Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is a highly effective modality in the area of stress management. It is a body-mind therapy that engages the individual in body, mind, feelings, and spirit.

Michael Lee, who developed the modality in the mid-eighties, drew from his own personal experiences with his yoga sadhana and his knowledge of humanistic psychology.

THEORETICAL BASIS

In the yoga sutras it is said that in order to transform (heal) we must first overcome the chatter of our mind and find inner stillness from which we create expanded awareness. Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is an approach to yoga that can expedite this process.

Theoretically, the modality is also congruent with and draws from the approach to therapy practiced by Carl Rogers. In a Phoenix Rising session or group one of the roles of the "therapist" or facilitator is to be a "loving presence" or in Rogers terms to practice "unconditional positive regard". In yogic terms this is similar to modelling "witness consciousness" which is learned by the client as receiver.

Lee was also a student of social science and saw in the process of human transformation similarities with the working of the dialectic as decribed by Hegel. Each thesis (or way of being) has within it the seeds of it's antithesis (or opposite way of being) and over time and in the right circumstances, this will result in synthesis (new way of being). Although normally applied at a societal level, Lee believed the process to also hold true at an individual level. In yogic terms this is compatible with the notion that we all wish to transform and that the so called "fire of transformation" is often fuelled by our reaction to the status quo in our quest for something greater.

DELIVERY AND FORM

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy was originally developed to be delivered in a one on one yoga therapy session, usually of around one hour duration.

In more recent years, the same process is now facilitated in yoga therapy groups and basically underlies the approach outlined in the book Turn Stress Into Bliss. Yoga teachers trained in the Phoenix Rising tradition are also able to lead yoga classes as process based experiences as well as physical experiences.

For more information and for a list of practitioners visit the Phoenix Rising website.

Read about Yoga Therapy vs. Psychotherapy

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