When Stress Has Taken Over
Anxiety and stress don’t just live in the mind, they also live in the body. Tight chest, shallow breath, a jaw that never unclenches, a mind that won’t stop. Over time, chronic stress reshapes the nervous system and makes it harder and harder to feel safe and at rest.
Yoga Therapy for anxiety and mental health works directly with the nervous system using breath, movement, body awareness and relaxation practices to gently shift the body out of a state of chronic activation and back towards calm.
How Yoga therapy Helps
When we experience ongoing stress or trauma, the body often stays in a state of high alert, muscles tighten, breathing becomes shallow, and the mind struggles to switch off. Over time, this constant state of activation can leave us feeling exhausted, anxious, or disconnected from ourselves.
Yoga therapy works gently with the nervous system to restore balance. Each practice is tailored to your individual needs and may include mindful movement, meditation, and guided relaxation. These tools help quiet the stress response, support emotional regulation, and create new pathways of calm and resilience.
What is Research Showing?
The evidence base for yoga therapy in mental health and anxiety is substantial, well-established and continuing to grow.
Research consistently shows that yoga increases GABA a key calming neurotransmitter that is often depleted in people with anxiety and depression and improves heart rate variability, a measurable marker of nervous system health (Streeter et al., 2012 and 2020).
A 2023 randomised controlled trial (Szaszkó et al., Acta Psychologica) found that hatha yoga significantly reduced anxiety and psychological stress compared to a control group after just eight weeks. A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Brinsley et al.) found that active yoga practices ease depressive symptoms across a range of mental health conditions.
One of the most significant recent findings comes from a 2023 clinical trial published in JAMA Network Open (Zaccari et al.) comparing trauma-sensitive yoga to cognitive processing therapy the gold standard treatment for PTSD. Yoga worked as well as therapy for reducing PTSD symptoms, with a 43% higher treatment completion rate. The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) highlighted this study as a landmark for the field.
The IAYT the global peak body for yoga therapy, which publishes a PubMed-indexed peer-reviewed journal, also recognises yoga therapy as a key intervention for mental health, citing multiple systematic reviews demonstrating its effectiveness for depression, anxiety and stress.
In 2024, yoga was also included in the Australian Government’s NHMRC Natural Therapies Review, acknowledging its role as a complementary approach for stress and anxiety an important recognition for an Australian audience.
These findings reflect what many clients experience firsthand: yoga therapy creates genuine, physiological change in the nervous system not just relaxation, but measurable, lasting relief.
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What you’ll experience in a session?
Each yoga therapy session is one-on-one and entirely tailored to your needs. You don’t need to be flexible or have any yoga experience, sessions are about supporting you, not achieving poses.
We begin by discussing how stress, anxiety or trauma are affecting your daily life. From there, I’ll guide you through gentle movement, breathing techniques (if suitable), mindfulness and relaxation practices designed to help regulate your nervous system and bring comfort to your body.
Sessions are calm, supportive and paced to suit where you are each day. You’ll learn simple tools you can use at home, whether to steady yourself in moments of overwhelm, release physical tension, or cultivate a greater sense of balance and safety within.
A quieter mind and steadier emotions
Greater comfort in your body and improved energy
A renewed connection to inner peace and resilience
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What Our Clients Say
“I have had a great experience with Rebecca, I certainly recommend her to anyone.”
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