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219 Simple Yoga Practices That Can Bring Joy: Interview With Terry Littlefield
Episode 21922nd January 2025 • Yoga in the Therapy Room: Strategies for Mental Health Therapists • Chris McDonald, LCMHCS
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In this episode, We explore how integrating joy and yoga into therapy sessions can enhance attunement with clients. Terry shares her yoga journey and provides practical, simple yoga movements and practices to help therapists and clients access joy, reduce stress, and promote connection and vitality. The episode also focuses on gentle yoga, the importance of service, gratitude, play, and rest, and a discussion on laughter yoga and playful movement exercises.

MEET Terry Littlefield

Terry is the creator of Postures Breath & Joy. Her mission is to help people, especially those of us mid-century and beyond, get moving, get breathing, and get to know and share joy on the regular. She teaches with heart and humor and endless hours of education.  Terry is a lifelong learner.  She believes laughter is the best medicine and an essential part of any movement practice. Her classes blend science and spirit, breath work and belly laughs, movement and breath work/meditation. She began studying/practicing yoga in 2003 and hasn't looked back, She is an E-RYT-500 yoga teacher; Level 1 Girls Gone Strong coach; Trained in Yoga Tune Up, Somatics & Restorative, Laughter Yoga, Reiki, Tapping, and more. 

Find out more at Terry Littlefield and connect with Terry on Instagram, YouTube,  and Facebook

  • Discovering Gentle Yoga
  • Incorporating Joy and Play
  • The Power of Attunement and Laughter Yoga
  • Joyful Movement Practices
  • Grounding Through Toe Exercises

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Transcripts

Chris McDonald: Are you ready to bring more joy into your therapy practice? How can bringing more joy in session help with attunement with your clients? What are some simple movements that you can start bringing in today? In this episode, I welcome guest Terry Littlefield, creator of Postures, Breath, and Joy, as she shares some yoga practices that can help unlock a sense of joy, playfulness, and vitality.

Learn some simple, effective tools to help your clients, and yourself, feel better. Connect with joy, even on the most challenging of days. Tune in and discover the joy waiting to be uncovered on today's episode of Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast. Welcome to Yoga in the Therapy Room, the non traditional therapist's guide to integrating yoga into your therapy practice.

I'm Chris McDonald, licensed therapist and registered yoga teacher. This podcast is here to empower therapists like you with the knowledge and confidence to bring yoga into their practice safely. And ethically. 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 than the Therapy Room Podcast, the non-traditional therapist guide to integrating yoga into your therapy practice. I'm your host, Chris McDonald. I have a question for you. Could you use more joy in your life? Let's face it, we all need more joy. Life can be stressful and as therapists, we have a hard job sometimes and it can feel heavy.

But bringing in the joy can also bring lightness and help reduce anxiety and stress. Yet sometimes, especially when things are challenging, it feels like joy can be more difficult to access. But what if we could access it more easily through intentional movement and breath? Joining us today on the podcast is Terri Littlefield.

udying and practicing yoga in:

She will be guiding us on how we can bring joy in yoga and sessions and lead us through several practices. So get ready to explore the subtle yet profound ways that movement can bring a sense of happiness and connection. Let's step on the mat together and uncover the joy That's already within you.

Welcome to the Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast, Terri. Thank you. Hello. So happy to have you here. So I thought we'd start, if you could share, what has been your journey with yoga? How did you find it?

k it found me. Nice. In about:

And I had never done yoga. And there he was, the server, and he said, Oh, I work at such and such yoga place. It's right down the road. And karmis, they called them. You would work at the desk four hours a week and you got free yoga. Really? Yes. And I was just floored by that. I don't know why we were at that restaurant, why he was waiting on us, but there you have it.

It's like, I was meant to meet him and find that. yoga studio. And then I have a very, very, very narrow skinny foot. So when I realized that you didn't need shoes for yoga, I thought this, this is my true thing right here. I have found it. I have found it. I

Chris McDonald: love that. And what did you first like about it when you started?

Terry Littlefield: I liked the, the people because it felt like as someone who grew up not knowing really anything about yoga or self care or a practice that didn't mean jazzercise or doing something really hard. There was the hard elements, there were the classes that were really intense, but there was also this gentle side.

And when you went in the room, all the people in there were like, they were so grateful and happy to be there, and happy to meet you, and happy to welcome you. It just felt like, it sounds so cliche, it felt like coming home. Which is just ridiculous. I

Chris McDonald: hear that.

Terry Littlefield: It felt like that.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, because I know when I first started my yoga training and I'm looking around the room and I see everybody, we're all doing these slow practices, right?

I know you like those too, more gentle. And I just thought, had that same thought. It was like, these are my people. Yeah. This is my home. It's, it's like finding an end. The word for me that comes up is community.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. The connection to community. So I was new to Los Angeles. I had moved from Florida, born and raised in Maine, lived in Florida for a ton of years, and then had just gotten to Los Angeles.

So I was in big time overwhelm and that instantly felt more like connection and community. that I didn't even know was possible in L. A. Yeah,

Chris McDonald: I know. You think of such a big city.

Terry Littlefield: Yes, and I did do in the beginning, it's kind of floating around and experimenting with a lot of classes. And I was trying to do the gymnastic style and the, the circus poses and the pretzel poses.

I was trying to do all that because it was kind of fun. And I was, Twenty years younger, so I enjoyed experimenting with that, but I always enjoyed the restorative and the gentle as well. So it did become my workout, which I feel like happens with a lot of people, but then there was also that other part that I thought what keeps seeping in to my brain and my body that's making me, helping me feel better and feel more like myself.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. So that's like that big question. Yeah. It's such a, so different though, even if you're doing the faster pace and then you move to shift to the slower, there's still a impact on the nervous system.

Terry Littlefield: Absolutely. And I think the faster pace works for a lot of people, especially in big cities that are go, go, go, go, go.

It is very difficult. That is for them. Rest, that is for them, subtle movement, that is calmer for them.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, because I know when I did the training, um, with Eddie DeHilster with the, doing the mindful movement, you did some really slow, gent, really gentle, I think you called it.

Terry Littlefield: Yes, I call it truly

Chris McDonald: gentle.

Truly gentle yoga. Yeah. Can you tell me about

l my dates down, but I'll say:

And so I was teaching it and I realized I could be even more gentle, do even less. And that the people that were showing up for that, they were craving that. And I would get this feedback. There aren't enough classes like this. It says gentle, but then they put you in down dog. It says gentle. And then they put you in plank.

So I really started to play with how can we really slow movements down? How can I spend a whole class? Lying down where people still feel good. They still were stretching. They were still moving their bodies, but they really had to get present and slow down. I think it's such an advanced practice. So I just kept fine tuning that it fell in love with truly gentle.

yoga, because I do think there's a need for it. And I don't think it's, it's common. I think it's difficult.

Chris McDonald: It is. Cause, cause I have had that same experience. I was like, Oh, this is a gentle class that we're doing some of the warrior one. I was like, yeah, this doesn't feel so gentle.

Terry Littlefield: Right. And doing like I teach in that, that training is.

That you can take a pose like plank and you can do it lying on your back. You can pretend you're in an upper push up position. And so that's fun. And you're like, wow, this is the best plank I've ever been in in my life. It feels so good. Yeah.

Chris McDonald: And I'm just, I wrote down what you said. How could I be even more gentle?

That's a good reflection for listeners too, as we bring yoga in our therapy room, and a lot of people want to be more gentle and have more of these more calming practices for the parasympathetic nervous system. So how can I be more gentle? So really be reflecting on that.

Terry Littlefield: How can we do that in, in life?

How can I be more gentle with myself? You know, we're in a season right now that's super busy and there's so much going on. How can I be more gentle with myself?

Chris McDonald: That can be so therapeutic in itself. Yeah. To ask clients as well. How can you be more gentle with yourself?

Terry Littlefield: Yes. I mean, because I'm not a therapist, but when people show up, I have a and It's been a slow process.

Also a gentle, slow process. And I sometimes think people show up with therapy the same as in yoga or exercise in air quotes because they want everything right now. Let's, let's get all this fixed right now. Let's knock it out in a few sessions.

Chris McDonald: Yes, we get those expectations with therapy for sure.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. So it's nice to be on the journey and know, and that's what I think it is for me.

I, I label my teachings, postures, breath, and joy. And I want that to be postures, breath, and joy for the rest of your life, not for this week or next week, but how can we age and grow old if we're lucky enough to grow old with postures, breath, and joy.

Chris McDonald: I love the simplicity of that, too. Yeah, so can you talk about the joy?

So how did you discover so much play and joy with yoga?

Terry Littlefield: Well, I'm a bit of a playful person. I've done some improv comedy in my past. I'm a recovering actress, so. I've always enjoyed play and actually never thought it could fit into yoga practice because it's a sacred practice and it's an amazing, beautiful practice.

And I didn't want to, I didn't want to be inauthentic to it. I didn't, I can't think of the word, but it's like, I didn't want to insult. The practice of yoga. And so I thought, okay, I can take elements from yoga and from improv comedy and from weight training and from walking, taking a walk. And I can put them together so that movement and breath work can be playful.

And that's where the joy came in. We all need more joy. We all need it. Yes. It's a world that sometimes can lack joy. We have to seek it out, I believe, and we have to share it. And I think it does make the world a better place. When I'm feeling some joy, I'm more likely to share that with other people. And I think underneath kind of the, the umbrella of joy with postures, breath and joy, I feel like things that really bring about joy, bring on the joy are service.

gratitude, play, and rest. So play is also one of those, but I think those other elements are so important too.

Chris McDonald: So the first one you said, was it service?

Terry Littlefield: Yeah, service. So when we think of service, we think of volunteer work and we think of, I don't have time. I don't have time every week to volunteer, but service can be.

Yeah. Letting somebody have the parking spot that you were kind of spying for and then you could go out a little farther and park somewhere else. Service can be saying, thank you. Service can be writing a letter or making that a phone call like, hey, I just wanted to check in on you today. Those, I believe, are really important service things.

Yeah, I like the simplicity of that too. Yes, I think simplicity might be If I had to pick one word for my business, I think it might be simple. I was going to say,

Chris McDonald: just talking with you today, I can hear that because I think that helps for people to remember and keep it in front of their mind too, with these concepts.

Terry Littlefield: I want, I want these concepts to be accessible to all of us, no matter where we are and what we're doing in our lives. I don't want it to feel like, Oh my gosh, I've got a whole list of things that I'm trying to get done and I just can't. So then I don't do any. So I don't do any, yeah, it's almost like that freeze response too.

Chris McDonald: With overwhelm. So you mentioned, was it gratitude as well?

Terry Littlefield: Yes. And I think gratitude became a little bit of a buzzword, right? Oh, make your gratitude list. And everyone's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Gratitude. But I do think it's so important to notice what's around you. And be grateful for something. Maybe it's one thing.

Maybe it's five things. This morning I was walking the dogs and there was the moon on one side and this gorgeous sunrise, like looking over here at the sunrise, looking over there at this beautiful moon. And I thought, there's two things right there that I can be grateful for. Simple, so simple. I do, my wife and I keep a gratitude jar that we do write on pieces of paper.

We put it in the jar all year long. And the either December 31st or January 1st, we dump all the papers out and we read them all from the previous.

Chris McDonald: Oh, I love that. That sounds like a great idea.

Terry Littlefield: It's really amazing. You forget things and. It's just such a good reminder, and it's the tiny things, like I'm grateful for my pillow.

If you took a shower this morning and you have hot water, you have water, then that's something to be grateful for. Yes,

Chris McDonald: things we take for granted.

Terry Littlefield: Right, and we all do it. We're like, oh gosh, you know, my, whatever's happening, but so checking in, checking in with those tiny Simple things to be grateful for because they're actually big and profound.

Are

Chris McDonald: you a mental health therapist interested in bringing yoga into your therapy room, but feel uncertain where to start? Maybe you're worried about staying ethical or want to feel more confident in what you're offering. I've got just the thing for you I'm excited to share my free resource How to build confidence and competence with yoga and therapy sessions.

This downloadable checklist includes best practices for integrating yoga, plus reflection questions to help you refine your approach and feel empowered. It's the perfect tool for anyone wanting to blend yoga into therapy in a safe and impactful way. Step into the therapy room with confidence and transform your sessions today.

Go to hcpodcast. org forward slash build confidence. That's hcpodcast. org forward slash build confidence. And you mentioned play.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. So play, of course, being willing to kind of think about how can I take a yoga pose? Or some kind of movement and make it fun. Like, oh, I don't have an hour today to work out, but maybe I could do a happy dance.

After I load the dishwasher, right? There's play. And maybe I could color today. Not with the intention of, I need to be a famous artist, and I need to be able to sell this. But I just happen to have a couple markers and a couple crayons, and what can I create? Yeah, being and allowing play. I mean, buy Play Doh, create something, blow bubbles, things that I feel like just get, oh, it's only for kids.

Yeah, exactly. But when we do this as adults,

Chris McDonald: we feel so good. Yes, and people light up with that. Anytime I've ever gone to a training and they have more play, it's just, people love it. It's like tapping into that inner child.

Terry Littlefield: Absolutely. So, I recently taught, um, my Breath Friends Forever, my BFF course, and because we're talking about breath all day long, at the end of the day, we blew bubbles.

I'm sure it was the best part of their day. Hopefully, they learned a lot and they enjoyed all the bubbles, but yes, they had a great time blowing bubbles.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, because I think that as therapists too, that a lot of times we're not in the yogi role for a while until we get some training and then we learn it and then it's like, okay, well, then people get caught up in the cues in their head.

Okay, so how do I cue this pose? Yeah. So does that take a while

Terry Littlefield: do you think to break the playful component? I think it can be really challenging for people. We don't want to look silly. Exactly. It can be that, that can be really tough for folks. I, I think, um, it's not just natural to be silly. I tend to be playful and silly.

So I do think watch things that make you laugh, or if you're watching like a lot of folks, like the little pet videos on social media, you know, that makes them happy and, and invites that sense of play. And I think noticing how you feel when that's happening and how could you incorporate that. But yeah, it's.

You know, it's the, like anything, like anything, it takes practice. So if I'm out walking in the morning and I see a nice tree, uh, why can't I go up and hug the tree? Why not? Why not? Why can't I see a curb and be like, Oh, I'm going to stand up on that curb and walk on that and practice with some balance.

That's playful. So it doesn't have to be a stand up comedy routine. It can be the tiniest thing.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. And with movement too, I think it is sometimes just letting the ego go. Just, can I just see where my body wants to move and have fun with it?

Terry Littlefield: Yes. And we all know how to move. We don't need permission to move.

You don't need to be Fred Astaire to dance by the dishwasher. You just get your groove on. I love to put music on and do that. And I think that can be, I don't know if you would do that in a therapy session. Yes, I've done some

Chris McDonald: someplace. So I will just share some of my examples. So I used to do belly dance.

So I do this for my yoga classes too. When I've taught classes is, you know, we could do a little shimmy. Or, you know, do, do some hip circles, but put a little more extra groove, but I'm telling you clients just love it. And I get people laughing. So it's like that joyful connection. And I had this one lady, she was moving her arms and I was like, Ooh, we could just move around like snake arms and we're both doing this and we're laughing.

But I think that really helps with connection too, to kind of build that rapport.

Terry Littlefield: Absolutely. So it helps with the connection of people and it helps with you connecting to your body, which what better deal is that? Yeah.

Chris McDonald: And take the seriousness out of therapy because it is serious, but then we can still be lighthearted with this too and, and have to be able to build that rapport.

And

Terry Littlefield: yes,

Chris McDonald: attunement, I think is so powerful.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. And I think also under the joy comes, um, I did a training for laughter yoga and that's also I'll say it's a very hard sell, very difficult. People again do not want to look silly and they feel self conscious about being in a group laughing, but one on one or little snippets of it within a class.

Yes, I would say an hour long laughter yoga class. Hmm, I haven't found that to work quite yet, but they love and they're open to a little bit of it.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. Can you share what that is, the laughter yoga?

Terry Littlefield: Yeah. So really it's about your brain does not know the difference between organic laughter and fake laughter.

So we do some things that encourage fake laughter or induce laughter, and then it can become organic. It's also quite contagious. If I'm laughing, other folks might also want to join in and laugh. And I would love to share a little laughter practice. Let's do it. Okay. All right. So you can stay seated or stand.

I'm going to sit, but I want to just say the areas that we'll be thinking about are the throat area and the heart chest area and the belly. Those are the three areas and I like to take my hand to those areas so that I can feel and be aware of the areas when we're at the throat, we're making this sound.

Try it. You have a big smile on your face now for doing that and then we'll go down to the chest. And it's Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. And then we go down to the belly, hand on the belly. And it's Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho. And we can go back here. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Hee hee hee hee hee hee.

Chris McDonald: I like the hee hee. It makes me laugh harder.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. Ho ho ho ho. You get the idea. You're already feeling more playful, you're in your body instantly and you're just doing a little bit of laughing. That can turn into a really good laugh fest. Like minutes of laughter can just come from one little thing.

So that is laughter yoga. It's like laughter exercises, which when we laugh we're exercising the respiratory diaphragm, our main breathing muscle. So it's phenomenal for stress release, for calming our nervous system. It's so cool and it's so fun. Yeah,

Chris McDonald: I appreciate you sharing that. Yes. Can you share some, I know you're going to share some joy practices or I'm not sure what you're going to share actually with some movement.

Terry Littlefield: Yeah, I would love to. I have a couple things. Maybe I'll do the smiling, I have a smiling meditation I wanted to share. Maybe that would be good for the, for the end. Yes, yes. Okay, so I would say if we're seated, well, let's do a couple things sitting and then we'll stand. So,

Chris McDonald: yeah, so listeners get in a seated position

Terry Littlefield: and all you're going to do is give yourself a thumbs up.

So you're giving yourself a thumbs up for being willing to play, being willing to move your body. Maybe you'll begin to draw the infinity sign or figure eight. You can draw a heart. You can draw whatever you'd like, but you're following the movement of your thumb with your eyes only. Your head stays neutral.

I like to smile while I'm doing it. I mean, who doesn't need a thumbs up? We need it. We're following along with our eyes only. The head is neutral, so all the muscles around your eyes are getting some exercise. And then you can try with your non dominant hand. Here is where we bring a little joy and play in because suddenly the shape might be a little different.

Don't forget to breathe. Good. And then let that go and just pause for a moment. Notice your feet on the ground. Take a couple of breaths. Notice how you feel after maybe one minute of a little bit of joyful, fun movement. And then we're going to go down to our toes. So, again, seated or standing, but drop your awareness down into your feet.

And you can close your eyes or keep your eyes open. You're going to lift all of your toes up and then let them come back down. Sometimes you need to look down and see them. Toes are lifting and lowering and you're breathing. And now we'll lift just the big toes. Big toes are going to lift and lower. The other toes are trying to stay down.

Let your shoulders, your jaw, your hands also stay relaxed as you're lifting just your big toes. Now, big toes will stay down and we'll lift and lower all the other toes. Yes. Again, you may want to peek and see what toes are really into this and what toes are like, Hmm, haven't done this movement before.

Big toes stay down and the other toes are lifting. Okay. The last one is the most challenging. Let the rest of your body be relaxed. Pinky toes and big toes stay down. Middle toes are trying to lift just the middle

Chris McDonald: challenging.

Terry Littlefield: Yes, maybe you're peeking down there. What are my toes doing? Big toes, pinky toes down, just the middle toes trying to lift.

Your whole foot is now working. Your arches have come alive just from trying to do the work, whether the toes are lifting or not. And then let that rest, just let your feet rest now. And I'm curious, Chris, how you feel from that, just getting into your feet and your toes. I

Chris McDonald: brought more awareness for sure, because I'm like, okay, wait, how do I do that?

How do I bring the big toe and little toe down the same time? So it really just kind of like focused me in.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. So we instantly dropped attention in and feet are a really helpful tool to feel grounded. So if we do some work in our feet, it can be a reminder. Ooh, during the day, if I'm feeling really overwhelmed and I'm way up here in my head, can I get right down into my feet?

Chris McDonald: I do feel grounded.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. So you could be doing that when you're in a meeting. No one knows. It's nice with bare feet. It's nice with socks, but it can be done in shoes as well. All right, now I'm going to stand for the next one. This is maybe one of my all time favorite movements. It's called washing out, tapping in.

So we're standing, we can feel our feet on the ground. I like to take my feet a little wider than hips, maybe shoulder height. Nobody's measuring. We have a little bend in the knees. We allow the knees to bend and we begin twisting. We're letting the body twist and the arms are floppy. The arms are just relaxing.

We're gently twisting. If this feels funky in your knees, you can also lift the heel. You can let the heel lift. So, It's almost like you're doing a golf swing. This is the washing out part. We think about the washing machine, kind of the agitator. We're letting go. We're washing out. Maybe we're lugging something around.

We don't need to lug around anymore. So we're washing it out. Floppy, relaxed arms. There's a skill of letting go and we're breathing, washing out. And now the tapping in part. So you'll go where you can go, but we're going to use our hands and tap down the fronts of our legs. Tappity tap, tap, tap. Go wherever you can reach and then come up the back side, the back of the legs, all the way to your butt.

Tappity tap, tap, tap. Low back tapping into your belly now. Tapping, tapping, and up into your chest. Tappity, tappity, tap. And then down your arm. Down the arm, and then flip the arm and go on the inside. Yes, and then the other side. Tapping down the arm. Flipping it over. Tapping up the inside. And then we'll go up and give like the tops of the shoulders kind of tapping a little mini karate chop.

Good job. And then very gentle, gentle, gentle, fingertips to your neck, tapping all over your head, your skull, just fingertips, and then your face, and then you pause, release the arms, pause and breathe, pause and breathe, notice a How you feel, washing out, tapping in. So you can do that a few times. I like to do that a few times.

Kids love that one as well.

Chris McDonald: I could not really see that with kids.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. It's super playful and you can shift your energy. It's like a major attitude adjustment just from gentle twist and tapping.

Chris McDonald: Yeah.

Terry Littlefield: And that's pretty accessible. Yes. And of course it could be done. I don't want to ever eliminate the chair possibility, but certainly you could be seated in your chair, twisting and tapping.

Same. You just won't be able to tap your backside as, as much the buttocks.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. I feel like that gives a little boost, a little energy maybe.

Terry Littlefield: Yeah. Uh, one other thing. Well, I'm, I'm going to stand up again. So I'm sitting and standing. You do not need a yoga mat for this. You could use a strip on your hardwood floor.

You could use a robe, your belt of your robe and lie that down. You're creating a balance beam. Since I have a yoga mat here, I'm just going to walk on the edge of my yoga mat and I'm slowly walking and I'm feeling each step. The slower you go, The more challenging it is, just like life, right? When we slow down, it's challenging.

It's good practice. We feel each step. We feel the feet and we're playing with balance. You can use your arms out like airplanes or anywhere you need to assist with balance. If you get bored with this, you can close your eyes, sensing each step on your beautiful, flat, safe, balanced knee. Yes. And you can also go backwards.

So I love that. Extra

Chris McDonald: challenge. Yeah.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. And closing the eyes, super duper challenging.

Chris McDonald: That's your proprioception.

Terry Littlefield: Yes. That's exactly. And you are more than welcome. I always encourage people, you can practice that by a countertop or by your wall and have one hand there. Have. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Um, let's, do you want to do one more or no?

Yeah, go ahead. Okay, so this one you can be seated or standing, and we're making this little flicking motion with our hands, like, just like you're flicking away some, I don't know, mosquitoes or crumbs or whatever it is. I call it finger flicking good, and I like to think That makes me laugh too. Yeah, it's kind of a fun name, Finger Flicking Good.

And you can be as intense as you want flicking things, flicking things off. But then I also love to imagine I'm flicking like gold glitter love nuggets. So I'm sending you some of that. And I'm sending that up into the sky, and I'm sending it down into the ground, and out to the people beside me, in front, in back.

And in the meantime, you've done so much work for your forearms and your wrists and your fingers. Finger flicking good, and it can create some warmth.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, absolutely. I think that it, that does bring some joy and fun just doing that motion. I like the visual too. Yes. And the visualization of that.

Terry Littlefield: Yeah. Yes, I think.

Sometimes it's in class, I'll say to people, you know, we're going to send something good out from our hearts out, right? That's, it's something nice to do. Even the intention is helpful for you and for whomever or whatever you're sending it to. And I also, and I'll do that with the finger flicking good, you can think about Someone that maybe, you know, gets on your last nerve or tests you a little bit and if you don't, I always say, if you don't have anybody like that in your life, then go back to your gratitude and that needs to be written down, but you can send.

Also to that person. They also need the glitter nuggets, the joy they, they need it. So send some to them, even if they're challenging to you.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. Just reminds me like the loving kindness, sending it out to someone that annoys you, .

Terry Littlefield: Yes, yes. Like the meta meditation, right? Yeah. Yes, absolutely. We're

Chris McDonald: all connected for sure.

So what would you say to someone who hesitates to integrate any of these more playful ways with yoga? Is there anything that you could say to encourage them?

Terry Littlefield: Yes, I would say try and practice it on your own and then try it with somebody that you feel like your best friend or your child or your dog, let your dog watch you or whatever that is.

Do it in a way that feels like you're in your safe space and you're like, Oh, I see. It is different, but it's not scary. It's just different. Maybe, you know, playing around with that, giving yourself permission to play, and then you can try it. And start small, start small, like the toe thing, working with the toes.

It's silly, it's playful, but it's not something that you feel like if someone's watching you that you would be doing it wrong. Or feel self conscious, because nobody has to

Chris McDonald: know you're doing that.

Terry Littlefield: That's right. Yeah. So I think, yeah, I, I really think that it's, it's just being willing to try. I mean, you are talking to your group of people, our therapists.

You've done a ridiculous amount of hard work to get where you are. So you can absolutely do something that is. playful. It's, it's hard in a different way, but it's not. Let, give yourself that, oh, pat on the back. You deserve it.

Chris McDonald: Yes, absolutely. And I love what you said, giving yourself permission. I think that that's going to be key.

So what's the best way for listeners to find you and learn more about you?

Terry Littlefield: Oh, my website is, is good. Terrylittlefield. com. And then I'm on Instagram. Try, I really don't want to be on the socials, I'm trying to lessen that, but I like to put things out there for people to see. So I'm postures, breath and joy at postures, breath and joy.

Chris McDonald: And did you have some YouTube as well?

Terry Littlefield: I do. I have a YouTube channel. That's Terry Littlefield PBJ for postures, breath, joy. And you can, uh, that can come from my website or Instagram. You can hop your way over YouTube. You have some free videos.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. I highly recommend checking out some of her free stuff.

Amazing. Thank you so much, Terry, for coming on the Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast. Thank

Terry Littlefield: you so much. Thank you. It was great having you.

Chris McDonald: And thank you listeners for your support. This helps to grow this community of therapists blending yoga and therapy together. And thank you for being a part of this journey.

Are you a therapist intrigued by the idea of incorporating yoga into sessions, but aren't sure where to start? Maybe you're worried about staying ethical or wanting to feel more confident. I've got something for you. I'm excited to share my free giveaway, how to build confidence and competence with yoga and therapy sessions.

This checklist includes best practices for integrating yoga plus reflection questions to help you refine your approach and feel empowered. And by signing up, you also join my email list where I share more tips, resources, and updates to support your journey of integrating yoga into the therapy room. Go to hcpodcast.

org forward slash build confidence. That's hcpodcast. org forward slash build confidence. 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 is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, Or the guests are giving legal, medical, psychological, or any other kind of professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. Yoga is not recommended for everyone and is not safe under certain medical conditions.

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. The Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast is proudly part of the Psychcraft Network.

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