240 Yoga Tools for Clients Who Struggle with Focus and Stillness: Coaching Episode With Kimberleigh Hagar

E240_KimberleighHagarCoaching_YTR

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As an added bonus, I share a live Qigong practice, which is mindful movement for focus that is so beneficial and can help clients stay in the present moment. You are not gonna wanna miss this tune in for practical tricks and ways to make yoga more accessible. Not overwhelming on today's episode of Yoga in the Therapy Room Podcast.

So whether you're here to expand your skills, enhance your self care, or both, you are in the right place. Join me on this journey to help you be one step closer to bringing Yoga into your therapy room.

Welcome back to the Yoga In the Therapy Room podcast. The non-traditional therapist guide to integrating Yoga into your therapy practice. I'm Chris McDonald, licensed therapist and yoga teacher. Happy to be here with you today for this special episode. This will be another coaching one where I interview a listener and answer a question they have about integrating yoga into their clinical sessions.

We're taking a closer look at strategies and how to make yoga practices more accessible for these clients who struggle with focus. As an added bonus, I'll be sharing a special Qigong practice of movement for focus that is easy to implement and clients will feel the immediate result. And you will too if you participate with this practice.

This episode is full of practical gems you won't wanna miss. Let's dive in. Welcome back to the Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast. Kimberly. Thank you. I'm happy to be back. Yes. I'm so excited. And can you share for listeners how you became a therapist and yoga teacher?

Kimberleigh Hagar: Oh gosh. Two very different timelines it feels like.

I don't have to do anything else if I just wanna talk to people. Yeah, I love that. And so, yeah, I went straight from college into grad school and. Straight into the therapy world from there, and it's all I've done and I've loved every moment of it. Certainly bounced around a little bit in terms of the niche and who I'm working with and what I'm doing more of in my practice.

That was my reaction too. I, it was so magical and wonderful and I will never forget that training. And for some reason in my head I was like, oh, I'm not a yoga teacher yet, so I can't do that. And I just set it on the back burner for years. And then last year finally decided that it was time to do yoga teacher training.

And while I was in that, I found your course where I heard and learned that I didn't have to be a official yoga teacher in order to do this. And I just kind of like smacked my head and was like, you mean I could have been doing this for the last five years and I had no idea? And now here I am. Here you are still doing therapy and teaching yoga and using yoga in therapy.

I was like, what? You're kidding me. This is awesome. So that kind of started my journey as well. Well, how do you integrate yoga into your sessions now?

Kimberleigh Hagar: It looks different, certainly for different clients. Some is a little bit more of maybe just one movement. I. If we're really kind of focusing on maybe a sensation in the body, for example, if they're talking about maybe feeling a sense of like pressure on their heart and their chest, when maybe we're talking about a particular thing, we might do some movement, maybe like.

Maybe specifically where in the body we're talking about, whereas with other clients, um, in your training actually you had kind of taught us an exercise around like distress tolerance, one with distress tolerance and then there was one we did with kind of just like sitting with an uncomfortable feeling.

Yes. And I've used those ones with clients many, many times and I usually will string those with some little bit of warmup, a little bit of cool down. Just because I don't wanna go straight into something that feels tough on the body. So those practices end up being a little bit longer than maybe just the one movement with breath.

Chris McDonald: I appreciate you sharing that. 'cause yoga in the therapy room does not always have to be a long 30 minute flow. It can be one thing, it can be a few, so that it's so versatile. That's why I love it

So I'm curious about what your strategies are for using yoga and therapy with neurodivergent clients, especially clients that have a hard time keeping the focus. Something when there's not consistent conversation happening, there's a certain amount of queuing that is helpful to, you know, guide what movement is happening and maybe where to bring some attention and the interception stuff.

But then it's also normal for there to be. Some moments of silence as we do the observing, and I have found with some of my neurodivergent clients that it's harder for them to stay in those moments without their brain wanting to run five other places.

In part of their treatment plan and integrating yoga with their treatment plan I think can be really helpful. 'cause thinking about first, what is the goal? Is the goal for helping them to build focus? Is the goal helping to decrease anxiety? Is the goal depression? So of course integrating with that as well, whatever the goal may be.

And I also think that. Taking your time with them to develop some of the interception and maybe some body scans as well. So really slowing that down so that they can gradually build that muscle to get more comfortable with that. And noticing, okay, if I have my feet on the floor, what sensations are there?

Can I feel that chair beneath me? What is that like? And even doing the external. Extra ception right before we do the interoception. 'cause a lot of people, especially if they have trauma, that can be really triggering too. So sometimes we gotta start with a grounding on the outside before we go on the inside, and that can take a lot of different forms as well.

I also work with clients who struggle that with more than a few seconds, right? Where their mind starts to wander, to start to develop that muscle of noticing the thoughts. What is your relationship with your thoughts? It's, are you gonna go off in the story or can you put that pause? Say, okay, there's my thoughts going over here.

Notice compassion. That self-compassion I think is so important. And also. Really getting crystal clear with the cues as far as tuning in. What do you notice with your thoughts? Where are their thoughts so that you can say to them too, is your mind stuck in a loop right now? Do you have racing thoughts or is there more stillness with the thoughts?

Well, what is coming up for you? And they don't have to answer verbally. They can just have that internal awareness, noticing emotion. What is there? Is there more than one emotion? Sensation. We can give cues also to get more clear, especially if they struggle to name sensations. I've seen that a lot, especially those who are neurodiverse or have a DHD.

Does that make sense? It does. It

Kimberleigh Hagar: does. And I'm thinking about how, you know, sometimes. When we're queuing in yoga, we might ask some of those questions in a way where they are more, we ask the question and we don't expect an answer out loud. It's more they just are thinking about it. Yeah.

Chris McDonald: Just like when we're queuing in the class or they just take it an internal process.

Kimberleigh Hagar: I'm curious though, with maybe some of your like neurodiverse clients, is there a benefit maybe for that? To maybe prompt that they maybe answer more verbally so that it Okay. Maybe I'm wondering like, have you found, does that, does that have any impact maybe on their brain's engagement in it?

Chris McDonald: I think that could be helpful.

So maybe being still clear. 'cause I, you're right. I'm thinking if they say it out loud and they can hear themselves say it loud, would that help them to be more present

Kimberleigh Hagar: mm-hmm.

Chris McDonald: As one to offer that as an option.

Kimberleigh Hagar: Yeah. I'm also curious with some of the, I'm thinking about, you know, we have some of our poses, I'm thinking when I'm using it in the therapy space, I'm all virtual, so it typically is things that are seated here.

And so, you know, I'm just thinking about, for example, do you find that there's a difference between using yoga that is a little bit more of like a static, like maybe like a lateral bend where then once we're in it we might kind of hang out? For a few breath, few versus like the sun breaths where you're consistently moving and you're not just holding.

Chris McDonald: I think it depends what's going on with them that day, especially if they have more anxiety. We may do more movement first. So if we remember with polyvagal theory, we do have to release some of that stress response to get that out, and even before we even do the movement to do some shaking or other marching in place.

Something just to get. Get things moving and get them connected to the body. Because I think if we just start out here, inhale, bring your arm over and let's hold. That might be a struggle, right? If that's where we're starting. So bringing that movement with that in, and maybe just with a seated, inhaling arm over.

Exhale as you bring up the other arm. Just keep rolling with that. Right. And then maybe challenging them. 'cause I think we can build that window of tolerance too. 'cause emotionally some people aren't ready for the hold. But if we do a little bit at a time, maybe pacing, let's, let's pause for three breaths.

Kimberleigh Hagar: too.

I think it certainly does help to give the brain something to come back to, and especially maybe when there's. Some unique movements that are, you know, maybe kind of doing one movement for a while and then on the next breath we're maybe gonna go like this direction with it or switch.

Chris McDonald: Yes. Which way we move

Kimberleigh Hagar: on the inhale

Chris McDonald: or the does the exhale and to give variety I think is helpful.

So if we're inhaling with side stretch, we can do it over here overhead or it can do a diagonal right. Because maybe that given the variety could be helpful to do it different ways. I love variations of poses. I get real excited when I find another one and learn another one, but I think maybe giving them the options.

All the clients that work from home and they're like, I've been sitting here for four hours, I need to get up. But then others are just like, I'm not comfortable standing in front of a camera, so can I just do this seated? I think seated is always a, a great option. I think that's one of the things that gets in the way with a lot of therapists with wanting to bring yoga in the therapy room.

They think that we have to get on a mat and that's it, and it's not, there's so many options with yoga. We can just start seated. We're already seated with yoga. Unless you're a standing therapist. I don't know. Or walk and talk, but most of us are already seated, so let's, let's do it where we are. Right now and keep it simple.

Kimberleigh Hagar: Yeah, I'm thinking about, I mean, certainly I. There were more opportunities to stand up during the day, and so I guess, yeah, maybe that's a good idea that I might ask if a client maybe wants to do it standing so that I can also stand up. Yeah. Have you been doing standing poses at all? Not in the yoga and therapy space.

I certainly do that when I'm. Teaching at the studio, but

Chris McDonald: yeah. Yeah, so that's always an option. Are you wanting to bring more of a somatic approach into your therapy work, but find yourself hesitating? You've had some yoga training and you aren't sure where to start, or maybe you worry about staying within your scope and are unsure how to actually.

If you're ready to move from feeling stuck and uncertain to confident in Align, go to HC podcast.org/. Yoga consultation. That's HC podcast.org/yoga consultation. You can also find the link in the show notes.

Kimberleigh Hagar: I'm curious if there's any other like tips or tricks or things that you have that just seem to work well with some neurodiverse clients and just maybe inviting them to.

To try bringing movement in, in just maybe a different way than we've done it before.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. But I let them sometimes, especially people I've worked with for a while, how does your body wanna move? And we might do some practices we've done before. So even the repetition, even though technically I know that's doing the same thing, that may make their mind wander, but they're familiar with it.

Your legs feel like kicking. And this is not typical psychotherapy, but it's very beneficial. 'cause I do get people that once they get a little more comfortable with yoga in the therapy room, that they start to move. And do you know what I do? I mirror them. So whatever they're doing. So if they're just moving their arms around, I'm like, okay, let's do it.

Let's go Uhhuh and how can we bring this another way? So you're doing the arms out to the side, waving the arms, let's bring them up in the air. What does that feel like? Is there another way? But then asking the same question again. How else does your body wanna move? Okay, I see you doing a forward, forward now what?

Especially, I have had some people that go to yoga regularly, they have a regular yoga practice. They're more embodied. It does take a little bit of skill to, to get to that place 'cause. You're gonna make some people uncomfortable. Very panicked if they're like, I dunno. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Kimberleigh Hagar: I'm thinking too about how that would work well with clients who maybe we've done some work on, like strengthening their sense of intuition and like That's true too.

Yes. Checking in with that intuitive voice. On purpose.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. And if you wanna bring counseling theory and DBT, check in with your wise mind, what does it tell you? And I've worked also with clients, with developing that intuition. And sometimes, and I let them know that sometimes I can come to you as a visual.

Right. Especially if you have people who live from, you know, the neck up. It's harder at times. Yep. Which is most of the people that I'm working with. Absolutely. Exactly. Exactly. So would you be interested in learning a Qigong practice that helps with focus? Yeah. Because I could not do this episode without sharing this practice.

I share this with every client that has a DHD or neurodiversity. 'cause it is such a helpful Qigong practice, and it's something so simple, so easy that listeners, you can practice along and bring this in your therapy room if it feels right, but it's something you can do every day at the beginning of the day to help with focus.

And when you're ready, inhale, bring the right arm up and over, like you're doing a sun breath. We're gonna pause in the middle, thumb facing you, and then exhale, sliding down the mid part of the body, down past the nose, center of the body, all the way down to meet the other hand. And let's try it to the other side.

Same thing on the left. Inhale. Making a big circle like we're doing, a sun breath, but pausing in the midline. Nice and slow. Coming down to meet the other hand, inhale back to the right. Same thing. And just notice as you do this practice how this feels in your body. And I am gonna push back for a moment so that I can really show you.

How is your focus? So you're welcome to answer the questions, Kimberly, if you want.

Kimberleigh Hagar: You don't have

Chris McDonald: to.

Kimberleigh Hagar: I liked that exercise. I liked that it was one arm at a time, and I was thinking about how for my clients that need some things to just continue bringing the focus back, doing one side at a time is that invitation to like, oh, I gotta switch.

Oh. What side are we on? Ah, and it's kind of that guide to just continue to come back again and again and again. Because as long as we're coming back, we're doing it right.

Chris McDonald: We're doing it right. Yeah. So maybe that can help the inner critic as well, but also helping with focus. Right. Because we gotta really, okay, which arm am I doing?

Where's it going? And now I gotta switch. Yeah. So that might be something to consider with the

One side at a time in some different ways too. So this is great. Thank you. Yeah. So any other questions about this topic? I'm just really excited to go

Chris McDonald: try some of the

Kimberleigh Hagar: things this week.

Chris McDonald: It's Monday. I've got a whole week to try this now. I know. I get so excited with these practices. I love sharing them. But thank you so much for coming on this coaching episode today, Kimberly, thank you for taking the time.

I appreciate you. And where can

Kimberleigh Hagar: listeners find you if they wanna reach out to you? I am@mindfullybalancedtherapy.com, or you can find me on Instagram at Mindfully Balanced Therapy. Sounds good, and thank you

I hope it sparks some new ideas of how you can creatively and compassionately adapt your yoga based work with clients with A DHD or other neurodiverse needs. Just remember this. There's no one size fits all approach. Just small, intentional shifts that can make a big difference in helping clients connect to their bodies and minds in a way that feels safe and supportive.

If today's episode sparked ideas or questions about how to ethically and effectively bring yoga into your clinical work, I invite you to take the next step and book a yoga integration consultation with me to get the individualized support you're looking for. Whether you're just starting out with yoga or refining your approach, or maybe you wanna bring in a case study, we can tailor a plan that works just for you, your clients, and to help you find more ways to bring yoga into your therapy room, learn more at HC podcast.org/yoga consultation.

It's given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, or the guests are giving legal, medical, psychological, or any other kind of professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. Yoga is not recommended for.

Everyone and is not safe under certain medical conditions. Always check with your doctor to see if it's safe for you. If you need a professional, please find the right one for you.