Sensory Processing Disorder: Yoga Benefits

Sensory Processing Disorder: Yoga Benefits

As well as a yoga teacher I am an Occupational Therapist and I have an Advanced Practitioner post certification in Sensory Integration.

Occupational Therapy compliments my love for Yoga and I see my two paths merging into one; Sensory Processing Yoga.

For the past two and a half years I have been working with children with sensory processing difficulties.

Sensory Processing Disorder is when sensory signals don’t get organized into appropriate responses and an individual may exhibit clumsiness, poor motor skills and behaviour difficulties as a result of their sensory systems becoming over responsive to sensory input or under responsive so they want to seek out more.

The sensory systems involved are typically vestibular (movement), proprioception (body awareness) and tactile (touch) resulting in an individual having difficulties such as poor balance, coordination, and/or be over or under sensitive to movements, have difficulties knowing where their body is in space and have poor discrimination to touch. Due to their heightened sensitivity to sensations or as a result of their motor based difficulties an individual with SPD is more often than not in a constant state of alert..fight/flight or freeze.

Yoga helps to bring them back into their bodies and learn to breathe, regulating their arousal levels and helping their central nervous systems relax. Through practicing yoga, the asanas have so many wonderful benefits which help support the vestibular, (movement) proprioceptive (body awareness) and tactile (touch) sensory systems that can support an individual get back into their body and feed into their functional skills (that’s my Occupational Therapy hat!). I know me one of the main reasons I practice yoga is that is puts me in the right frame of mind to face the world, puts me back into my body and gives me the permission to be – is just seems to make sense.

I am going to post a series of Sensory Processing blogs over the coming months and I am currently working on a DVD on Sensory Processing Yoga which will be available to purchase from here.

If you would like to subscribe to more information about Sensory Processing Yoga click here.

Sensory Processing Yoga