Phenomenological Inquiry into Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.

Abstract

There is growing recognition within psychology and other disciplines that body experience may be as important as cognitive and emotional experience. However, psychology has few psychotherapeutic interventions to support the integration of mind and body within therapy. Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy (PRYT) is a form of mind-body therapy that uses yoga posture, touch, and psychotherapeutic dialogue to facilitate growth and healing. The current study explored the phenomenological experience of four women who each received five PRYT sessions. Research questions posed were: (1) What are the clients' experiences of the phenomena of PRYT? and (2) How does receiving PRYT sessions impact the clients' lives? The following themes emerged from the data as the essence of PRYT sessions: mindfulness, self-awareness, mind-body connection, in vivo experience of new behaviors, client-directed, empowerment, and life changes. These themes show significance in the mind-body connection and that it is important to consider alternative modalities such as PRYT for clients. Each participant noted greater insight into mind-body connection. They noticed the effect of cognition and emotion on the body, observed how the body can be used to improve coping through movement and breathing, and experienced different thoughts and emotions associated with different areas of their bodies. Although these results are not necessarily generalizable, they offer interesting theoretical implications for embodied interventions.