Holistic Counsellor - body, mind, emotions - yin yoga teacher training!

Why Yin Yoga Might Be One of the Missing Pieces in Our Midlife Wellbeing

There’s a stage in life—often in our forties, fifties, and beyond—where we all probably start to notice stiffness creeping in and this correlates with a decline in mental sharpness, energy and an increase in our 'No BS alarm' going off. I see it time and time again coming up in therapy:

'I can't do it any more. I can't be like this anymore. Not just in my head, my feelings but my body. It's like a triple awakening.!'

For me, my body 'issues' of pain, stiffness and fatigue were just getting worse and worse until I finally got some bloods done. Years of undiagnosed hormone shifts and vitamin deficiencies, pain, stiffness, not being able to run anymore have left a mark. I felt like my body was giving up on me. It impacted my sleep, wellbeing, brain function. It was pretty grim!

Instead of pushing harder I tended to self care and rest the body but that didn't seem to work well either - what you don't use, you lose! So armed with bottles of vitamins, I also invited a yoga teacher into my home for some one-to-one sessions as I was too stiff to even join a class.

Not the power flows you might see online or the beautiful yoga people website images, but something gentler, slower, almost deceptively simple: yin yoga. Arrrrhhhhh I started to improve.

Within weeks, it was as though my joints were getting a little lubrication from the inside out. It didn’t fix everything alone—hormone treatment, Thai massage pulls and fascia work, acupuncture, lymph work, regular massage and those vitamins were great —but it was a turning point. It felt like my body was finally releasing and allowing 'holding' to be let go.

This experience over the past years has most recently inspired me to train as a yin yoga teacher myself and to embark on an 80 hour Yin Teacher Training course from a Bali school and a 90 day Movement Challenge with a women's movement therapist in Thailand. If only they were in person!

I want to find my own way back inside my body. But I also want to support women in my community holistically too as a women's therapist and be able to incorporate those things along with connection to the therapy work I do.

I hope this will be supportive to my clients, past, present and future. My first women's circle starts next Wednesday 27th August 2025. I plan to start another 6 week block very early November through to mid December.

Here's a bit more about Yin Yoga.

So, what exactly is yin yoga?

Unlike more active yoga styles (known as “yang” practices), yin yoga targets the deep connective tissues—ligaments, fascia, and joints—rather than the muscles. Postures are held for longer (typically 3–5 minutes) and the focus is on allowing the body to gently stretch itself using breath, gravity, relaxation and stillness. You lie there and trust the body to release. And it does! The body knows what to do....

Research shows yin yoga can:

• Improve flexibility and joint health by gently stressing connective tissue in a safe, sustained way.

• Help regulate the parasympathetic nervous system—your “rest and digest” mode—reducing stress and anxiety.

• Support hormonal balance by improving circulation and calming the endocrine system.

• Aid sleep, especially when practised in the evening, by quieting the mind and releasing tension.

  
  

Interestingly, yoga has been used therapeutically for centuries across cultures—from ancient China’s Daoist practices to India’s Hatha yoga—and yin draws inspiration from both. It’s less about the perfect pose and more about what happens inside as you soften into it. My yoga school has an 'open hearted' philosophy which I love and is based on Taoist, Indian and Chinese philosophies.

Finding Your Flow Beyond the Mat too

A yoga holiday, organised by a Mindfulness friend I met training, once reminded me of how good this can feel—six days of vegetarian food, coffee (yes, coffee!) and older, normal women laughing into the evenings over a feast with wine, with four different types of yoga and meditation practices. I came home more glowy, but I also realised: a few days away isn’t enough. Daily life has to align with that type of flow—being with the right people, having the support you need, moving, connecting, eating well, relaxing, etc. Sometimes therapy is also needed to gently unpick the blocks or phobias that keep life small. We can't live on a holiday.

That’s why, alongside counselling, I now offer a women’s circle—a space to come together, witness each other, and take that same deep breath of relief you find in a long-held stretch alongside offering women's counselling and psychotherapy.

Try This at Home: Supported Butterfly Pose

This simple yin posture helps open the hips and lower back—perfect after sitting all day.

1. Sit on the floor with the soles of your feet together, at a comfortable distance from your feet, closer in is more challenging, don't push, just stop when at your gentle line of comfortable. Allow knees dropping out to the sides and add cushions or rolled up blankets to support knees/thighs if your hips feel tight.

2. Let your back round and your head drop towards your feet. Add a yoga block tall or medium or short or a larger bolster to take weight of your head.

3. Rest your elbows on your legs or a cushion or the floor. You can also stretch your hands long with arms more straight if you can't reach the floor or again use blocks. Find what is intuitively comfortable. No rush. Take your time to find your version for your body.

4. Stay for 2–4 minutes, breathing gently.

5. Come out slowly pushing upright with your hands, supporting your knees to come back together with your hands also. Stretch out your legs and lie flat for a few minutes (again support back, under knees, neck to be comfortable.

   
   

   There are some other variations of this to play with:

Disclaimer: Always listen to your body. Yin yoga should never be painful. If you have joint injuries, recent surgery, or health concerns, seek medical or professional advice before trying new postures.

Let me know how you get on. Be with the thoughts that come up and feelings. Working somatically in the body is all about listening to the body voice. If you'd like more help, get in touch and inquire about holistic therapy or learning yin with me either one to one or in classes I will probably start online in the winter.