248 What They Don’t Tell You About Integrating Yoga Into Therapy: Episode By Chris McDonald

Aug 13, 2025

In this episode, we discuss the practicalities and challenges of incorporating yoga into clinical therapy sessions. I share personal insights and lessons learned, focusing on ethical gray zones, overcoming imposter syndrome, and the importance of intentional practice. We address common fears and misconceptions, offer practical advice on documentation and informed consent, and emphasize the transformative impact of yoga on both therapists and clients. 

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Transcript

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Chris McDonald: [:

This is the stuff most trainings don't cover, but every therapist needs to hear. Tune in for a grounded, honest look at what it really takes to bridge yoga and therapy and the unexpected results that can happen. So pull up your yoga mat. Get comfy, and join me on today's episode of Yoga in the Therapy Room Podcast.

like you with the knowledge [:

Safely and ethically. 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.

Hello and welcome to the Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast, the non-traditional therapist guide. Integrating yoga into your therapy practice. I'm your host, Chris McDonald, licensed therapist and a yogi. We are in the summer months here in North Carolina and went outside this morning and was able to do some gardening and it was in the sixties.

. So these are some tips and [:

To that imposter syndrome. We're gonna dive into that too, and that can happen no matter how much yoga training you have or how much experience you have teaching yoga, it's a different beast, isn't it? To bring yoga in the therapy room as a therapist. It's not the same thing as teaching a yoga. Class and I think we're, we have to make that clarity and distinction and I'll also give some of the positive benefits no one talks about about integrating yoga into therapy that you might not have thought of either.

So if you've ever second guessed yourself. You are not alone about bringing yoga in your therapy room. If you're craving that real talk, real dialogue about the messy middle of integrating yoga into sessions, you're in the right place. Let's get to it. I have a lot to get through today for this as a solo episode, by the way.

So I [:

It's not about doing more with yoga in the therapy room. It's about doing it with intention. There is a difference. So I think that really is something that has to land with you, because I was always like, oh my gosh, I'm not doing this right. I'm not doing enough. What else do I need to bring in? I don't know enough.

apy room. We are integrating [:

We need to do everything different with this. We don't need informed consent. We can just jump right in. But as an integrative part, we wanna make it part of the session and just know that. Less is more when we bring yoga in the therapy room. Simplicity is so powerful is what I found. Over the years. I've tried to move away from always feeling like I have to do a yoga flow with a client to what is one thing that could help the client the most in this moment.

practices, fully embody it, [:

Oh, and something comes up. Maybe they need to do a chest opener 'cause they're having a lot of heaviness, sunken this in their chest and you see them hunched up, shoulders up, chin down, looking down. Maybe we need to open up space. Right? And I don't know, always know where, where intuition comes from. A lot of theories on that.

Is it divine related? Is it our internal wisdom or is it both? I don't think it matters. But can you start to trust that? 'cause a lot of times we get stuck in our heads overthinking. Well, I don't know. Does this make sense? What will the client say? Trust. Trust yourself. Trust the intuition. Another question to ask yourself.

practices that make the most [:

Some days maybe they wanna work on that past trauma, other days maybe it's something else and that's okay. So we allow the client to lead depending of course, on your theoretical orientation. I know I'm always more person-centered at my foundation and try to go with what the client is bringing. Of course, until you get a client who's like, I don't know, what are we gonna talk about today?

I hear a lot my supervisees talk about this. So that can be challenging too. That's a whole other skill set, isn't it? Um, sometimes we can just allow that silence, intro, introspection, reflectiveness, I think can be part that's, that could be a yoga practice right there. So again, don't overthink this.

, part of my notes, I put in [:

Let's reflect back on that. There's something I wanted to ask you, right? So we can bring, I think that carry over from the prior session can be helpful. What landed you. With you from the last session. Is there a yoga practice that would be beneficial for you today? So we can bring it in that way as well.

Lots of different ways and simplifying, creating a bridge from one session to the next can also be beneficial. That's my supervisor hat for you today. So that's the first. The first thing I want to bring to you today is it's not about doing more, it's about doing it with intention. That brings us to number two.

pists and especially type A, [:

And that's what where the struggle comes in, I think. People get very anxious not having those clear, explicit guidelines, but they just aren't out there. They aren't available. Our boards make, make a lot of our rec. The recommendations are not clear either, so a lot of confusion can come up. I think we have to get to that place of radical acceptance, that DBT skill, that ethics aren't always clear.

There are a lot of gray areas and the longer you're in this field, the longer you realize, well, shit, there's a lot we don't know and we never know what's coming with some of these ethical areas. And when we think about bringing yoga in the therapy room, some of the areas that we have to navigate is touch.

o me, it's one of those gray [:

But for me, I just choose not to go in that direction. I know with energy healing, sometimes reiki that can touch, can be part of it with hands, like on the head or shoulders or feet, but we wanna make sure that we're doing it the right way if we do bring touch in. So there can be the uncertainty about.

When to use touch? When is it therapeutically? Okay. How to do it. Navigating that. The cultural too, that some cultures that may be frowned upon, some it may be more invited in. So we need to know our clients and what feels right for them. And yoga adjustments. I don't always think that's necessary with yoga in the therapy room.

doing it from a perspective [:

And as long as they're not hurting themselves, I'm gonna cue them in a certain way. But if there's of course injury, I'll say, Hey, you might wanna move your arm a little bit this way if you have shoulder issues or whatever it might be. I just did cactus pose. For those that can't see me, sometimes I forget.

This is mostly an audio podcast other than social media. So also inform consent. There can be gray areas, it's not so clear cut. How do you clearly explain? The role of yoga practices within therapy sessions. That needs to be really clear, crystal clear in your informed consent with new clients discussion, not just the written, not for them, just to, I know most don't read, not just to give 'em the document here, sign so they understand the benefits and risks, and to really dive into what that means.

informed consent if you have [:

No, it doesn't work that way. We must get informed consent. Each and every time we wanna bring yoga in the therapy room and making sure it is aligning with their treatment goals, with your theoretical orientations. So we wanna cover ourselves legally, ethically, as clinicians, so important with this work.

So it does add another. Layer than some other modalities and alternative and complimentary practices. So keep that in mind and that's why it's not so clear cut and documentation. So how do you record this in your notes? What do you say? And a lot of these ethical guidelines are hard to navigate on your own, which is one reason I created my Yoga Basics course, which is.

[:

It's important to get trained in that to really. Make sure you're walking the, the straight line with that and not going off the rails where you could get yourself in trouble and put yourself and your licensure at risk. Protect yourself and your clients as well. So we can do this safely if you are not.

Sure. If something comes up that seems like brings that pit in your stomach, like, Ooh, I'm not sure where to go with this. Maybe a client has brought up a situation where they have some cultural concerns with yoga. Maybe it's not for them, number one, but if they still wanna do it, but they have questions.

rvision. Do what you need to [:

And also making sure to have the liability waiver. People forget about that. I think it was not talked about enough in my trainings. It did. They did kind of be like, oh yeah, get one. That's what it felt like. So that's important too, to have that. Legally to cover yourself and to hire a lawyer. I know it's super duper expensive.

I have been there. I have paid thousands and thousands of dollars, but I did have them look over all my yoga paperwork, all my informed consent, my all my documentation that I give to new clients. So that is straight on of what I need and my liability waiver too. That is worth the investment and peace of mind.

'cause I do talk to a [:

Hey, therapist, do you have a client who gets stuck in their head and struggle to drop into their body? Are you recognizing the limits? Of talk therapy, but are unaware about the how and when to bring body-based practices in the therapy sessions. My trauma-informed yoga basics course for therapists is ready and available.

It is a digital version that is self-paced and designed just for clinicians like you. No yoga training or experience is required. It's packed with practical tools to help you safely integrate yoga into your sessions. You'll gain trauma-informed practices rooted in neuroscience and polyvagal theory, practical tools to bring into sessions.

oga practices. Enroll by May [:

Head to yoga in the therapy room.com/yoga-basics. That's yoga in the therapy room.com/yoga. Another thing that they don't tell you about integrating yoga into your therapy sessions is you might feel like an imposter. Even if you have yoga training, maybe you even have some experience teaching yoga classes in the community.

a big one for me. What if I [:

I think these are very common, so let's normalize that. Let's call it, it's normal to have that internal critic, that voice, Ooh, not good enough. They show up for all of us. And just remember, of course, when we do something new, it can be triggering. It can trigger up old wounds when we weren't successful at something or maybe had a critical parent.

So you do have to do your own internal work on this. I'm gonna confess my biggest internal voice that held me back for a long time, even after doing this for years, even after getting my 200 hours. It's finally been recently, the past six months that I've been able to come to a better place with this as I do my own therapy and brain spotting, comparing myself to others in the yoga field.

[:

Ariel Schwartz's. Retreat where she did some yoga and she is just phenomenal. If you haven't checked her out, check out her episode here in the Yoga and Therapy Room podcast. But I did find that it kind of brought me down energetically, emotionally, and I remember having this profound. Awakening at that retreat, and I was, I won't go too far into that, but I will say this, that my spirit guides brought me to the place of a reminder, and I heard this external voice saying, her light is not your light.

s. It's not the same. We all [:

Your light. Is your light. It's not mine. It's not someone else's. You bring a different perspective, different life experience, different trainings combined together in your life experience to bring a beautiful yoga practice that only you can do. So own that. If the comparison game is coming up for you, that's okay.

Recognizing it. But do the internal work with past wounds. Do some deeper work with Brainspotting, EMDR. And it will help you to move through that. And I will say this, they also don't tell you about integrating yoga into therapy. That when you first start, it feels so clunky. It feels not real. Like what am I doing as I'm reading a script?

now the cues yet. This feels [:

It's like, Ooh, uh oh. And of course it always has worked out and people are very supportive and wanna, you know, be there for you and give you good feedback and positive stuff too. I think that's not something that is talked about enough of the anxiety of the awkwardness. It feels uncomfortable and just know if you're, if you're in that place, to normalize that for yourself.

me, that sounds weird, like [:

I don't have to sit and think like. Wait, how do I sequence a class or a yoga practice flow? It just comes with me. An example recently is asymmetry and symmetry. When we teach and sequence, if we do one side, we do the other, and I got that. I sort of got symmetry for a while, but I feel like in the past year it's really just become much easier.

Oh, this would, this forward fold would go here after two side stretches, and I don't have to really think about it, if that makes sense. I'm able to just that, develop that inner knowing, I guess. It takes a long time, so just know that your light is different from someone else's. And another quote, I always like quotes like that to kind of.

ng about coming back to that [:

It's just a another addition to the skills we already have with integrating yoga in the therapy room. So keep that in mind. We are awesome at our verbal skills. We can learn the q, you can do this. So just know that. And one thing that I've learned that I try to remind myself when that critical voice comes up that I'm not, not enough, not good enough.

I'm comparing to someone, don't compare your chapter one with someone's chapter 20, meaning they have 30 years experience. How long you been doing this? How many trainings? How many classes have you taught? How many clients? So they're, it's not fair to you. As you're starting to say, oh my God, everybody's so much better than me.

I don't know what I'm doing. [:

And you take feedback and implement it. The more you can consult with other people who are doing this, the more it's gonna help you to grow. And of course, growth is uncomfortable. I know feedback can be hard, it can be challenging, but that's the only way we can grow. The more you do this, the easier it becomes.

And the more you use it with different types of clients, those beginners versus experience, those with different sized bodies, abilities, disabilities, the more it's going to come easier overall. Here's some affirmations that may, might help you Also, if you have that imposter syndrome, I am enough just as I am and my presence supports healing.

I [:

The when and how to integrate yoga into sessions. So maybe integrating those affirmations or creating some of your own can help with some of that imposter syndrome. Number four of what they don't tell you about integrating yoga into therapy. To me this, let's rewind. Let's back up the bus. This is the most important.

first step Your own personal [:

If you're not doing the internal work as a therapist overall, that can come out in your sessions. We all need to be working on ourselves. We don't have to be perfect. Not nobody is, but that nervous system attunement can be amplified. If you're doing yoga practices regularly, and for me, I think the addition of course is doing our own therapy work.

ed all the time, clients are [:

So we need to do our best to open our own window of tolerance so we can be less reactive to stresses that come our way. And be able to model that for our clients. And the more you do yoga practice outside of session, the easier it is to, in my opinion, to learn yoga practices, to bring into sessions and of course to share those.

'cause you know what they feel like in your body. It becomes. More attuned intuition comes through much easier, I think, and just know you don't have to have it all together. And there may be seasons in your life that are more challenging, that's okay, but staying connected to your yoga practice makes all the difference in the world.

in a better space to accept [:

And it can't be just once a week, in my opinion. It has to be a daily practice, even if it's five minutes. That consistency builds, builds that foundation in yourself to be able to give from that well to others. So the next one, what they don't tell you about integrating yoga into therapy, you'll repeat yourself and the same practices a lot.

s comfort of knowing what to [:

When I first started this. I remember trying to keep track. Okay. I brought in these three practices with client A, so I can't bring those in again. So I was, I don't know what I was doing in my brain, but it's okay. Right? Sometimes I find clients, it's almost like their shoulders up. They know what to expect.

They don't want something new, all. Time. Time, we can bring back the oldies bug goodies that we get started with them and do it often, and then they can practice at home for homework. That's the beautiful part of this. The magic isn't in the variety always. It can be in the knowing I know how to do this right, this side stretch or forward fold.

eneral thing that you say to [:

So at quarter of, that's when we're gonna do a yoga practice that's opening up space. That's an invitation using invitational language that that's an option for them. They can always decline, but it is an option. So that they can be more regulated, be able to get into that parasympathetic space so they're in a better space to leave your session as well.

The last point I wanted to make of what they don't tell you about integrating yoga into therapy is you'll notice the positive impact to both personally and professionally. This is the key part of what. Why it's important to bring it into your therapy room and how it can help you. We get the dual benefit to me, any day I get to bring yoga in the therapy room is a fantastic day.

ngs in. But when I'm able to [:

It makes this, this works so rewarding. And I think that you'll know that as well, and it also helps to give you energy. I do see a lot of Facebook groups for therapists where people are like, oh, I can only see so many clients per day, and I'm so exhausted all the time. How do y'all do this? It's too hard.

I think if more people brought in yoga practices, you'll notice a shift in your energy. It's a different way. To do therapy with clients and we have those mirror neurons too. I don't know if that's part of the energy or is it just getting up and moving, or even if we do chair yoga, we're still moving.

the shift of energy when you [:

I also do outside of sessions, sometimes I'll just go do a forward fold after a session, a back bend. Just try to get my spine moving in different ways. Maybe a downward dog helps me stay connected to myself. Release the energy of the session, helps us build that inner resilience for ourselves and our clients.

h it and see if they're open [:

And usually they'll be like, wow, that was what I needed today. Right. And maybe that can, that feedback can also help you to trust yourself, to trust the intuition. And that wraps up this episode. I'm just gonna review for you the six points of what they don't tell you about integrating yoga into therapy.

I hope this was helpful for you. First one is. It's not about doing more, it's about doing what it with intention. The next one was, ethics aren't always clear cut. There are gray areas. The third one, you might feel like an imposter even with training. The fourth one, your own practice will make or break you your own yoga practice.

s wanting to bring yoga into [:

This course is designed for beginners who wanna integrate yoga ethically, safely, and with confidence. Without guessing what's appropriate or feeling overwhelmed by all the options. You'll learn the foundational practices, clinical applications, as well as getting templates for your informed consent and liability waiver, and exactly how to start E, if you've never done it before, head on over to my website, yoga in the Therapy room.com/.

Yoga basics. That's yoga in the therapy room.com/yoga-basics today. And once again, this is Chris McDonald sending each one of you much light and love. Till next time, take care. Thanks for listening to today's episode. The information in this podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only.

publisher, or the guests are [:

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