200 Debunking Common Myths About Yoga In Therapy | What Every Therapist Needs to Know: Episode By Chris McDonald

Chris McDonald: Have you thought it's not possible to integrate yoga into your clinical therapy sessions? Maybe you had thoughts as out of your scope of practice. Are you ready to challenge what you think you know about yoga and the integration into therapy? In this episode of Yoga in the Therapy Room, I'm diving head first into the myths and misconceptions that cloud the intersection of these powerful practices, such as, is yoga just about stretching?

Or can it be a game changer in therapy? Can it really complement therapeutic techniques? Or is it just not ethical to integrate? In this episode, I debunk common misperceptions and uncover the true potential and benefits of integrating yoga into therapy and share insights that can enhance both your practice and your professional approach.

Let's get started

to yoga in the therapy room, the nontraditional therapist 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're in the right place. Join me. Me on this journey to help you be one step closer to bringing yoga into your therapy room. Welcome to Yoga in the Therapy Room, the Non-traditional Therapist Guide to Integrating Yoga into your therapy practice.

This is Chris McDonald once again. In this episode, I am so stoked to share and debunk some of the most common myths about yoga and. some myths and misconceptions about integration of yoga into therapy. I think a lot of these myths and misconceptions are what stops people from integrating yoga into therapy, not understanding what it is when we say the word yoga and what that could mean.

Like in, when I do talk about this and really defining it in the other episode. um, starting this podcast. So I think these myths can cloud our understanding of how yoga integrates with therapeutic practices. So knowing that yoga has been embraced by many as a powerful tool, often for physical wellness, the fitness industry really took this on many years ago and sought just for the physical results, which is great.

But I think It kind of made things a little unclear as to the other benefits. And these other benefits are often misunderstood, undervalued. And on the other realm, therapy is often seen as a standalone approach. We just do talk therapy, right? We go to grad school, we learn how to help clients with the issue that comes up and we help them work through that and problem solve and put some modalities in place and often cognitive strategies and that's it, right?

We can't do anything else. I'm here to challenge that today. Therapy is often seen as separate from holistic practices like yoga. So how do we bridge that gap between traditional thought therapy and holistic approaches like yoga, and how do we navigate these perceptions to find a more balanced approach?

effective approach that can combine these together. So we'll start today by addressing some of these myths. I have a lot here, trust me, and hopefully leave you with some more understanding by the end of this episode. Some of the myths, such as Yoga is only about stretching and relaxation without any real therapeutic benefits and whether the misconception that you can't integrate yoga into therapy, it's unethical, it's not safe.

So let's embark this journey together and find out how we can actually use yoga to enrich our practices and support our well being and our clients. in ways we maybe haven't imagined. First myth, yoga is just exercise. So let's look at the physical standpoint. So many people go to the gym. That might be their first experience of yoga.

If I think back, that was my experience was going to the gym. I took a yoga class. It was hard. I'm not going to lie, but I remember being in that yoga space after I was like, wow, that felt great after, even though it was more of a fit quote unquote fit yoga course class. I mean, But I didn't do it regularly.

And people just see this as another way to quote unquote exercise. So they minimize or don't really put into play the powerful mental, emotional, spiritual dimensions of yoga. There's so much more to yoga than just exercise. Sure, we can use it for exercise. There is that physical component. But we're ignoring the other parts.

There's so much to it. I think with any of these myths, we have to look at what is the intention. So if we go to the gym with wanting to get our heart rate up, maybe burn calories, get physically fit, the cardiovascular benefits. Great. If that's what you're looking for, if that's your intention, that's what the teacher there probably is doing.

Not all, but some. So what is the intention, I think, is going to be really important with any of these myths. Misconceptions and myths we talk about. Another myth. Yoga is only for flexible people. I hear this a lot from friends, family. Oh, I can't do yoga. I'm not flexible. Although I did have a friend say, I'm not flexible, but wait a second.

Maybe if I did yoga, I would be more flexible. So there's that, right? So with yoga, it could help us become a little more flexible. Is there physical benefits? Of course. Even if we're using some of these practices in therapy, but that's not the intention in therapy, is it? The misconception is that you have to be naturally flexible to practice yoga.

And again, some people have hypermobility issues, which makes them flexible, but it can cause damage too, if they're not careful and overextending themselves. In reality, yoga is about meeting your body where it is, and maybe you can develop flexibility. The more you do these practices, the more benefits you're going to get.

The more consistent, of course, it's going to change your body. Not just your body, but in your brain. So we are rewiring the brain when we do yoga consistently. Breath work is part of yoga meditation practices. There's been MRI studies done on this of the impact and how we're actually helping with emotional regulation.

We are rewiring out of stress response, bringing more calmness to the system. I'm gonna get to that, to the benefits and. evidence based in a second, but this can be a whole episode with some of these myths, right? Now here's one. I live in the South right now, North Carolina, and many of you also in the U. S.

in the Bible Belt or other religions across the world. Yoga is a religion, is what I've heard before. I can't practice it. Yoga. I also have heard some crazy theories that yoga poses are summoning demons, which I have to laugh because it's so far from the truth. I'm not sure where these come from, if people just misunderstand what yoga is, but yoga is often mistakenly seen as a religious practice.

But in truth, it's a practice that can be adapted to any spiritual or secular framework. Of course, yes, it does have roots in spiritual traditions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism. It's a practice in the modern world that is often more focused on physical health, sometimes well being as well, and personal growth.

And I'm just going to refer back to Pantanjali's definition of yoga. I'm sorry if I messed up saying his name right. He created the eight limbs of yoga. He says yoga is the calming of the fluctuations of the mind in order to find unity within. Let that sink in for a moment, listeners. Yoga is the practice, but also the result of the practice, a union of body, mind, and spirit.

And I talk about this in episode one about redefining yoga, going back to those definitions, right? Think about that for therapy, the calming of the fluctuations of the mind in order to find unity within. That's what we do in therapy. We're trying to help clients find the unity within body, mind, spirit, heart, whatever you want to call it, to find ways to calm racing thoughts, anxiety, difficult thoughts that come up.

But just to come back to that, yoga is a religion. Yoga does not adhere to any particular religion, belief system, or community. To me, and I mentioned this before in episode one, that for yoga in the therapy room. That's for every body. Every person can reap the benefits. Anyone can, regardless of faith, ethnicity, or culture.

No matter where you come from, no matter what your background, there is a style of yoga for you or a practice. It's not always just about asana either. If you have physical issues and you can't practice asana, there's other ways to, to incorporate yoga. Maybe you just use some yoga philosophy or maybe just breath work.

Again, this is a pick and choose what works for you. with these practices. It's not like everybody has to do all eight limbs of yoke. No, of course not. This is for you and what your needs are and how you want to bring this into therapy as therapists. How can we do this in an ethical way, in a safe way, in a way that respects the needs of each individual client and what they're wanting out of therapy.

This is my definition of Yoga too is, it's a philosophy, it's a way of life, a way of being, but it's adaptable to integrate with any religion. And I know that there are some Christian based yoga practices as well, so there's that too, if that, maybe that resonates more with some people, and that's fine.

Discover what works for you in your belief system. I think I've heard some too that there are, and I worked in the school system, and parents would be real upset if we did meditation with kids, and Visualizations. And I've heard there was some kind of law in Alabama. I don't know if this is still true that they banned yoga in the school system.

And I feel like this boils down to maybe misconceptions of what that is. Are they fearful that we're going to put some thoughts in their head about things? I'm just, again, I can't wrap my head around it because anytime that I did offer any kind of visualization, It was all to help the kids. It was all to help them find some emotional regulation or to imagine a safe place.

There was no harm. We're not there to harm them. We're not there to change their religion or beliefs or to put our beliefs on them. It was all just to help them to look at things different or to find some coping. to connect within. Sometimes that's what yoga can be, as simple as that, that awareness connecting within.

I think you can also think of yoga as a tool that can be adapted to meet many different kinds of needs and beliefs. And if you're interested in the physical or mental benefits, practice in a way that aligns with that. I did read something online that somebody didn't like the quote unquote spiritual side of yoga.

which could be meditations or visualizations, then don't do them. That's okay. So she wanted to focus on the physical part. Great, you found what works for you. And that's what we are all about as therapists, aren't we? Just helping people discover what works for them, what aligns with their value system and beliefs.

And of course, going back to the ethics of this, we have ethical codes not to push our values on others. That is unethical for us to do that. This is always a choice for clients to engage in these practices or not. This is an invitation for them that they can decline. It's totally their call, it's their session, it's their time.

It is just an option, another modality that we could use if they want to. And if you know you have clients that aren't open to this, or even somatic practices, so be it. Find what works for them. Individualized approach, I think, is essential for all therapists. I don't care what philosophy you come from or beliefs, but I think we all want to be a safe space, make that safe container to give a space where they can feel comfortable sharing their concerns to be vulnerable and that their beliefs are respected.

In my opinion, also, I have found that using yoga and somatic practices, it helps the therapeutic relationship. When we do yoga together, and again, when I talk about yoga too as asanas, I don't tell them what to do. We do these practices together. So as an example, even just inhaling arms up, exhaling arms down.

That's a simple yoga practice that you can do with clients. It helps with that rapport building, that connection as an added. And I'm thinking about the neural biological effect to mirror neurons and that we're connecting, helping to co regulate our clients, helping to bring ease into their body, mind, and spirit.

And I think that's another reason I created this podcast was to see how broad yoga can be and how many. Layers that we can go through in this podcast to help therapists see the benefits and to understand this is available for all therapists. And there's many ways we can integrate and some of you already are.

I'm going to say that again. And I know I mentioned that in the first episode of Yoga in the Therapy Room. Another myth, yoga is easy for everyone, not challenging. I don't know if this is a myth, but I've heard some people that probably are more flexible that, oh, it's easy. Anyone can do it. I'm just going to take easy pose for a moment.

For those who don't know what easy pose is, I'm going to say quote unquote easy because it's not easy for everyone. Basically sitting cross legged or in kindergarten or elementary school talk crisscross applesauce sitting on the floor crossing your legs whether you're on a cushion or just on the floor itself cross legged.

I will tell you, my husband can't do that pose. He's got to sit on the block. He has to have legs forward. Some people don't have that flexibility, which was shocking to me because it's so easy for me. But again, knowing what's easy for you may not be easy for clients. So just keep that in mind. Even if, I know I mentioned sun breaths, inhaling arms up, inhaling arms, exhaling arms down.

Maybe that bothers some clients who have shoulder issues. So again, we cannot make assumptions. It's, it can be difficult for many people. And I know I've done some gentle practices, asanas with clients, that for me was easy because I've been doing this for a long time. And I've had my own personal practice for a long time, so of course it feels easier for me.

Like Downward Dog, as an example. I do Downward Dog just about every day. I hold that pose sometimes for a few minutes, but I know I've done some private yoga sessions that some people struggle. It can take a while to get used to that. There's a lot of moving parts with poses like that. Have you been interested in adding yoga into your therapy sessions, but are unsure how?

Get ready to unlock the power of yoga in your clinical practice with my recorded one hour training. Start up strategies for integrating yoga into clinical sessions and earn one continuing education contact hour. In this training, learn how to harness the powerful benefits of yoga and breath to help your clients learn how to reduce their anxiety and depression.

You will also learn. Learn how to differentiate between slow, mindful yoga and fit yoga to tailor your approach for therapeutic settings. Get started with confidence and develop skills essential for integrating yoga into your practice, how to create a trauma informed approach, and you even get a script to help you learn how to guide clients safely through a yoga sequence for anxiety, transform your clinical sessions and empower your clients with the healing power of yoga today.

All of this, including one CE for only 65. Go to hcpodcast. org forward slash startup yoga. That's hcpodcast. org forward slash startup yoga today. I think this ties into another myth that yoga is just stretching. This grates my nerves. When I hear that because it's more than stretching, as you know, if, if you have some knowledge in yoga, you know, it's more than stretching.

There's so much more going on. There's yeah, that physical component. Sure. There is stretching. So of course that can help you to be more flexible, but there's so much going on with your nervous system to help bring ease Or to bring energy if you're depressed can help help with that as well. It's not just relaxation another myth All yoga is the same.

No, it's not. I'm here to challenge that. There's diversity in yoga styles. We got the fit yoga, the very vigorous styles of yoga, or vinyasa flows as we call them, to more gentle practices. We have restorative yoga. Which I call it lay down yoga because we get into poses with many props and just melt basically and just stay there and breathe and allowing our stress to unwind and release.

Or we got yin yoga where we hold poses for extended periods of time. That means you have fewer poses in a class. Yoga is not a one size fits all practice and again there's eight limbs so it's not just movement. And the other thing I just want to mention is if you've only gone to one yoga class in your life.

I highly, highly recommend trying different teachers because all teachers bring different styles. All teachers bring it different. Even though we teach many of the same poses, not all. I have learned so much over the years from different types of teachers. So give it a go. Try different people. I know with my 200 hour training, we had to go to different classes, take notes, see how The class went, what was the teacher's style?

How comfortable did we feel? Was it trauma informed? But I think that's such a learning experience for everyone. And I encourage you even to try different kinds, different styles of yoga. If you've only done vinyasa, try a gentle class, a restorative class, or a yin class. See how that feels. When I was looking at yoga trainings for myself, I also found, oh my lord, there are so many different kinds of yoga, more than I ever imagined.

There's yoga for social justice. There's yoga for so many different kinds of issues that you can't even imagine. Accessible yoga itself is a whole course. So just, just be open minded with that. I'm going to move on from just general yoga myths to myths about yoga. and therapy integration, mental health therapy integration.

Here's the biggest one that I found with my other podcast, The Holistic Counseling Podcast, talking to listeners over the years and in my Facebook group. And I also see it in other Facebook groups. I just chatted with someone on Threads. She's like, do you mean just talking about what yoga is, psychoeducation?

And I'm like, that's part of it. But then I went into my spiel about how I integrate it with the physical, with meditation, breathwork, grounding practices. So the biggest myth is that therapists need to have a 200 hour training or more, and I guess this is and or, that is out of our scope of practice. We can't do this.

Now, I'm speaking as a licensed clinical mental health counselor in North Carolina. I do not know every single regulation around the world. This podcast goes around the world, but what I do know is I've looked at LCSWs as well and the American Counseling Association, the ACA here. I've talked to their ethical person in charge for the United States.

This is within our scope of practice. So scope of practice, I do want to just talk about that just for a moment. I'm going to do an episode on this, but I wanted to just briefly bring this in. Scope of practice is a legal term, meaning that as a licensed clinical mental health counselor, I cannot write prescription drugs, right?

That's out of my scope. I cannot provide physical therapy services and create a whole business about physical therapy. That would be out of my scope. I'd get in a lot of trouble for that. Now, for my state, I can provide assessments, diagnose, treatment plans, individual counseling, group counseling, using therapeutic techniques, modalities, right?

Scope of practice means what we can and can't do. Period. That's it. And from my experience and what I've learned is that it comes down more to scope of competence, which is more the ethical issue. Scope of competence is ethical, not legal. Meaning we got to get the training. We got to get supervision. We have to do what we can to learn as much as we can to provide the best service.

So is it a good idea if you've just gone to one yoga class and say, Hey, I liked it. Let me do that with my clients. No, cause you're not, you're not competent. We have to get the training. The training first, and what that does as well is helps with your confidence, because I have a lot of people that have actually had training, but they don't feel confident, right?

To use these practices, because, again, this is not typically taught in graduate schools. Our whole programs were about the cognitive building relationship and then using. cognitive or some other practices maybe, but not usually physically, right? So that often feels, ooh, that feels uncomfortable. Can I do that?

They've not heard of this maybe. And that's totally understandable. We have licensing boards that we don't want to lose our licensure and our livelihood depends on this. So of course this is a big issue. So much involved with this. But do check first with your licensing boards, governing bodies, because it's going to be different everywhere.

And I know. What I have talked to also licensed psychologists have different guidelines and it may be more difficult for them. That's something that I think is going to take a deeper dive into because I'm not as sure for them because what I've licensed psychologists I've talked to said that they feel like they can't based on the regulations they have super strict guidelines.

So I'm not sure so because I'm not a licensed psychologist so just make sure that you clarify that with your boards and anytime I've talked to my board. They're just like, make sure you have enough training and they bring me back to the ethical codes of competence. What is the competence and new modalities?

That's the key. Now, here's the other question that people ask me. How do I know if I'm competent? And that's what I talk about in my ethics 1 hour CE course is, and I'll put that in the show notes. Going over these ethical guidelines, right, and practices with going through this. I do have a handout for this that's available in that training.

But just briefly, how confident are you? I think that's a number one thing. Have you had the training? What is expected for this field that I'm in, and this new modality that I want to learn? That's usually a good starting space to really reflect on. Because if you're really not confident, then maybe you do need more training.

Or more practice, and I think I haven't really mentioned this yet. If you are wanting to integrate yoga, and when I say yoga the broad term it is all limbs, make sure that you are embodying these practices. What do I mean by that? That you are doing the same practices that you want to teach. In my opinion, you cannot be an effective teacher of yoga, even as a therapist, unless you are doing yoga.

You must feel these practices. You must really be connected to your body, noticing sensations, how does this feel in your body, in order to be effective. In order to be a genuine teacher. And I will be talking about future episodes about setting up personal practices, what that can look like, things that get in the way.

I also talk about this in my yoga basics course for therapists, which will be coming soon. Stay tuned. I'll be releasing the official launch date to be determined. So that is something that we dive into as well, the importance of embodiment and how to support yourself in that journey. So just, just be considering that, that what is your personal yoga practice and do you need to work on that?

The more consistent you can be, the more confident I think you will be. The more you can practice teaching others, that builds that confidence. It's difficult to go from learning to teaching if you're not practicing, if that makes sense. So make sure if you want to take this journey, great, start with your own practice first.

Like I said, go back to different teachers, see what works. And again, the ethical importance of client needs with integrating yoga that we have to make sure that this is what they want and that this is something that they feel connected with. And if they say no, I've had clients say no. So we take a different route with therapy.

That's totally fine. Now, again, I prefer to work with people open to this, but you know, I have had some people who don't want to, the one lady looked around my room with the yoga picture. She's like, I don't want to do any of that breath work or meditation. So like, that's cool. So. We work together for a short term, but you know, it is possible to accommodate clients.

That's what we're supposed to do as therapists. What do they need? So enough on that. Moving on, another myth. Yoga is a replacement for therapy. If you listen to my redefining yoga episode in the last episode, it is an integration. It is a complementary and alternative modality. It is not replacing. So if we Do yoga the entire session.

That's a yoga class, right? But if we're integrating as part of the session, that's okay. This is integrating a modality, just like you do EMDR or brain spotting or CBT, whatever it is, you're genius. You're not doing that. Well, maybe people do, but just knowing that this is just an alternative modality that you can use.

The other thing I hear is, Oh, I can't do that. It's not evidence based. This makes me cringe because I swear to you every day there are new studies coming out on the benefits of yoga. There's so much support for this. I can't tell you how much is out there because there's just, it's overwhelming to keep up with, which is good.

Very research based. Research has shown it is effective for reducing anxiety, depression, symptoms of PTSD. It can help energize. I mentioned for depression, I have different yoga practices to help clients with depression, but on the opposite end, it helps the relaxation response. It can also help with executive function, such as reasoning, decision making, learning, reaction time.

Breathwork, I find, is the key to helping with anxiety and PTSD. And grounding practices are so important to help with rumination, anxious thoughts. And I feel like it helps if we think of, if we connect it to a clinical theory like DBT, that we are using distress tolerance. We are pushing, helping clients push outside the comfort Staying with the pose maybe a little bit longer, even if it might be uncomfortable or we feel an uncomfortable emotion come up.

Can you lean into it instead of avoiding this time? We can do that with yoga. That's the beautiful part of this. And again, that's what I talk about in my Yoga Basics too, is integrating with clinical theory. Which to me is very exciting. That guess what? There is already information out there on how to integrate with CBT, DBT, IFS.

Polyvagal, which is my favorite, just so exciting. The possibilities with yoga and how much more is to come with this, how much more integration with traditional counseling theory. Okay. A couple more myths. Yoga is only about relaxation. Not true. There are so many parts to yoga. And again, it helps with emotional regulation, self awareness, connecting to body, connecting to all parts of yourself and clients, and of course, resiliency.

So building that inner resource for clients, helping them to find resilience and with yourself too. So important and cannot be minimized. And as I mentioned, it can also be energizing. So we can find ways to help clients with depression through yoga. these energizing mood boosting practices, which with breath work we can do.

We can do asana, meditations, so much. One last myth. So yoga is not suitable for all clients. The only thing I will say about this is if they don't want to do that, that's their choice. There's always choice. But if someone is open, it's for everyone, regardless of mental health conditions or physical limitations.

Now, of course, some mental health conditions like schizophrenia, we may not want to go too far with meditation. We got to be cautious with that. I will also caution about meditation for PTSD, especially more severe cases. It is contraindicated, in my opinion. We can get there. If we work through therapy and treatment for a while, I've had clients be able to do it later down the road, but I've had many clients with PTSD come to me and say, man, I've tried meditation.

I just can't do it. I feel unsafe. They feel triggered. It brings them into fight or flight. And I just tell them to stop. Let's put it on pause for a moment and come back to it. Let's do some of these other practices. Let's get you more regularly. Let's get you to, as we say in polyvagal to safe and social at the top of the polyvagal ladder.

Because if they're in that constant fight or flight or freeze response, or they're more often than not, then it's not going to be beneficial. It's going to be much more difficult for them because they've not felt safe. It's totally understandable why that may not be the best option for them. Just keeping that in mind.

Whew, that's a lot. There's a whole lot of myths out there. Misconceptions. I hope this clears it up. I would love to hear from you on this. You can email me at chris at yoga in the therapy room dot com. I'd love to hear your opinions on this. I, this is an open discussion. Of course, a lot of this is my opinion, not all.

Some of this is based on facts too, like the evidence based stuff, but this is, you know, something for everyone that's listening to consider. How do you feel about some of these myths? Like I said, I'd love to hear from you. As we wrap up today's discussion, just take a moment and reflect how integrating yoga into therapy might shift your approach to therapy.

How can these insights enhance your work with clients and help you bring yourself one step closer to bringing yoga into your therapy room? Thanks again listeners for being here. And be sure to listen to the next episode called Embracing the Yogi Within. Stepping into your role and identity with yoga.

This is one you don't want to miss. For those listening who want a deeper dive into integration in yoga and therapy, but you're unsure how, I have a recorded one hour CE course called Startup Strategies for Integrating Yoga into Clinical Sessions. You will learn the powerful benefits of using some basic mindful yoga, breathwork, and meditation with clients to help reduce anxiety and depression.

You'll learn basic strategies for getting started, the room setup, and more. how to keep it trauma informed, and the script included for teaching some poses and ideas when to use it in session. Also discussed will be how you can start building confidence with these practices. Don't miss out! And of course, get one CE credit.

Go to hcpodcast. org forward slash startup yoga. That's hcpodcast. org Forward slash Startup Yoga. And once again, this is Chris McDonald sending each one of you much light in 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.

Just 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 it's 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 and the Therapy Room podcast is proudly part of the Site Craft network.