Yin Yoga Therapy and Mental Health with Dr. Tracey Meyers
In today’s episode, I speak with Dr. Tracey Meyers about her new book Yin Yoga Therapy and Mental Health. We discuss how Yin Yoga can be a particularly useful – and even transformative – practice for supporting different kinds of mental health challenges, from anxiety and depression to PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
Episode Details:
Dr. Tracey Meyers describes how Yin Yoga became her go-to practice for supporting clients with mental health challenges, and how it differs from other forms of yoga. She gives examples of Yin Yoga Therapy practices for depression, anxiety, and trauma recovery.
She speaks about Yin Yoga in a very practical, but nuanced way, which will be helpful for anyone looking into Yin Yoga Therapy as a part of their mental wellness, and also for Yin teachers who wish to be more mental health informed.
Yin Yoga Therapy Topics in this Conversation:
- We talk about using Mindfulness Meditation practices within the Yin poses, and how that makes meditation more accessible for many people, while also making the Yin poses safer and more therapeutic.
- Tracey shares her analogy of Yin Yoga being like tofu, because it’s simple and adaptable for many different individual needs.
- And, we discuss how to skillfully expand your stress resilience by exploring sensations along the comfort/discomfort edge in Yin poses.
If you’ve mainly thought of Yin Yoga in terms of stretching or its physical effect on the body, this conversation will offer you a different perspective! Listen and learn about the potential of Yin Yoga Therapy as a support for mental health and wellbeing.
Guest Bio:
Dr. Tracey Meyers is a licensed clinical psychologist, E-RYT 500-hour yoga teacher, certified C-IAYT yoga therapist, and certified MBSR and iRest instructor. Tracey works as a clinician at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, a legal assistance program where she provides individual consultations and corporate seminars on stress reduction, wellbeing, and integrative modalities for mental health, and serves as a senior facilitator for Studio Be – an online mindfulness and well-being platform for businesses, along with small private practice.
She loves teaching therapeutic yoga including Yin, Restorative, and Yoga Nidra for groups and individuals, and she also leads mindfulness and self-compassion programs and retreats, and Yin Yoga Teacher Trainings, Immersions, and workshops for yoga teachers, yoga therapists, and mental health professionals. Tracey has a strong background in brain/behavior, working as a neuropsychologist with an expertise in neuropsychological assessment, trauma-informed therapies, and integrative medicine. She has spent most of her professional career working in inpatient and outpatient behavioral health settings with clients that have a wide-range of brain-based disorders including traumatic brain injury, stroke, neurocognitive disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and schizophrenia.
She is the author of recently released book, Yin Yoga Therapy for Mental Health (Singing Dragon – June 2022) and has authored several publications and book chapters around holistic behavioral treatment for different mental health conditions, including yoga for addiction. Tracey is an adjunct faculty at Maryland University of Integrative Health Master’s of Science Yoga Therapy program in Laurel, Maryland.
Resources & Links from this episode:
- Tracey’s book Yin Yoga Therapy and Mental Health (which we discussed in this podcast)
- Connect with Tracey via her website, traceymeyerspsyd.com
To connect further with me (Addie), you can explore my Mindful Yin Yoga classes in the Moved To Meditate Class Library!