14/05/2026
One thing I often explore with clients in yoga therapy is how healing and growth happen in layers.
So often, when stress, discomfort, overwhelm or challenge arise, our first instinct is avoidance. We distract ourselves, minimise what we’re feeling, push it aside, or convince ourselves that if we ignore it long enough, it may disappear. In many ways, denial is often the very first stage of stress.
But what I’ve witnessed time and time again — both personally and through working with clients — is that avoiding the issue often supports the issue in growing. The more we resist looking at something, the more power it can begin to hold over us.
Yoga teaches us something very different.
Rather than encouraging aversion or disconnection, yoga gently invites us back into ourselves. Back into the body. Back into awareness. Back into presence.
Sometimes this process begins simply by showing up to class.
After a yoga class, many people notice they can reintroduce themselves to what they’ve been avoiding with a little more clarity, steadiness and softness. The nervous system settles. The mind quietens. What once felt impossible to face can begin to feel manageable.
This doesn’t mean forcing ourselves into discomfort or pretending life isn’t hard. It means learning how to lean into life’s challenges with support, patience and compassion rather than resistance.
Stress can arrive acutely and unexpectedly, shifting the ground beneath us. But supporting denial rarely creates lasting change or growth. True transformation usually begins the moment we are willing to acknowledge what is there.
Yoga therapy is not about “fixing” you. It’s about creating space to gently move through the layers, allowing the body and mind to process what they need to, in their own time.
If this resonates with you, perhaps your practice right now is not about avoiding what feels difficult — but learning how to meet it differently.
🤎
