Ep.6/ Yoga-Informed PsychoTherapy
YOGA-INFORMED PSYCHOTHERAPY
By: Kristen W. Kauke, MSW, LCSW, 500 RYT, AYS
My journey with yoga began in graduate school circa 1997. I was working towards my Masters in Social Work at the University of Chicago. While I found course content enriching, I found the academic environment depleting (so much “Type A”). It was at this time in my life that I realized doing plus achieving did not equate to life satisfaction. I needed to find a different path. So, I turned to yoga. Yoga helped me find moments of peace between the stress and I instantly fell in love. I continued practicing yoga while I began my career as clinical social worker and lived through life milestones such as marriage and having babies.
I often compare yoga to a song. Like hearing a beloved song, we are often first seduced by the melody (asana). After a few times of listening, we discover the lyrics (philosophy). Often later down the line in the listening experience, we become more aware of the subtle aspects of the song in bass, percussion, or even the intentional space and silence (breath and energetics). I would describe my love affair with yoga much the same. I practiced the asana for over a decade before diving deeper into my 200-hour teacher training in 2013. From there I began discovering that so much of what I was learning in philosophy and subtle aspects of yoga paralleled with what I was learning in counseling theory. What astounded me was that yoga said it first – like thousands of years earlier!! I was on a mission to discover if it were possible to blend my two passions of yoga and psychotherapy.
In 2016, I found training with Livia Budrys and yoga-informed psychotherapy. In 2017, I completed the 3 Wisdom Traditions (psychology, yoga, Ayurveda) Core Concepts Program with Kathryn Templeton. In January of 2018, I dove into the 500-hour YTT at Prairie Yoga on weekends. I felt that if I was going to merge these worlds, I needed to legitimize my yoga training. It was in my advanced YTT that I was introduced to Ayurveda and knew this would be another useful modality. In 2021 I completed Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist Training with Kathryn Templeton through Yoga International.
After providing counseling in schools or in community agencies for nineteen years, I was finally ready to merge my two passions. I started my own private practice in 2018 because I believe that mental health must involve the body and lifestyle. Wellness Within’s approach is rooted in wisdom traditions of psychology, yoga, and Ayurveda that provide perspective, tools, and resources to help you better understand your mind and body, and to help create healthy lifestyle practices. Currently, I offer counseling that is yoga-informed, as well as ayurvedic wellness coaching.
Many people wonder what the heck “yoga-informed” means? Well, it is not standing in tree pose in my office. And it is not such a radical departure from traditional therapy. I find that many of the most utilized current therapeutic approaches have knowingly or not incorporated aspects of the yoga tradition. For example, mindfulness is a buzzword now, but it is nothing new to yogis. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) highlights thought errors that lead to suffering, much the same way as the kleshas in yoga. Dialectal Behavioral Theory (DBT) encourages defusion from thoughts, as in looking at thoughts and knowing “I am not my thoughts” – sound familiar? Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) advises living with purpose and taking actions that are in line with your values. Hmmm, yamas and niyamas (philosophical principles of living in right relationship with self and others) anyone? Even psychosocial developmental theory follows a path remarkably similar to the chakras (energy centers that correspond to specific nerve bundles and functions).
So, let’s say I have a client who presents reporting symptoms of anxiety they hope to lessen. In addition to a typical assessment that involves gathering information about developmental history, relationships, and education/occupation, I am also going to want to know what information they can tell me about their koshas (layers of Self). I will be curious about habits such as sleep, nutrition, digestion/elimination, and physical movement. I will also be interested in their manas prakriti (mind energy) and current Vikruti (body imbalance). Based on information obtained, I might educate my client about the difference between the mind and discernment. I might guide the client through a breath technique for calming. And I might offer a brief sequence of poses for grounding. I would encourage the client to build their dinacharya, daily “bookends,” utilizing the pranayama (breathwork) and asana (movement/yoga poses) we practiced. At the follow up appointment, I might hope to build out the client’s bookend routines further in ways that nourish and ground the mind and body. I might want to look at the ayurvedic clock and how that might improve habits around sleep or digestion. On subsequent visits, I might dive deeper into meditation, the doshas, or the six tastes. All would depend on what continues to adapt and unfold in the client’s life, mind, and body. The goal is always to support the client’s accountability in managing healthy habits that lead to wellbeing.
In my opinion, no amount of talk therapy is going to improve mental health if a client is not breathing, sleeping, nourishing, and moving their body appropriately. I feel confident about offering yoga and Ayurveda to clients because it is time-tested wisdom. Finally, I love that yoga and Ayurveda address the whole person, their well-being, and being in sync with their environment.
I see about twenty clients a week at my office in St. Charles and teach two vinyasa classes at Prana Yoga Center in Geneva, IL. I enjoy speaking at professional conferences and leading workshops on the use of yoga to bring about well-being in our Self and in our relationships. I built my website to be a resource that includes, information, guided breath practices, and meditations. You can learn more about how I have blended yoga into my professional life by visiting my website: www.wellnesswithinfoxvalley.com.
You can also learn more about yoga-informed psychotherapy here: https://wellnesswithinfoxvalley.com/wellness-within-blog/what-is-yoga-informed-psychotherapy?rq=yoga-informed
Wishing you all wellness!
Kristen W. Kauke
MSW, LCSW, 500 RYT, AYS
