August 20, 2006;-   VANCOUVER -- In high school, Danielle McDermott was always involved in peer counselling. She was always interested in psychology.

When she was 19, she took up yoga. "I found myself crying on my mat and I was quite surprised."

Her yoga teacher told her this was normal and advised her just to let it go, let it flow. Through this process, McDermott discovered that humans hold a lot of emotions inside, that these emotions can be released through body movements.

She became convinced that the body and mind are one. "This had me very fascinated and curious. It also opened a chapter in my life."

When she got her master's degree in psychology in California, she was determined to find a way of blending yoga with psychotherapy. So she headed from university to a school in Massachusetts to become a certified yoga therapist.

McDermott, now 31, is one of the few psychologists in Vancouver who offers psychotherapy using yoga.

She recently gave me a session so I could see what it was all about.

I quickly discovered this isn't the yoga I knew, where you go to a class and put your body through contortions dictated by an instructor. Instead, she does most of the work, stretching limbs, pulling this, bending that, all the while asking probing questions that delved into some of the burning issues of my day.

I walked in with an incredible tension in my shoulders and head that I didn't know was there. She opened a wellspring of feeling I didn't know I had.

By the time we were finished, it was gone.

She begins by asking all sorts of questions about what is going on in your life, all the while taking notes. Then she asks you to close your eyes and she teaches you to breathe deeply. Breathe in, one, two, three, four; hold, one, two, three, four; breathe out, one, two, three four.

Then the stretching begins. You need to make sure your body is limp. Think ragdoll. It's difficult. We humans like to be in control. Yet, once we do let go, there is a feeling of surrender. It's like being a child again.

Not that you are totally off the hook. Through her deft questioning, she forces you to look inside your soul to see what is lingering there. The whole process seems a bit like solving a mystery, unearthing clues, then having the humility to follow them where they take you.

Deciding to opt into this process rather than going for some kind of superficial journalistic yoga lite, I babbled in a stream of consciousness fashion.

Poor McDermott. She had to listen to all that crap, all the while massaging my temples and working hard physically to pull my body this way and that.

She later explained, "First of all, I stay really open to whatever happens. I try not to have an agenda. I am listening to what the client is telling me and also trying to get them to ground the mental processing."

By asking clients how their worries feel in their bodies, McDermott identifies where they are holding emotional tensions and what techniques she can use to release them. Often, as in my case, it's in the shoulders. She manipulates the body in ways to stretch the shoulders, to open up the chest and to get the client to breathe more deeply.

A believer in concrete action, McDermott leaves her clients with little cards. One recapitulates feelings and outlines more or less the good things in their lives, what they are grateful for. The other is a homework plan for improving their lives. Yes, we need to talk more about what is bugging us with those who are bugging us at moments when they aren't bugging us and to schedule time for the things that are important to us.

One of the key differences between this type of psychotherapy and other non-yoga types is it is very much in the moment. "This is really right here, right now. It can go into the past certainly but it's generated from how you are feeling right now."

Most of her clients are women, ranging in age from their early 20s to their 60s. She has some men in their 40s, too.

In terms of the problems they bring to the mat, the biggies are anxiety and chronic stress mostly brought on by problems at work or trauma in childhood.

"They get to the point where they just can't go on. It's almost as if their bodies are saying 'Stop! You have to deal with it now and I'm going to make you stop.' Then they go on sick leave."

Her clients are of all ranges of physical ability. The beauty of this, as opposed to regular yoga, is you don't have to be fit or strong to experience it. A slight woman, McDermott says she can handle almost any size of client although she might have to ask him or her for help in things like rolling over.

Yoga therapists "are trained to be mindful of our bodies and positioning so that I am not breaking my back," she explained.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006