Safety and Belonging: A Collective Practice Through Therapeutic Yoga

Preparations for the arrival of participants for the Resonance: Healing Yoga for Fall Series

What does the body need at any particular moment?

This question often arises in a practice of therapeutic yoga and it’s one that extends far beyond the mat.

• Do we need rest?

• To speak?

• To lean into the collective?

• To turn inward?

• To move into grounded action?

During a recent therapeutic yoga session, instructor Madeleine (she/her) guided us through a practice embodying deep care and attunement. The postures themselves, the shapes of yoga, remained the same, but each person’s experience of them was unique. The difference came from how we met the moment: through breath, body tension, collective energy, and awareness of the mind, body, and heart pace.

Madeleine offered a variety of options, ensuring accessibility for every participant. Some reached the floor, others a block, and some used a chair instead of standing. No one was left out of the experience. The practice wasn’t about perfection or achieving a particular form, but rather an invitation to listen. To move in a way that felt right for each body. To reconnect with ourselves and our community without forcing what the body wasn’t ready to offer. In that spaciousness, we found flexibility. We found patience. We found presence.

Therapeutic yoga in this moment feels essential because it reminds us that healing doesn’t happen in isolation. When we speak of a healed body, we’re speaking of the collective body, our shared need for care, rest, and restoration.

At the Gender Health Center, we are continuing to build spaces like this. We build spaces that center safety, belonging, and collective healing. Therapeutic yoga is one form of this work, one practice among many, inviting us to come home to our bodies and to each other.