Yoga Therapy

A Happier, Healthier You

Inner Peace CT yoga provides a compassionate approach to practice that utilizes asana, breathing techniques, and meditation to explore patterns of thinking and their beliefs, feelings, and behavior. With a strong focus on mindfulness and a non-judgmental approach to practice, each class incorporates movement, breath, and positive affirmations that support one’s ability to remain present and aware of the moment-to-moment experience of being alive.

With each practice, one’s consciousness strengthens and listening to one’s intuition becomes more natural, empowering the individual to make choices that support emotional well-being and equanimity. We have a beautiful new yoga space in which we create a safe and sacred atmosphere for the multiple clinical yoga series and meditation sessions we currently offer.

There is a growing body of research documenting the psychological benefits of yoga. Visit our research page to learn how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and clinical yoga practices may reduce anxiety and depression, change brain chemistry, and impact the autonomic nervous system.

Get in Touch Today!

The
Psychological Benefits
of Yoga

Several recent studies have shown great success with the inclusion of yoga and meditation practices among therapeutic modalities utilized to strengthen social connections, decrease symptoms of post-traumatic stress, support pain management, and reduce sleep disorders.

In light of these numbers, yoga remains a natural and readily available approach to maintaining wellness and treating mental health issues, says Sat Bir Khalsa, PhD, a neuroscientist and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who studies yoga’s effects on depression and insomnia. Khalsa, who has practiced yoga for more than 35 years, says several studies in his 2004 comprehensive review of yoga’s use as a therapeutic intervention, published in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (Vol. 48, No. 3), show that yoga targets -unmanaged stress, a main component of chronic disorders such as anxiety, depression, obesity, diabetes and insomnia.

It does this, he says, by reducing the stress response, which includes the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The practice enhances resilience and improves mind-body awareness, which can help people adjust their behaviors based on the feelings they’re experiencing in their bodies, according to Khalsa. Studies have shown that the levels of cortisol (a major stress hormone) in the body are significantly lowered after the practice of yoga. In addition, studies have found that yoga raises levels of serotonin, the “feel good” hormone.