Private Yoga Therapy Sessions

Living with chronic pain or discomfort can be all-consuming. You structure your life and daily activities around managing your symptoms, and there can be a lot of things you just can’t do any more – or you do them and pay the consequences. Sometimes it feels like that’s just how it is now. After all, you’re getting older, maybe you’re living with stressors or a diagnosis you can’t change, and there’s not much you can do, right?

And yet, you’re here because you’re not ready to give up. You know in your heart that more is possible.

Yoga tradition and modern science agree that you’re right. You are more than your symptoms – you are a multifaceted being with enormous capacity for adaptability and resilience. Even when there are circumstances you cannot change, there’s a lot that is within your control.

There can be many things that contribute to the way you’re feeling. Our modern lives are complex.

And yet, feeling better can be, in practice, very simple. The key is understanding your symptoms in a different light. Your symptoms are not telling you that you’re broken, they’re asking you to change. And when you learn to work with your body to make changes that matter, so many more possibilities open up.

As a yoga therapist, my job is to partner with my clients to create that change.

I’d love to be your guide as you learn to take charge of your own healing. How? By expanding your awareness of how you are moving and feeling, and learning to work with your body’s own innate feedback system to create more ease.

I support my clients to:

• Reduce chronic pain and tension
• Become more responsive and resilient under stress
• Recover from or adapt to illness or injury
• Return to activities that are important to them
• Improve their strength, stability, and ease of movement
• Improve their energy and wellbeing

What people are saying:

Rachel is the rare yoga teacher who emphasizes the importance of finding a sense of ease and joy while doing yoga, and to respect one’s own body and limits… This is a teacher who believes in my ability to deeply listen to my own body and bring about my own wellbeing and peace.

– Michelle

Will you join me?

What would you do if you felt better? I’d love to work towards that goal together. To get started, click below and set up a free consultation call. We’ll meet for 20 minutes on Zoom to discuss whether my approach for yoga therapy is the right fit for you.

What is yoga therapy?

As a yoga therapist, I’m interested in how the tools of yoga can be used to support healing and promote wellbeing. You can watch a video on my approach to yoga therapy here.

What people are saying:

I started yoga therapy with Rachel to reduce persistent knee pain and instability after two knee injuries over the past decade. Working with Rachel and doing roughly 3-5 minutes of targeted exercises per day has reduced my knee pain and instability to the point that I rarely consider it when choosing activities. It’s also reduced my low back pain, a long-term issue that I thought was just the way it was. Now I’m shocked that it’s not! I have less tension in my hip flexors and between my shoulder blades, and I have the tools to address all these issues when they do flare up due to too much sitting or commuting.

– Katie

So how does it work?

What’s next?

If you’re ready to get started once you’ve completed your consultation and optional trial session, I’ll enroll you in a private program. My clients usually start feeling better pretty quickly, sometimes within just one to two sessions. And because healing is a non-linear process, feeling better in a more sustainable way requires a commitment from both of us. All private yoga therapy clients begin with a 12-week program so that we can both make this commitment to your recovery.

Once your program begins, you can schedule as many sessions as you need up to a maximum of one per week. Most clients begin with weekly appointments for the first month or so and then space appointments every two weeks for a total of 8-10 sessions. Other clients choose to do all 12.

During your program, you also receive written notes within 48 hours of your session, a brief customized home practice to consolidate your progress, and access to e-mail or text message support from me between appointments.

Here’s an example of the results my clients are getting during their first month of sessions:

Working with Rachel has changed the way I notice how I’m moving, and how I listen to my body. I was able to go for a walk while wearing my giant 3-year-old in a carrier on my back with ZERO pain for the first time in years!

– Rachelle⁣

The cost for a 12-week program is $1050 for one person or $1215 for two people. Payment plans are available. After 12 weeks, many clients feel complete and others find that more sessions are valuable. If you choose to continue, you will become eligible to add additional sessions at my loyalty rate of $85/ session for one person and $100/ session for two people.

Online and in-person options

Online Yoga Therapy

What people are saying about online sessions:

The way you were able to pinpoint where I was holding tension, or just in general the way I was moving over Zoom is incredible. It was helpful that you knew what I was doing, even if I didn’t.

– Julie

In-Person Yoga Therapy in San Diego

I also offer in-person appointments at my office in Hillcrest/ Banker’s Hill (3344 Fourth Avenue, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92103).

I have regular office hours Sundays (9:00am- 5:00pm), and Mondays through Thursdays (9:00am- 2:30pm). In-person appointments for other days and times (Sunday- Thursday) can be arranged upon request.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Getting to my office requires one flight of stairs. If you need elevator access, please contact me using the e-mail or phone number above and I can set up your appointment for you at an alternate location.

Parking: There is metered parking around the building (free on Sundays), and free parking in and around Balboa Park two blocks over on Sixth Avenue, as well as on the surrounding streets.

CLICK HERE for current COVID-19 safety policy for in-person appointments.

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For assistance with scheduling or any questions, please contact rachelishiguroyoga@gmail.com or use the button below.

What do the sessions look like?

Every session is different! I don’t come in with a plan. Instead, we co-create the session based on your goals and how you are feeling. Sessions may incorporate any of the following:

• Conversation about what you’re experiencing, your goals, successes, and obstacles
• Yoga poses and other movements
• Breath work
• Meditation
• Restorative yoga poses and other restful practices

You will learn a balanced approach to healthy movement and yoga postures that may include: building strength, observing how your joints are moving, and applying what you learn about smaller movements to yoga poses for greater mobility, stability, and ease.

You will develop strategies to integrate breath, movement, and stillness into your life to support your sense of vitality and well-being.

You will work in other parts of the body that affect the region we are focused on (for example, if we are working on hips, we will also likely look at the feet).

You will check in with your body and communicate what you’re experiencing. I will guide you through using your body’s innate feedback system to customize your practice.

You will observe how you are moving in and out of poses so that you do not arrive in a place of tension or discomfort.

You will have your wisdom and experience honored – you will be in charge of your own body and will make choices that feel safe, along with my guidance.

And therefore, you will experience an approach where we explore multiple options to find the one that works best for you.

This may not be a good fit if you are looking for:

• A lot of passive stretching
• A focus on the aesthetics of the poses
• A dogmatic one-sided approach to the practice
• A class where you are told what to do and are not asked for your input

Our work together helped me greatly increase the mobility in my shoulders, and it made me more aware of how I position my body in bed so that I can decrease my back pain. I notice when I’m standing “wrong” and am working on adjusting my posture gradually. Just having the tools to address how I move and breathe has increased my awareness throughout the day.

– Stacy

Ready to join me?

Still have questions?