What Is Yoga Psychology and How Can Somatic Therapy Support Healing?

When we’re anxious, overwhelmed, or stuck in patterns we can’t explain, we often look for answers in the mind. But what if your body was holding the story?

The tension in your shoulders. The shortness of breath. The fatigue that appears when you finally slow down. These aren’t just physical, they’re messages.

This is where psycho-somatic therapy and yoga psychology meet. One helps you reconnect with the body; the other gives you a framework for healing that is grounded, compassionate, and whole.

What Is Yoga Psychology?

Yoga psychology is the meeting place of modern psychology and ancient yogic wisdom. It sees you not just as a mind that thinks, but as a body that feels, a heart that longs, and a nervous system that remembers.

This approach honors four essential dimensions of self:

  • Body (soma) – your lived, physical experience

  • Breath (prana) – your energetic flow and emotional regulation

  • Mind (citta) – your thoughts, patterns, and stories

  • Spirit (purusha) – your deeper self, unchanging and whole

Rather than pathologizing your experience, yoga psychology invites you to meet yourself with presence. With tools like breathwork, mindful movement, and self-study, it becomes a map toward regulation and reconnection. Studies have shown that yogic practices can reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD and thus overall quality of life

Explore practices like these in Self-Practice.

What Is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy is a body-based approach to healing trauma, anxiety, and chronic stress. It’s not about talking at the body, it’s about listening to it.

In sessions, you might notice sensations, slow down movements, or track your breath and posture. This work allows the nervous system to complete protective responses (like fight, flight, or freeze) that were never fully resolved. Research has explored how trauma affects the brain and body, showing that bottom-up approaches like somatic therapy can support long-term healing.

Over time, the body can release what it’s held, and re-learn what safety feels like.

Somatic therapy is especially helpful when talk therapy hasn’t reached the root. It works with what words often can’t touch. If you're looking for 1:1 sessions with The Yoga Psychologist, click here

Why Combine Somatic Therapy with Yoga Psychology?

These two paths speak the same language, one of presence, safety, and integration.

While somatic therapy helps release what’s stuck in the body, yoga psychology gives you the practices and philosophy to stay grounded in that process. Together, they support:

You don’t have to choose between psychological insight and embodied wisdom. You get to have both. If you are a professional working in the field of either yoga or psychology, or a related healing profession and want to learn my framework and methodology for how to unite mind and body in your client work, join the Integrate Course.

A Simple Practice for Right Now

Try this if you’re feeling scattered, anxious, or disconnected:

  1. Sit or stand with both feet firmly on the ground.

  2. Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly.

  3. Inhale through your nose slowly for the count of 4, then exhale gently through your mouth for the count of 6.

  4. Notice: Where is there tension? Where is there space?

  5. Stay here for three breaths, gently bringing awareness to the sensation, naming what you feel, and offering self-validation to the feeling without judgment.

This is yoga psychology in practice. This is somatic healing in motion. You can access more practices like this through our FREE Embodied Coaching resources.

Begin With Us

At House of Yoga Psychology, we believe your body is not a problem to fix, it’s a place to come home to.

Whether you're someone seeking support for self-healing or a practitioner working in the wellness space, you’re welcome here. You can start by joining the monthly Yoga Psychology classes, exploring the 5 day Kosha journey in self-practice or booking a FREE consultation call (15 mins) to explore options of 1:1 work, in therapy or mentoring.

This is your invitation to heal, not just from the mind, but through your whole self.

Welcome home.

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