ABSTRACT
The need for novel ways of working towards emotional well-being is clearly critical, and that includes learning to maintain emotional well-being, not just managing crisis. Yoga therapists, instructors, and practitioners are often eager to jump into deeper practices that they believe will create more rapid shifts. Remember that just as a building needs well-constructed infrastructure, so do we as human beings. Every client needs first to start with grounding work, and only transition gradually from that to energizing or calming practices once grounding has been clearly established. Over-engaging the body weakens our relationship to it. There is much future work to be done in the realm of therapeutic yoga for emotional health. There is highly promising potential for therapeutic yoga to interface with other modalities such as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy that focus on single-incident trauma, complex trauma, and resulting imbalances such as depression, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders.
