Structural Yoga Therapy: Adapting to the Individual

A physiological principle that should be taught in every yoga teacher training (and arguably to every human in the world) is that our bodies have an inherent and profound ability to adapt.

aimed at releasing deeply held tension. Much of this work uses physical stimulation or manipulation in specific areas of the body to highlight stress responses in which the sympathetic nervous system—the fight-or-flight response—is activated. Using specific breathing techniques—some are similar to ujjayi, kapalabhati, and bastrika pranayamas—one th

So finding the balance between steadiness and ease in yoga postures also requires playing with the limits of our physical sensibilities, because all of our sense organs are conditioned in habitual ways.

The authentic practice of yoga is an unremitting attention to present experience, whether in mind, body, or heart, with a baby on the hip, making breakfast, or balancing the breath in a headstand.

Because different yoga poses set up various patterns of breathing and physiological action, postures are invitations into the psychological and physiological webs that form the matrix of the mind-body. Posture sequences open up different layers and movements of mind and body and thus work on the sheaths of mind and body in distinct ways. Traditiona