What is Yoga Therapy?
Yoga Therapy is a personalised, clinically-informed approach to healing that uses the tools of yoga — movement, breath, ethics and meditation — to support in holistic healing from specific health challenges.
I specialise in working with mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, trauma-related imbalances, disordered eating, and addiction recovery. Yoga Therapy is also highly effective in managing chronic conditions like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, insomnia, autoimmune conditions, and long-standing pain or tension patterns in the body.
Rather than a one-size-fits-all practice, Yoga Therapy is adapted to your individual experience. Whether you’re living with a mental health condition, navigating a chronic illness, or recovering from injury or burnout, the practice meets you where you are with compassion and care.
How Does Yoga Therapy Work?
Through a tailored combination of breathwork, somatic movement, mindfulness, and guided relaxation, yoga therapy helps regulate the nervous system, reduce stress responses, and re-establish a sense of internal balance.
On a physical level, practices are designed to improve mobility, ease chronic tension, support vital systems (like respiratory, digestive, and endocrine), and foster resilience. On a psychological level, tools such as meditation, body awareness, and breath regulation help to interrupt reactive patterns and reconnect you to a steady inner resource.
Clients are active participants in their healing journey. Together, we develop a customised practice that can be integrated into daily life in simple, accessible ways.
What to Expect in a Session
Each session is uniquely tailored to your goals and needs. Depending on your preference and ability, sessions may include:
- Intake form to assess unique needs
- Exploring together practices that work for you
- Asana (flowing, restorative or yin)
- Breathwork techniques to calm or energise the system
- Mindfulness or guided meditation
- Somatic and therapeutic yoga practices
- Tools for nervous system regulation and emotional resilience
- Summary of session
- Home practice provided for you to continue
- Follow-up sessions to review and adjust practices as needed
No prior experience is needed. You don’t need to be flexible, spiritual, or wear yoga clothes—just come as you are. The focus is on creating a space for safety, connection, and sustainable healing.
About Tess
For years, I was deeply committed to my healing, but I still felt stuck. I had made meaningful progress in therapy, but my eating disorder recovery had plateaued. I knew I couldn’t keep living in the same patterns, yet talk therapy alone could only take me so far. I needed something more embodied.
I first encountered yoga through meditation in treatment. It offered a glimpse of steadiness and connection during a time of chaos, planting a seed that would eventually grow into a lifelong path.
After completing my initial teacher training in India, I began teaching in 2018. At the time, my personal practice was focused on asana. I became caught in a cycle of physical striving, believing that mastery of the body would bring peace. Instead, I burned out. Injury and fatigue forced me to stop and question what yoga truly meant to me.
That turning point led me to study yoga therapy in Canada, where I learned to integrate traditional yogic tools with clinical insight into trauma, addiction, and mental health. I finally understood my own healing journey more clearly—why some practices had helped, and why others had caused harm.
Yoga therapy offered not a quick fix, but a compassionate, sustainable path. It became the foundation I return to whenever life feels uncertain. Through this work, I moved beyond survival. I healed from nicotine addiction, rebuilt trust in my body, and developed a deeper sense of inner connection.
My path hasn’t been linear, but it has been profoundly transformative. Today, I offer yoga therapy to others navigating anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, and life transitions. My approach is both trauma-sensitive and experience-informed, grounded in years of study and lived insight.
This practice changed my life. I’m here to share it with you
“Yoga is the journey of the Self, through the Self, to the Self."
– Often attributed to Bhagavad Gita 6.20 though not a direct translation.