Trauma doesn’t just live in the mind. It lives in the body too.
You might already know this from your own experience - a racing heart before a difficult conversation, a tight chest when you’re anxious, exhaustion that sleep doesn’t seem to fix. Trauma and stress change how our nervous system works, and that shows up physically, sometimes long after the original event.
It can be more subtle too. When we’re stressed, we might hold our shoulders up around our ears without noticing, and over time that build-up of tension can lead to inflammation and pain. A clenched jaw or shallow breathing are small physical habits that add up, until the body is responding as though there’s a threat present, even when there isn’t one.
Therapeutic yoga is a gentle, accessible practice that works alongside talking therapy, helping your body find its way back to a sense of safety and calm. Classes are led by Sally Morrison, one of our therapists and a qualified yoga teacher.
Reconnect with your body.
Is this for me?
You might find therapeutic yoga helpful if any of this sounds familiar:
- I want support that doesn’t only involve talking things through
- I’m already in therapy and want something that works alongside it
- I understand why I feel the way I do, but my body still reacts the same way regardless
- I experience anxiety or panic that feels like it comes from nowhere
- I feel tired, low, or flat, in a way that doesn’t seem to lift
- I feel numb, disconnected, or “outside” my own body
- I carry chronic tension or pain that doctors can’t quite explain
How can therapeutic yoga help?
Talking therapy tends to work top-down, helping you understand and process things through thought and conversation. Therapeutic yoga works bottom-up, helping your body to rewire its automatic stress responses. Over time, it can support you to:
- Calm an overactive stress response, so anxiety and panic feel less overwhelming
- Reconnect with your body if you’ve felt numb or disconnected
- Release physical tension that’s built up from carrying stress for a long time
- Learn to properly rest, if your body has forgotten how to switch off
- Build a steady sense of safety in yourself, at your own pace
What to expect
Sally explains what a class involves and takes you through a short practice. About four minutes, and you can watch it without booking anything.
Classes are gentle and unhurried, with plenty of space to arrive and settle before anything begins. A typical class includes:
- Time to arrive and feel safe in the space
- A little context on how stress and trauma affect the body, in plain language
- Breathing practices to help regulate your nervous system
- Gentle, accessible movement, nothing strenuous and nothing you can’t opt out of
- Rest and stillness at the end of the session
- Space, if you want it, to connect what came up in your body to what you’re exploring in therapy
You don’t need any yoga experience, and you’re never asked to retell or revisit what happened to you. The classes work with how your body feels now, not with the story of how it got that way. You can opt in or out of anything at any point, watch rather than join in, or leave. No questions asked.
Led by Sally
Classes are led by Sally Morrison, one of our therapists here at Charnwood Counselling.
Sally is a practising psychotherapist and yoga teacher, integrating the mind-body connection into talking therapy.
You can read more about Sally on our counsellors page.
Class details and how to book
Class details
- Online via Zoom
- 45 minutes
- £8 a class, paid as you go
- Drop in whenever suits, and keep coming for as long as it’s useful
What you’ll need
- A device with Zoom on it, set up before the start time rather than during it
- A chair, or the sofa. Sally teaches mainly from a chair
- The floor instead, if you would rather, though you do not need a yoga mat
- A cushion or a couple of pillows, which are useful more often than you would think
- A blanket for the end of the class
Upcoming classes
Classes run on Mondays at 6pm and Wednesdays at 9.30am. See the next available dates .
How to book
Booking is handled by Sally directly, on her own booking page, rather than through us. You don’t need to be a Charnwood Counselling client to come.
When you book you’ll be asked to confirm you’ve read Sally’s waiver, which is on her website. The Zoom link is sent to you automatically once your place is confirmed.