Clinician Interrupted: MTY Helped Me See the Bigger Picture

We are delighted to share the thoughts and feelings of Christine Walker, PT, DPT, PYT-c, PES, on working on her PYT certification. It turns out that learning Medical Therapeutic Yoga (MTY) isn’t just for transforming patient-care, it transforms the clinician’s self-care .

“I always encourage students to come with their trials, trauma, and woes – we come to yoga in order to be healed and supported, not just to heal and support others. So it is in your worst pain and trials that you SHOULD be at the trainings, and not just wait to come once you are better. “ -Ginger Garner

Since giving birth to my daughter 2 years ago, I have struggled with pelvic and leg pain that resulted in visits to the

OBGYN, ER, and multiple physical therapists. My activities were limited so severely that I struggled to exercise and spent 2 months on light duty at work. I spent the summer preparing for Module 8 with a previous PYT graduate and Physical Therapist in hopes of fully participating.

Suffice to say, I was nervous. I had first tried yoga during PT school, and while I loved the whole-body movements and exercise challenge, I found many asanas (postures) caused aches and pains in places I had previously injured. My hope was that I could learn from Ginger all of the missing pieces that could make yoga safe and effective for me, so that I could then share that knowledge with others.

During the first two days of Module 8 I experience what Ginger calls “your face hitting the windshield”. During this process I was pushed myself too hard and quickly discoverred my body’s boundaries. By the end of day 2, I was in pain and concerned. Would I really be able to make it through the rest of the week?

With grace and patience Ginger helped me discover that yoga may be the best treatment for my misaligned body. The rest of the week amazed me, as I was able to achieve alignment in asanas that I had never been able to do (even before having a baby). Best of all, my pain subsided.

The week of module 8 was a fantastic transformation for both my body and mind. I am so excited to continue this journey to becoming a Professional Yoga Therapist and serving my own community with this new knowledge.