When working with clients in pain, the first step is simple but essential: we need to understand their pain so we can work around it.
In Yoga Therapy, our aim is not to push through pain, but to create conditions where the body feels safe enough not to protect itself through bracing or contraction.
This principle, which we share in our Yoga Therapy Foundation module is simple, but a game changer.
1. Reassure First
Tell your client that you work without pain
From the beginning, it is important to communicate clearly:
- “We are not going to push into pain.”
- “We will work in a way that feels safe and manageable for your body."
This reassurance alone can begin to reduce fear and guarding. It helps shift the client from anticipation of pain to the possibility of safety and ease!
2. Understand Their Pain
To work without pain, we need clarity.
We explore:
- Where is the pain? (specific locations, or more diffuse)
- How is it experienced? (sharp, dull, burning, throbbing, unpredictable…)
- When is it better or worse? (time of day, movement, stress, rest, weather)
- Daily patterns (activity levels, fatigue, flares)
- Sleep (quality, interruptions, positions)
- Lifestyle and social impact (work, relationships, mood, isolation)
- What helps? (movement, rest, heat, breath, pacing strategies)
- Medication and treatments
- what they take
- what helps
- any side effects (fatigue, dizziness, brain fog, etc.)
We are not collecting information for the sake of it: we are learning how to meet the person without triggering protective mechanisms.
3. See the Whole Person
Pain can easily become the center of everything but as a yoga therapist you should not reduce the person to their pain. You are not working with a “shoulder” or a “back.”, you care working with a whole human being.
Often, emotions are deeply affected by the experience of pain: fear, frustration, grief, or exhaustion may be present. So remember: Do not focus only on the painful area.
Sometimes the most effective entry points are:
- the breath
- micro movements of pain-free areas
- light humour and connection
Why This Matters
We gather information about pain so that we can:
- work around it, not into it
- reduce threat and guarding
- avoid flare-ups
- and offer a genuinely pain-free experience
When we feel safe there is less physical and emotional “bracing”, less contraction, and more possibility for change!
