The Yogic Principles That Guide My Work: Bridging ancient wisdom with modern healing

Over the years, my path as a therapist, guide, and yoga teacher has been shaped by many traditions - but few have had the lasting impact that yogic philosophy has. Beyond the physical postures, yoga offers a way of being. It teaches us how to live with more awareness, more compassion, and more alignment with truth.

As someone who works at the intersection of psychotherapy, psychedelic integration, and earth-based spirituality, I often return to the yamas and niyamas - ethical foundations of yoga that feel just as relevant in a therapeutic session or a sacred ceremony as they do on the mat.

Here are the principles that most deeply guide my work:

Ahimsa — Non-Harming

Ahimsa invites us into a relationship with ourselves and the world rooted in compassion. In my work, this looks like creating containers where people feel safe to unfold - free from judgment, pressure, or shame. It's also about helping clients unlearn the inner violence of self-criticism and perfectionism, and replace it with gentleness and care.

Ahimsa doesn’t mean we avoid hard truths - but that we meet them with love.

Svadhyaya — Self-Study

Whether through talk therapy, ceremony, journaling, or somatic exploration, my clients are often diving into the depths of their own inner landscape. Svadhyaya reminds us that self-inquiry is sacred. It's not about fixing ourselves - it's about remembering who we are beneath the conditioning.

Healing isn't a destination - it's a devotion to self-awareness.

Tapas — Inner Fire

True transformation takes commitment. Tapas is the inner fire that keeps us going when healing feels uncomfortable or uncertain. It’s the discipline to keep showing up, to keep choosing growth even when it would be easier to numb out or retreat.

For many, this might look like continuing their integration work after a psychedelic journey, or staying with the breath when the nervous system is dysregulated. Tapas is the practice of staying present, again and again.

Ishvara Pranidhana — Surrender to the Divine

So much of the healing journey involves learning to let go - of control, of identity, of knowing. Ishvara Pranidhana is the art of surrender. Not giving up, but giving over to something wiser. Trusting the process. Trusting the body. Trusting the medicine.

In both therapy and ceremony, surrender is the gateway to transformation.

Santosha — Contentment

Santosha invites us to find peace with what is. To soften our grasp on needing things to be different in order to feel okay. This principle is foundational in integration work, where the goal isn’t to chase peak experiences but to ground into presence and wholeness - here and now.

We don't need to be healed to be worthy. Contentment isn't complacency - it's spaciousness.

Satya — Truthfulness

Satya is about living in alignment with truth - not just outer truth, but inner truth. The kind of truth that arises when we strip away the masks and defenses and speak from the soul. In my work, this means honoring what’s real for each person, even when it’s messy or painful.

Truth doesn’t have to be brutal - it can be a balm. And often, it’s the first step toward freedom.

These yogic teachings continue to shape how I show up for my clients, my community, and myself. They remind me that healing isn’t just a clinical process - it’s a sacred one.

If you're on a path of inner work and longing for more grounded guidance, know that these principles are available to all of us - not as rules, but as invitations.

To remember who we are.
To walk in alignment.
To heal, gently.