know they could benefit from this and they're open to it, but they have that part of themselves that's like, I'm not really sure about this. So what we can do is just know that. This is normal, especially people who have no yoga experience. Maybe they have ideas that, that yoga is only for fit people.

They have some of these blocks that get in the way. Ask them, when you think about yoga, what comes up for you. Really get in deep with what their beliefs are and normalize. That's okay whenever we do something new. Yeah, I know. I, I was nervous the first time I did yoga. I wasn't sure about it. I was skeptical.

Could be another trauma-informed, formative, invitational way to bring it in. Would that feel better for them? I also have learned that people who are more analytical and. Really want to know the research behind it. Like why are we doing this? What are the benefits? Does this really help Send them the research so that they can see, oh wait, this has tons of research coming out all the time, and it really.

Ask them can they get in their scientific mind and bring curiosity. What do you notice? What sensations may be coming up? What thoughts, how do you feel at the start? Before we begin, let's check in midway. And then check in after. You could also do a suds level subjective unit of distress. So on a scale of one to 10, how would you label the anxiety today at the start, before you do the yoga practice?

Let's say it's a seven, and then ask them to rate it at the end. That would be very curious to see for themselves, their own research on their body in real time. That could be pretty powerful stuff. And for those that don't have yoga experience or movement in session, you can walk them through it and then model, show them this is what it could look like.

Make sure you're getting your own therapy, and I know not everyone has the time. I. Or the money to do it weekly. Even consider getting check-ins once a month. If you can't do it weekly, do what you can to work on yourself. I know for me, I have a therapist that I see every few weeks and she helps me with brain spotting.

I feel like I have to, I don't have to, but I choose to see a therapist that offers brain spotting so that I can see what it's like to be in the therapy. Chair as a client and I also share my experiences with it, with my clients, so they know that I'm also doing the work. And I have seen it firsthand, the benefits, and I know it works 'cause it's helped me so much.

To me that has been the most profound shifts to get somatic work for myself and then to bring it to clients. 'cause I know what that's like now, and I think clients can relate with that so that we can be better therapists and we can be better people overall. But knowing that the more we work on our stuff, it's gonna make us better clinicians, period.

Speaking of blocks, if you feel stuck somehow with bringing yoga into sessions, brains spotting can help if you don't know what brains spotting is. It's a cousin of EMDR. With EMDR is about the bilateral stimulation and bringing eyes side to side. I'm not trained in the MDR R. This is the basics that I know with Brain Spatting we find.

So I'm gonna stay in that spot wherever my eyes are and allow processing, bringing in that curiosity, noticing thoughts, images, feelings, sensations. Whatever wants to come up from the deeper parts of the brain, because with Brainspotting, we are connecting to the limbic system, the deeper parts of the brain for processing, and it also helps clients to sit with difficult emotions.

I know that that's been a powerful part of the process. We can also use what's called a resource spot, so if I connect with that. Whatever issue I'm dealing with and look around my visual field, I can also find what's called a resource spot, which is the commerce spot. Let's say I look to the left, I'm like, wow.

'cause that can help clear it and make a big difference in your overall mental health. So in addition to doing your own work, I think we have to build community, find others who bring somatic or yoga practices into their sessions so you don't feel as alone. I know when I first started this, I didn't know anyone other than a couple people.

I met briefly in yoga trainings for therapists. But over the years I've really built some community, can talk to some other people. Now, I will tell you it can be challenging to find people who offer what we do or are interested in it, but, but once you seek that out through networking or even online, you could make a post.

Continue taking yoga classes in the community or online. Sometimes it can be a struggle to, to meet people though, but I think you do have to be intentional about it and. Going to yoga training sometimes can help do what you can to find community to make that a goal. 'cause you're gonna learn from each other.

I find journaling to be so powerful to help. Release, whatever is churning in your heart and your mind, and to let it out through writing. If you are not a journaler, that's cool. You could also record yourself, speak into your phone and record it. Or if you wanna make a video staring at yourself, record it that way.

Whatever you wanna do, just really try to give yourself the space and time to process this. See if you can get some quiet time to really reflect. To help you overcome blocks and fears with integrating yoga into your clinical sessions. I have four questions for you that I want you to really think about and reflect on to help you process through this.

Make sure this is in the show notes too. That's number one. And again, this is all gonna be individualized. Maybe it was some of the fears and thoughts that I mentioned earlier in the episode, but maybe there's something else getting in the way. Number two, where. Do I feel those fears in my body? Where do I feel those fears in my body and what stories am I telling myself about?

Why does it matter to you? It sounds like it is important to you 'cause you're thinking about it, you're here listening to this podcast, but why does that matter? And what would be possible as part of that question for you and your clients, if you moved through that fear, what would be possible for you and your clients if you moved through the fear I.

That was kind of a long three third question number four, what is one small aligned action I could take this week that feels safe enough? Safe enough to begin moving? What is one small aligned action I could take this week that feels safe enough to begin moving forward? Let those questions sink in. Give this to yourself.

My mantra I learned, and I love how short and sweet and to the point, so when I get too far in my head about teaching yoga and I start to feel not enough, I feel like I can't do this. What if I need more training? What if, what if? What if I say to myself, it's just yoga. I know yoga. Think about that, how powerful that is.

I trust my voice. I trust my wisdom. I trust my journey through. Allow that to settle in your body. Another mantra you could say is, I am enough. I know enough, and I offer enough. I am enough. I know enough, and I offer enough. Allow the mantra to reflect where you are and allow it to really be fully embodied.

How did this align for you or was there other things I should touch upon? Email me at Chris at yoga in the therapy room.com and that brings us to the end of another episode. Be sure to tune in next Wednesday when another episode drops. And I thank you so much for listening and being here for this episode.

Are you feeling the limits of talk therapy? And are you craving more somatic tools for your clients? Are you struggling with fears and blocks from integrating yoga into your therapy room? Introducing my digital Trauma-Informed Yoga Basics course. This is a self-paced course designed specifically for mental health therapists who wanna bring body into the healing process, but also ethically, safely, and with confidence.

Available till May 31st. You don't have to keep second guessing your next steps. This course gives you the structure, support and clarity you've been looking for. Go to my website, yoga in the Therapy room.com/yoga basics slash That's yoga in the therapy room.com/yoga basics. Slash 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. It's given with the understanding that neither the hosts, the publisher, or the guests are giving legal, medical, psychological, or any other kind of professional advice.