After working with clients navigating recovery from surgery or major health challenges, I’ve witnessed a powerful truth: our health is not static. It’s a dynamic dance—one where we may move from illness into vitality, or from wellness into a period of healing and back again.
Yoga therapy meets us in this dance.
It adapts. It listens. It walks with us through change.
This understanding has been shaped both by personal experience and by the work of yoga therapy scholar Mark Stephens. In Yoga Therapy: Foundations, Methods, and Practices, Stephens presents a thoughtful framework that emphasizes how yoga therapy aligns with the spectrum of care—from preventative to adjunctive support to rehabilitative recovery. His categories helped clarify what I was intuitively witnessing in my own sessions and gave me language to articulate the depth and breadth of yoga therapy’s role.
Over time, I’ve come to observe that the care yoga therapy provides naturally falls into three categories:
- Wellness & Prevention
- Managing Health Conditions
- Care After Injury or Surgery
Let’s break these down in more detail—followed by a summary table for clarity.
1. Prevention & Wellness
Goal: Prevent illness, maintain health, and promote overall well-being.
Yoga therapy is profoundly effective as a proactive approach to health. By encouraging balanced daily routines, regulation of the nervous system, and embodied self-awareness, yoga therapy supports long-term vitality. This approach is ideal for those who may not have a specific diagnosis but are seeking balance, stress reduction, and sustainable wellness.
Key Elements:
- Establishing healthy rhythms (sleep hygiene, balanced diet, daily movement).
- Activating the parasympathetic nervous system to counter chronic stress [1].
- Cultivating emotional resilience through breath, mindfulness, and gentle asana [2].
Client Examples:
- A busy professional like a dentist with forward-head posture and limited mobility.
- An athlete aiming for injury prevention by balancing muscle use and joint mobility.
- A parent or caregiver seeking to maintain energy and emotional steadiness.
- Why it matters: Studies have shown that regular yoga practice can improve immune function, reduce stress biomarkers, and enhance quality of life—even in healthy individuals [3].
2. Managing Health Conditions
Goal: Support individuals in managing chronic or emerging health concerns.
In this phase, yoga therapy acts as a complementary modality. It works alongside conventional medical care to address a range of non-communicable conditions such as hypertension, anxiety, arthritis, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and chronic pain. Practices are individualized to respect limitations while helping reduce symptoms and improve self-regulation.
Key Elements:
- Personalizing movement and breathwork to suit the condition.
- Enhancing interoception and self-agency.
- Fostering adaptive coping strategies [4].
Client Examples:
- Someone living with mild to moderate back pain or sciatica.
- An individual managing asthma who seeks breathwork to improve function.
- A person undergoing conventional treatment for anxiety or depression, needing tools for daily emotional regulation.
📚 What research says: Yoga has demonstrated effectiveness in improving quality of life and reducing symptoms in conditions like anxiety disorders [5], hypertension [6], and chronic low back pain [7].
3. Recovery & Rehabilitation
Goal: Support healing and restoration after illness, injury, or medical intervention.
In rehabilitation settings, yoga therapy offers gentle, integrative practices that address not only the physical body but also emotional and energetic imbalances. These sessions are often more restorative and must be approached with medical clearance and interprofessional communication.
Key Elements:
- Slow, mindful movement to restore range of motion and circulation.
- Guided relaxation, visualization, and breathwork for emotional healing.
- Rebuilding confidence and body awareness post-trauma or surgery.
Client Examples:
- A person recovering from cancer treatment who is cleared for movement.
- A stroke survivor regaining balance, breath awareness, and proprioception.
- An individual post-surgery slowly rebuilding strength and coordination.
🌀 The evidence: Yoga-based rehabilitation has shown promise in supporting cancer survivors [8], stroke recovery [9], and trauma healing [10]. It can also improve fatigue, sleep disturbances, and quality of life.
Summary Table: Three Pillars of Yoga Therapy Care
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re working to stay healthy, living with a diagnosis, or rebuilding after illness—yoga therapy offers more than movement. It’s a compassionate, body-centered method of care that adapts to your needs and walks with you through every stage of your healing journey.
📚 References
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.
Streeter, C. C., Gerbarg, P. L., Saper, R. B., Ciraulo, D. A., & Brown, R. P. (2012). Effects of yoga on the autonomic nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric-acid, and allostasis in epilepsy, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical Hypotheses, 78(5), 571–579.
Telles, S., Singh, N., & Balkrishna, A. (2012). Managing mental health disorders resulting from trauma through yoga: A review. Depression Research and Treatment, 2012.
Ross, A., & Thomas, S. (2010). The health benefits of yoga and exercise: A review of comparison studies. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(1), 3–12.
Emerson, D., Sharma, R., Chaudhry, S., & Turner, J. (2009). Trauma-sensitive yoga: Principles, practice, and research. International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 19(1), 123–128.
Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Witt, A. A., & Oh, D. (2010). The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 169–183.
Cramer, H., Lauche, R., Langhorst, J., & Dobos, G. (2014). Yoga for hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2014.
Wieland, L. S., Skoetz, N., Pilkington, K., Vempati, R., & D’Adamo, C. R. (2017). Yoga treatment for chronic non-specific low back pain. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (1).
Lin, K. Y., Hu, Y. T., Chang, K. J., Lin, H. F., & Tsauo, J. Y. (2011). Effects of yoga on psychological health, quality of life, and physical health of patients with cancer: A meta-analysis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011.
Lynton, H., Kligler, B., & Shiflett, S. (2007). Yoga in stroke rehabilitation: A preliminary study. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 13(2), 159–164.