"Yoga is not about touching your toes. It is what you learn on the way down."
- Jigar Gor
"Yoga is not about touching your toes. It is what you learn on the way down."
- Jigar Gor
What are the mental and emotional benefits of yoga?
What are the mental and emotional benefits of yoga?
Increases ability to respond to stress with more flexibility
Decreases depression
Decreases anxiety
Reduces symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Increases energy
Decreases fatigue
Decreases reactive emotions such as anger and fear
Builds mind-body awareness, making it easier to make conscious choices and avoid reactive emotions
What Yoga Is (and What It Isn't)
What Yoga Is (and What It Isn't)
While yoga can be great exercise, it's not about seeing how far you can stretch or if you can do a handstand. The practice of yoga is practice for life experiences. What does that mean? It means that the principles you need to use in a pose: focused attention, stilling the mind, finding the right balance between making an effort and allowing things to just be, listening to your body- those are the traits that you can also learn to master in your life. Yoga is the perfect way to practice developing these skills.
How do you include yoga in counseling sessions?
How do you include yoga in counseling sessions?
All of our experiences, memories, and emotions are held in our bodies. You've probably experienced it yourself. Maybe you have anxiety and feel it through racing heart, shallow breathing, and tightness in your chest. Or maybe you get stomachaches or tight muscles when under stress.
Depending on your current challenges, I can tailor counseling sessions (or one on one yoga sessions) to include yoga poses and breathing techniques that focus on the area of the body that corresponds with the mental stress you are feeling. ie- If you're ready to move forward after a breakup, using some heart-opening poses can open your heart to loving again. Or I'll teach you some yoga breathing exercises to calm your nervous system and bring you to a state of relaxation. Using yoga in therapy is a holistic approach to help you heal your mind, body, and spirit.
Christy McGurgan, LPC
Christy McGurgan, LPC
Licensed Professional Counselor
Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist
Reiki Master
Registered Yoga Teacher
Where to Find Me
Where to Find Me
510 S. Independence Blvd.
Suite 202
Virginia Beach, Va 23452