Therapeutic Yoga, sometimes referred to as Clinical Yoga, is taught in a clinical setting using yoga practices, such as asana (yoga poses) and pranayama (breathing techniques) to support people to move and feel their best.
At Viva our classes are taught by physiotherapists and certified yoga teachers who integrate the therapeutic nature of yoga with their knowledge of musculoskeletal conditions, biomechanics and pain science. This means you can feel reassured that an expert is not only giving you poses that are safe and effective to address your physical needs but they understand the importance of mental health and well-being for long-lasting recovery and feeling your best.
During each class we will offer corrections and guidance to work within your own body, helping you to build body awareness in a mindful way for optimal recovery.
Enjoy spectacular views of Melbourne’s CBD from our light and bright Movement Studio on the 9th floor of Carlow House. Our classes are intimate, for up to 8 people only so you get the care and guidance you need. The atmosphere is relaxed and nurturing allowing you to enter the practice at the level where you feel most comfortable.
We offer 2 different styles of yoga – Therapeutic Vinyasa and Therapeutic Yin Yoga. Each will address your rehab, health or movement needs in slightly different ways.
Take a look at Viva’s Relieve, Restore, Perform framework to help you identify where you’re at and how Therapeutic Yoga can benefit you.
This is a dynamic style of yoga where the movement is paired with the breath, with one pose flowing seamlessly into the next, like a moving meditation. We teach you how to build your postures from the ground up, working with your individual alignment to achieve a deeper understanding of how your body moves most efficiently. Our focus is not on being able to touch your toes but rather to create balance in the body and resilience in the tissues so you feel strong and find freedom in your movement.
For the most part, we can modify poses if you are injured. However this style of yoga is dynamic and requires you to do movements such as lunges, balancing and being able to bend forward. If you are in a lot of pain or have high movement restrictions, we suggest you meet with one of our physios to check whether this style is right for you at this stage of your journey or if a 1:1 yoga consult may be more appropriate.
A great practice for this phase of recovery. Yoga’s tradition of creating balance and harmony in the body and mind aligns perfectly with Restore’s goals of restoring balance to the tissues with equal focus on training length and strength. We build the poses from the ground up to create a strong foundation and connectivity in the body. Each movement is linked with the breath like a moving meditation to help steady the mind and balance the nervous system to restore our system back to its natural equilibrium.
The benefits in this phase will be dependent on what ‘Perform’ is for you. Each pose starts with its most simple variation which can then be built upon in stages, increasing its difficulty, complexity and intensity. Our physios will help you identify what “your” perform phase looks like, building your body awareness to feel and understand when to keep it simple or when its appropriate for you to take that next challenge.
This is a great class for beginners and people dealing with complex conditions or injuries. A slower paced style of yoga that goes beyond the muscle, focused on releasing and restoring the deep connective tissue in the body. This class involves floor-based yoga poses using bolsters and blocks to help support the body for longer holds of 3 – 5 minutes to create stillness and deep rest to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system; your rest, digest and repair system.
For those struggling with nervous system overactivity and mental health, this class gives you the space to reconnect to your body for a holistic reset and recharge. The longer holds encourage overactive muscles to release, gently unwinding stubborn tissues and easing chronic pain.
A great class for athletes who need to increase length and flexibility in their muscles and connective tissue to help with healthy movement patterns. Also great for muscle recovery and reducing joint stiffness.
A smart addition to your Perform training Program on your rest and recovery days, for optimal tissue recovery and preventing overtraining and injury.
Book here for a one-on-one yoga session or a group class. We run some of our classes exclusively in the Studio and we offer some Online & in-Studio classes. Check out our timetable below to choose what works best for you.
