Yoga Therapy & Chronic Pain: A Personal and Practical Perspective
September is Pain Awareness Month. Its a time to shine a light on what it means to live with long-term pain, to understand its impact, and to explore what helps. As someone living with chronic pain, navigating inflammatory arthritis, nerve pain, and endometriosis, and working as a Pain Educator with Pain Concern, I have seen firsthand the challenges, as well as the powerful difference that supportive, holistic therapies can make.
One such therapy is yoga therapy. Here I want to share how I believe yoga therapy can help those in pain, what the research says, and how my approach at Infinite Harmony is designed to meet individual needs.
What is Yoga Therapy?
Yoga therapy is more than simply doing yoga postures. It involves gentle movement, mindful breathing (pranayama), relaxation and meditation, sometimes guided imagery, all tailored to a person’s body, condition, limitations, and pain patterns. It emphasises listening to your body, adapting practice, and using yoga as a tool - both physical and psychological - to support healing, resilience, and wellbeing.
How Chronic Pain Presents
Living with chronic pain brings many dimensions:
- Physical pain and stiffness (for example, with arthritis), nerve-sensitivity, flare-ups, fatigue.
- Emotional distress: anxiety, sometimes depression, frustration and girief.
- Psychological / cognitive: worrying about what pain means, what activity may trigger it, fear of movement.
- Social/daily life impact: reduced mobility, needing to adapt everyday tasks, sometimes isolation.
Because of this multi-layered burden, managing pain well usually means drawing on more than medication: lifestyle, mindset, movement, support networks and education. For me, understanding my conditions gave me back control which was very important to help me improve my mental health.
How Yoga Therapy Can Help
Here are ways in which yoga therapy supports people living with chronic pain. Many of these are things I’ve experienced myself, and I bring into my work at Infinite Harmony.
What the Research Says
- A randomized controlled trial among women with endometriosis showed that an 8-week yoga programme (twice weekly) significantly reduced daily pain and improved quality of life compared to a control group. PubMed
- More broadly, meta-analyses and systematic reviews have found yoga to be effective and safe to manage various types of chronic pain, including low back pain, neck pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraine. PMC+2Harvard Health
- Yoga can also help with mood, psychosocial wellbeing, sleep, all of which are often disrupted by chronic pain. Harvard Health
My Role as Pain Educator & Living with Pain
As an educator for Pain Concern, I help people living with chronic pain understand more about how pain works, what self-management options exist, and how to navigate their own journey. One of the things I emphasise is that lived experience matters: knowing what it is to live with chronic pain gives me empathy, real insight, and helps me tailor yoga therapy more sensitively.
Because I live with these chronic pain myself, I know what it’s like when a flare-up wipes out plans, or when certain postures feel good on some days and impossible on others. My yoga therapy approach is shaped by that: we move slowly, adapt, use props, work with the rhythms of your pain, and always emphasise listening to the body.
How I Work at Infinite Harmony: What Clients Can Expect
If you’re considering yoga therapy with me, here’s what I aim to offer:
- An initial assessment: to review your pain history, what seems to help or worsen pain, your goals, what your body feels like now.
- A personalised plan: selecting yoga postures, breath work, relaxation techniques that are safe and beneficial, adapted to your current state and flexibility.
- Use of props (blocks, bolsters, straps, chairs etc.) to reduce strain and support you.
- Mindful breathing and relaxation/meditative components to help with nervous system regulation.
- Guidance on pacing, rest, modifications, for example, on difficult days.
- Supportive environment: you won’t be judged for moving slowly, for skipping a posture, for having to pause. Progress is not linear.
- Integration: helping you carry tools into daily life (breath, mindfulness, small movements) not just what we do in sessions.
Practical Tips to Get Started
Here are some suggestions if you’re thinking of trying yoga therapy:
- Choose gentle styles – Hatha, Restorative, Gentle Yoga, Yin etc. Avoid very vigorous styles initially.
- Start slow – short sessions, simple postures, even seated if needed.
- Use support – props, cushions, blocks, walls.
- Focus on breath & relaxation – these are as important (often more) than how “deep” a stretch is.
- Listen & adapt – pain may fluctuate; what works one day may not another. Adjust.
- Consistency matters – even short frequent sessions tend to help more than occasional long ones.
- Combine with other supports – medical care, pain education, good sleep, diet, rest, social support.
Challenges & What to Watch For
- Sometimes movement or certain postures can trigger pain or make it worse; this is why adaptation and working with a yoga therapist familiar with chronic pain is crucial.
- Risk of overdoing it - pushing through pain thinking “no pain no gain” is often counterproductive.
- Need for patience: benefits may take time to accumulate.
- Mindset work: it can be hard to shift fear or expectations. Yoga therapy isn’t a quick fix - but over time, many people find significant relief and improved quality of life.
Conclusion
Yoga therapy is not a cure-all. But as both someone who lives with chronic pain and someone who supports and educates others through Pain Concern, I have seen how it can be a very powerful piece in the pain self-management toolbox. When done with care, compassion, adaptation, consistency, and alongside other supports, yoga therapy can help ease pain, improve movement, calm stress, and bring more ease into life.
If you’d like to explore whether yoga therapy might help you, I’d be very happy to chat to you. You can book a free call here. Together we can explore what feels possible, what supports you, and build a path towards more comfort, connection and wellbeing.