What Is Therapeutic Yoga? Principles, Practice and Limits

What Therapeutic Yoga is, and how it differs from a class and from therapy

In the course manual, Carla Gonçalves defines Therapeutic Yoga as the adapted, conscious and intentional application of the principles of yoga, with the aim of supporting the physical, emotional and mental health of each practitioner, in an individualised way. It respects the yoga tradition and integrates contemporary knowledge of anatomy, physiology, psychology and neuroscience. Its guiding thread reverses the usual logic of a class: it is not the practitioner who adapts to yoga, it is yoga that adapts to the practitioner.

Compared with a general class, the purpose changes, and everything else follows from that. Traditional yoga is oriented towards spiritual growth and addresses a general public. Therapeutic Yoga responds to specific physical, emotional or mental needs, with a functional and careful eye. Its common areas of intervention include chronic pain, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, anxiety, depression, trauma, insomnia, post-surgical recovery, persistent fatigue and burnout.

It is also not clinical therapy. It works alongside conventional medicine and the professionals who follow the person, never in their place.

Main objective. Health promotion, symptom relief and support for overall wellbeing, rather than spiritual growth for a general public.

Format. Individual sessions or small therapeutic groups instead of a standard group sequence.

Props and pace. Props are essential for support, comfort and safety, and the pace is slow, with pauses for integration and listening.

Language and relationship. Functional, accessible language and an individual, collaborative relationship with the student.

The five principles of adapted practice

To adapt is not merely to modify postures. The manual describes it as listening attentively, feeling with empathy and teaching with clarity. Five principles structure the approach, and they guide the teacher as much as the practice.

Adaptation starts before anyone moves. The intake form gathers health history, habits, goals and informed consent, and everything written on it is confidential. The initial assessment is functional and relational, not clinical: an interview with active listening, a brief observation of the body at rest and in movement, and the student’s own record of pain, fatigue and anxiety. The person’s state is then checked again in every session, because what is possible today may not be possible tomorrow.

Individualisation. Every student has a body, history, condition and pace of their own, and the practice is shaped to that reality.

Progression and safety. Begin with what is safe and comfortable, and move forward only when the body gives clear signs of being ready.

Active listening and presence. The teacher listens to what is said and to what is not: the body, the breath, the facial expression, the silence.

Function-led practice. The question is not what a posture looks like, but whether it relieves, stabilises or calms.

Integration of several elements. Adapted movement, therapeutic breathing, mindfulness and deep relaxation are combined according to each person’s objective.

The teacher’s ethical limits and working with health professionals

The Therapeutic Yoga teacher is a facilitator of integrative practices, not a clinical therapist. They do not replace the doctor, the psychologist or the physiotherapist. Recognising those limits is not a weakness: the manual treats it as a sign of professional maturity (IAYT, 2020; Yoga Alliance, 2020).

In practice, this means never interfering with medical treatment or prescribed medication, never promising a cure or miraculous results, and never using yoga as a substitute for psychological or psychiatric support. It also means recognising when you do not know.

Whenever possible, the teacher builds bridges with doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists and other therapists, so that care is complementary and person-centred. Safety belongs to ethics too. Students know they may stop at any moment without giving a reason, warning signs mean the practice stops, and some situations rule out physical practice until there is clinical stability.

Do not diagnose. No diagnosing conditions, interpreting test results or proposing medical solutions.

Confidentiality. Everything the student shares about body, health, emotions or history is treated with absolute discretion.

Informed consent. Any adaptation, suggestion or touch is explained first and only happens with clear agreement.

Responsible referral. Faced with doubt or a warning sign, the teacher refers to a health professional. It is not a failure: it is care.

What the research shows, and what it does not

The manual is clear that the evidence on yoga in health settings is uneven. For chronic non-specific low back pain, yoga is now one of the non-pharmacological options recommended by clinical guidelines, with moderate effects on pain and function (Qaseem et al., 2017; NICE, 2020; Wieland et al., 2022). For osteoarthritis, exercise is the central recommendation of the guidelines, and yoga has shown benefits for pain and function (Kolasinski et al., 2020; Lauche et al., 2019).

For anxiety and depression, systematic reviews point to effects, but the studies are still small and heterogeneous (Cramer et al., 2018; Cramer et al., 2013c; Pascoe et al., 2017). For fibromyalgia and trauma, the evidence is promising and still limited. The clinical guidelines cited are the framework within which the teacher works, not instructions for the teacher to apply.

Safety. Adverse effects of yoga are rare and, for the most part, avoidable with adaptation (Cramer et al., 2015; Cramer et al., 2013a).

A useful caution. Relaxation can increase anxiety in some people (Heide & Borkovec, 1983), which is why technique choice matters.

What you learn in the course

This article explains what Therapeutic Yoga is. Applying it safely is a skill, and that is what the training teaches across five units, with video lessons, practice classes and assessment of your own teaching.

Assessing the person. Using the intake form and the three stages of functional assessment to understand each student as a whole.

Functional anatomy and safety. Reading compensations, and knowing the warning signs and the absolute and relative contraindications by category.

Adapting to physical conditions. Spine, joints, respiratory, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and when to avoid, modify or replace a posture.

Mental health and regulation. Stress, burnout, anxiety, depression and trauma, including why what calms an anxious person may deepen the collapse of a depressed one.

Breathing and restorative tools. Breathing techniques, meditation, yoga nidra and restorative postures, with their effects on the nervous system. Our guide to Restorative Yoga offers a wider introduction.

Building individual practices. Turning an assessment into a clear, balanced personalised plan, using an individual plan template for follow-up.

Three simulated cases. Ana, with a lumbar disc herniation and mild anxiety; Carlos, with knee osteoarthritis and early high blood pressure; Sofia, with generalised anxiety and insomnia. Each has its own practice class, Carlos’s drawn from the Chair Yoga Teacher Training.

Course format, assessment and certificate

The Therapeutic Yoga Teacher Training is an online, self-paced course of 20 hours, in English. It is taught in Carla’s own voice, translated with AI and reviewed by the BeYoga team. You can read more about BeYoga School and Carla Gonçalves, or see all our online courses in English.

Content. Thirty-nine video lessons, sixteen practice classes, three simulated cases each with its own practice, an interactive manual and a 75-page PDF workbook.

Assessment. A test at the end of each unit, a 50-question final exam and a 30-minute class of your own, recorded on video and assessed by Carla.

Certificate. 20 hours of Yoga Alliance continuing education, issued by a YACEP.

Price and access. 350 euros, with 4 months of access.