One-on-One FAQ

What's the difference between therapeutic yoga and Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy?

In a therapeutic yoga session, you will learn specific yogic techniques such as postures, breathing and meditation to address areas of imbalance, both physical and mental. You will be given practices to do at home, and they will be adjusted over time.

However wise an external yoga teacher may be, the tradition holds that our best teacher lives inside each of us. Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is a potent method for learning to access your own inner guide, which becomes a source of therapeutic insight that is available at all times.

The power of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy lies in the moment-to-moment experience of the session. You won't be given instruction or assigned home practices. Instead, you are supported in your own self-guided process of discovery and release.

Is Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy related to psychotherapy?
Phoenix Rising encourages you to witness yourself and provide answers to your own questions. The practitioner's role, much like a psychotherapist, is to listen to you in a loving and non-judgmental way. Unlike most psychotherapy, PRYT addresses the body directly through touch. Psychotherapy may involve analysis of feelings and behaviors. A Phoenix Rising practitioner trusts that insight and change will arise spontaneously when a client opens to the transformational process of listening to and talking with the body. It is not within our scope of practice to diagnose our clients or recommend medication; we are happy to provide referrals to other holistically-minded healthcare professionals.
How is Phoenix Rising like yoga?

Phoenix Rising makes use of many postures that will be familiar to yoga students. Unlike a Hatha yoga practice, a PR therapist moves the client into supported stretches, while the client remains passive (somewhat like Thai massage).

The practitioner follows the client, rather than instructing. In this type of yoga therapy, the practitioner doesn't try to fix, adjust or teach the client - as one might experience in a class or private yoga lesson. Instead, the client learns to access their own internal teacher!

All yoga has the potential to be yoga therapy. Yoga becomes therapeutic as soon as the practitioner becomes quiet enough to listen to the body. PRYT just emphasizes these natural qualities that lie at the heart of every Hatha yoga practice.

You do not need to have any previous experience with yoga to try PRYT, nor do you need to be flexible. It is recommended that you are comfortable with being respectfully touched while clothed in a private studio setting.

Is Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy right for me?

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is for anyone who is curious to learn more about themselves and find new tools to create the life they want.  You are a good candidate for the work if...

  • Your body is affected by stress and anxiety, limiting your ability to enjoy your life and hindering your performance at work.
  • You are facing or in the midst of a life transition and you need support to make clear decisions and navigate change.
  • You are recovering from an illness or injury that has left you feeling out of touch with your body, and you want to reconnect.
  • You suffer from chronic pain that alludes diagnosis. 
  • You are looking for a facilitated practice of self-discovery that's similar to yoga and psychotherapy 
What is the difference between private consultation and yoga therapy?

The main difference is the intention of the work, rather than the content.  In a private consultation, the focus is learning and refining the skills of yoga in pursuit of self-knowledge, empowerment and appreciation of life's mysteries (to mention just a few possible intentions).  In the therapeutic application of yoga, the techniques are chosen to address a particular imbalance or suffering that the client wishes to address.  But these are not crisp distinctions, and individual work may well includes aspects of both.