At first glance, it may seem that talking to a therapist about the deepest parts of your psyche couldn’t be more different to busting out a downward dog or sun salutation, but from my combined experience of being a clinical psychologist and yoga practitioner/student, I have noticed there could be more similarities between therapy and yoga than differences. I would even go so far as to suggest they are working towards the same goal.
Yoga was first recorded several thousand years ago, whereas the first coinage of the word ‘psychotherapy’ was comparatively recent in the late 1800s. From an outside perspective, Yoga seems to focus on moving between physical poses, whereas psychotherapy is more concerned with talking and changing an individual’s beliefs and behaviour. So in essence, we’re saying Yoga is for the body, therapy is for the mind. Right?
But when we explore these two practices in more depth, it starts to become apparent that there is a great deal of overlap, and perhaps there are some concepts that are actually shared, the only difference being the language used to describe them. In this post, I will share with you just four of these concepts from both perspectives.
‘Self as Context’ and ‘the (Higher) Self’
There are a great number of different models used to inform the work of therapists. You’ve possibly heard of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) as this is probably the most rigorously researched and is widely available. Since the emergence of CBT, a group of therapies called ‘third-wave’ have developed from the core concepts of CBT, each with a slightly different approach. One of these is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT has six central elements, which a therapist and client work through to support someone to make changes to their life (commitment) and to accept the things that they can’t control or change(acceptance).
One of these six elements if ‘Self as Context’ (SAC). In a nutshell, SAC is also known as the ‘witnessing self’. Here is a metaphor — Torch in the Dark — used by ACT therapists to help you understand. If you prefer you can watch the video of Russ Harris (the founder of ACT) explaining the concept.
Imagine you’re in your attic. It’s very dark and you’re surrounded by various pieces of furniture and objects. These objects represent your thoughts, memories and feelings. You have a torch in your hand and you start to shine it around you. The beam of light illuminating each object in turn is like a mindful, conscious awareness, highlighting one thing at a time. Although the object under illumination changes, the source of the beam of light always remains the same (the torch). The torch represents the witnessing or observing self. The concept to grasp here (and don't worry if you’re struggling) is that you are not your thoughts, emotions or memories. You are the torch. This is the self. The self is unchanging, no matter how old you are or what situation you are in. The thoughts, feelings and memories are illuminated at different times, which brings them into focus, but what you are remains unchanged.
If you dive into a little Yoga philosophy, you’ll come across the concept of the Self (with a capital ‘S’). The Self is the authentic, divine you. It is who you are if you were to shed all the societal conditioning you have been exposed to. It is unchanging. You may hear Hindus or Yogis describe this as Atma or Atman. It can also be translated to spirit or soul. Your true essence. It is what you really are. You are not your body — this is just a vessel for living in the world. Yogis understood that you are not your thoughts, feelings or memories — these are things that your Self experiences, or ‘shines a light on’, to return to the torch metaphor.
Isvara Prandihana in Sanskrit essentially means to surrender yourself to God, although in this context God can mean your higher Self or essence. In practise, this means to surrender or let go of the idea of who you are. We believe we our identity is our name, our job, the car we drive, our abilities, our problems — but really these are layers of identies we have collected as we move through life. We are beyond that, we are the source.
Developing this understanding is integral in therapy; it is essentially what therapy is — an examination of yourself, and with this greater understanding then comes the capacity to change. Yoga philosophy has a word that describes this process too — Svadhyaya — study of the Self, which is critical to the Yogic journey. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, he describes this as such,
“Study thy self, discover the divine”
- Sutra II.44
Both Yoga philosophy and this relatively new psychological model, though devised thousands of years apart, seem to be explaining the same concept. And the beauty of this realisation, whether it is made through Yoga or therapy, is that it moves you towards liberation and freedom from the difficulties in your life.
‘Breathing Exercises’ and ‘Pranayama’
Ancient Yogis understood the power of the breath a very long time ago. They knew it had the power to alter the state of the body and the mind. ‘Pranayama’ translates to ‘breath control’, although it means much more than this, as ‘prana’ actually means ‘energy’ or ‘vital life force’. They weren’t wrong — we certainly wouldn’t be alive without the breath, and science has told us an awful lot about how our breath affects both our physiology and psychology. In Chinese medicine, Prana is called ‘Chi’ or ‘Qi’. You may have heard of Tai Chi or Qi Gong — movement based practices which alter the flow of energy in the body and mind.
In Yoga practice, it is thought to be a prelude to deeper meditation and ultimately, enlightenment. There is a vast libraryof pranayama to be found in yogic texts, each altering the length of inhalation, retention and exhalation at different rates, with the desired purpose of either soothing, focusing or invigorating.
Breathing strategies are also a central component of many psychotherapies — particularly in CBT. Breathing, relaxation and making changes to how you act make up the ‘B’ of CBT. Variations include square breathing (inhaling, holding, exhaling and holding for 4 seconds each), 4–7–8 breathing and diaphragmatic breathing.
Now we have the science to back up what the yogis knew all along. When we inhale, we activate our sympathetic nervous system and our heart rate increases. When we exhale, it’s our parasympathetic nervous system that’s engaged and our heart rate decreases. This continuous variability is what keeps us healthy and able to tolerate stress. So breathing practices with shorter inhales and longer exhales will have the overall effect of slowing our heart rate and calming both body and mind.
‘Mindfulness’ and ‘Dharana’
If you walk into Waterstones or another large chain book shop, you’re likely to come across a whole wall on mindfulness. Mindfulness has its origins in Buddhist philosophy, but has really come into the mainstream in the last few decades. Jon Kabat-Zinn is credited with bringing mindfulness into the modern era. He describes mindfulness in a simple and yet elegant way,
“the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally”.
In practise, this means focusing the mind on a particular object (e.g. a flickering candle), sensory experience (e.g. sounds or the sensations in the body) or the rhythm of breath, in the present, without judging whether it is right or wrong, good or bad.
Mindfulness differs from relaxation in that the intention is not to relax — although this is often a pleasant outcome. The intention is to simply notice. This art of noticing involves skill, first applied to specific objects or experiences in guided mindfulness practises, which over time transfers to greater awareness and noticing in daily living by spending more time in the present moment.
In yogic texts, Dharana is described as concentration of the mind on a single point of focus. Dharana is one of the first stages to lead towards deeper meditation. At this point, the consciousness is aware that the mind is focused in meditation, whereas in deeper states of meditation the consciousness and meditation are one.
It seems that the yogis caught on to this knowledge about the importance of being fully aware to the present moment long before us Westerners purchased The Little Book of Mindfulness! BKS Iyengar (one of the most well-known and influential Yoga teachers of the modern world) described this simply in his book Light on Life (an incredible and accessible read if you’re interested),
When the intellect is stable, there is no past, no future, only present. Do not live in the future; only the present is real.
‘Relaxation’ and ‘Savasana’
Much like breathing strategies, different forms of applied relaxation have been developed in modern psychotherapy. The basic model of CBT describes our feelings, thoughts, behaviours and physiological sensations as linked and directly affected by each other. By practising exercises — such as progressive muscle relaxation — we can again activate the parasympathetic nervous system, slow down the heart rate, release tension in the body and thus start to calm the mind.
To me, this sounds exceptionally similar to Savasana — a practise of lying on your back in Corpse Pose at the end of a Yoga practise. Savasana is described as the ‘final resting pose’. Typically in a Yoga class, Savasana can last from a couple of minutes to 20 or more. Savasana is the pose assumed in Yoga Nidra — a form of Yoga meditation whereby the student brings awareness to each part of the body in turn, withdrawing the senses inwards (Pratyahara) and consciously relaxing each part while remaining motionless. The Yogis knew that physical activity and genuine restorative relaxation were in equal parts important to maintain a healthy body, mind and spirit.
So, what do I make of all this?
Firstly, I have a feeling that the ancient Yogis were incredibly insightful, intelligent and self-aware. Evidently, they knew an awful lot about physiology, philosophy and psychology, which is incredible, as they did not have the scientific understanding we have now to help us understand the mechanisms by which relaxation or pranayama work.
Secondly, the concepts in modern psychotherapy aren’t really modern at all! Most of them have been documented in age-old texts, if we are simply willing to read them and understand them for what they are. In a way, I find this comforting, as it suggests that as a species, humans haven’t really changed much at all in the last couple of thousand years, and the tried and tested methods of healing and wellness from the past are still just as applicable today.
Finally, Yoga isn’t for the body, nor therapy for the brain. Both work with mind, body and soul/spirit/Self. What I take from this is that perhaps mind and body are not distinct systems; they are in unity — the very meaning of the word Yoga.
Don’t forget you can find me on Twitter and Instagram and I have a free Facebook Community you can join for more mindfulness, yoga philosophy teachings and updates on all upcoming offerings. Or if you’d prefer, you can join my Mailing List to get access to exclusive free resources.