Yoga for mental health
Yoga, with the psychology explained
Most yoga writing tells you that practice is good for you. These guides look at why — what happens in the nervous system, what the research supports, and how a practice can be shaped around what you actually need. Written by a Clinical Psychologist who is also an accredited yoga teacher.
Where to start
Two fields that usually stay separate
Psychology and yoga are generally taught, practised and written about apart from one another. Yoga teachers rarely hold clinical training; psychologists rarely teach movement. The result is a lot of yoga content that gestures at wellbeing without explaining the mechanism, and a lot of psychology that stops at the neck.
These articles sit in the overlap. They cover what happens physiologically when you slow the breath, why attention to the body matters after trauma, what the evidence does and doesn't support, and how a practice can be adapted for a nervous system that is braced rather than flat — or the other way round. Read what's useful and skip the rest.
Why it helps
What yoga does, and how
The mechanisms underneath the usual claims — breath, attention, the nervous system, and the relationship between body and mind.
The mental health benefits of yoga
A plain overview of what regular practice tends to do for mood, stress and wellbeing.
Read the articleYour nervous system reset
How yoga works with body and mind together to shift a system that has been on alert too long.
Read the articleThe psychology behind breathwork
Why changing how you breathe changes how the body reads danger.
Read the articleYoga for brain health
What practice does to attention, memory and the structures underneath them.
Read the articleYoga for emotion regulation
Working with difficult feelings through the body rather than only through thought.
Read the articleHow yoga helps you handle big emotions
What to do when feeling is too much to think your way through.
Read the articleHow mindset shapes your practice
Why what you bring to the mat changes what you get from it.
Read the articleYoga for conscious deceleration
Slowing down on purpose, and why that is harder than it sounds.
Read the articleYoga and body image
How practice can change the relationship with your body — and how it can be taught so that it does.
Read the articleTrauma-informed practice
When the body is part of the difficulty
For anyone whose experience makes an ordinary class feel unsafe rather than restful — and for practitioners wanting to understand the approach.
What is trauma-informed yoga?
Choice, pacing and body awareness built into how a class is taught, rather than added afterwards.
Read the articleYoga and trauma: a personal journey
Kayleigh's own route into this work, and what it taught her about teaching it.
Read the articleYoga in NHS mental health services
How body-based practice is used in NHS settings, and what that says about the evidence.
Read the articleFor particular things
Practice with a purpose
Where a specific difficulty, sport or style is the reason you are looking.
Reducing anxiety through yoga and mindfulness
How movement and attention practices support a calmer nervous system.
Read the article7 key yoga poses for runners
A practical sequence, with what each pose is for before and after a run.
Read the articleWhat is Ashtanga yoga?
The style that forms the foundation of Kayleigh's own practice, explained.
Read the articleWhat makes BAM Therapy yoga different?
What changes when a Clinical Psychologist designs the class.
Read the articlePractising with Kayleigh
Ways to work together
One-to-one sessions are built around you, which matters most if an ordinary class feels difficult — see individual clinically-informed yoga and specialised yoga for how that works.
There are also small group classes and workshops in Exeter, trauma-informed yoga, breathwork, and programmes for teams and organisations.
Common questions
Questions people ask about yoga and mental health
- Do I need to be fit or flexible to start?
- No. Flexibility is an outcome of practice rather than a requirement for it, and clinically-informed yoga is adapted to the person rather than the other way round. Sessions can be chair-based, gentle, or more active depending on what suits you on the day.
- How is clinically-informed yoga different from a normal class?
- The practices are chosen according to what is happening psychologically, not only physically. A nervous system that is braced and over-alert needs something calming and grounding; one that has gone flat and disconnected often needs something activating instead. Being able to tell the difference, and explain it, is what the clinical training adds — more in what makes BAM Therapy yoga different.
- What does trauma-informed actually mean?
- In practice it means invitational language rather than instruction, genuinely optional practices, no physical adjustments, eyes open as an equal alternative, and no pressure to take part in any particular element. The aim is that nobody has to disclose anything for the class to be safe for them. There's a fuller explanation in what is trauma-informed yoga.
- Can yoga replace therapy?
- No, and it isn't offered as a substitute. Yoga works with the body and the nervous system, which can be a valuable part of looking after your mental health, but it is not psychological therapy and does not involve the same assessment, formulation or treatment. Some people do both; if you are weighing up therapy, our guide to starting therapy covers what that involves.
- Is there evidence behind any of this?
- There is a growing evidence base for yoga, breathing practices and body-based approaches in relation to stress, anxiety and mood, and such practices are used in some NHS settings — see yoga in NHS mental health services. The quality of studies varies, so the articles here try to describe what the research suggests without overstating it.
- Do you teach in person or online?
- Both. Small group classes and workshops run in Exeter, and one-to-one sessions are available online, which suits people across Devon and further afield. Get in touch to talk through what would work.
A note on health
These guides are for general information and aren't a substitute for advice about your own health. If you have a health condition, an injury, or you are pregnant, please check with your GP before starting a new physical practice. If you are struggling with your mental health and need support urgently, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option, or call Samaritans free on 116 123 at any hour.
Ready when you are
Not sure where you would start?
The introductory call is free and carries no obligation — a short conversation about what you are looking for and which kind of practice would suit you.