Yoga Therapy Hour with Amy Wheeler

What if gratitude is not just a feeling, but a trainable skill—one that shapes leadership, relationships, and the way we experience our daily lives? In this episode of The Yoga Therapy Hour , Amy sits down with Paul Nardone, Director of the Workforce Center and faculty member in business, to explore gratitude as an intentional practice. Together, they unpack how small, consistent moments of apprec...

In this episode of The Yoga Therapy Hour , Amy Wheeler welcomes Jeremy David Engels, PhD, professor at Penn State University, to explore how mindfulness, yoga philosophy, and compassionate communication can help us navigate an increasingly polarized world. Jeremy discusses his newest book, On Mindful Democracy: A Declaration of Interdependence to Mend a Fractured World (Parallax Press, February 20...

What if one of the most transformative practices in yoga is also one of the least understood? In this episode of The Yoga Therapy Hour , Amy Wheeler sits down with yoga therapist and educator Mona Shah to explore Pratyāhāra , the fifth limb of Patañjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga. Often translated as "withdrawal of the senses," Pratyāhāra is much more than turning away from the world. It is...

In this solo episode of The Yoga Therapy Hour, host Amy Wheeler, Ph. D., explores Pratyāhāra, the fifth limb of Patañjali’s eight-limbed path, and how Yoga Nidra can become a powerful therapeutic pathway for turning the senses inward. Rather than presenting Yoga Nidra as a single technique, Amy explores the many ways it can be understood and applied. Some approaches emphasize embodiment and awaren...

In this episode of The Yoga Therapy Hour , Amy welcomes two guests whose work intersects at the heart of yoga therapy education: Leila Stuart and Kimberly Searl from the School of Integrative Health at Notre Dame of Maryland University. The conversation centers on the integration of Experiential Anatomy into a graduate-level yoga therapy curriculum, and what it means to move beyond memorization of...

What if much of what we’ve been taught about the breath in yoga is backwards? In this episode, Amy sits down with yoga therapist and author Robin Rothenberg for a frank, eye-opening conversation that challenges one of yoga’s most cherished cues: “take a big breath.” After a respiratory crisis upended her own health, Robin discovered that the long, dramatic breaths she’d taught for years were makin...

Are prāṇāyāma and modern breathwork the same thing, or do they represent fundamentally different approaches to working with the breath? In this episode of The Yoga Therapy Hour , Amy Wheeler explores one of the most common questions arising in yoga therapy, wellness, and healthcare today. While both prāṇāyāma and modern breathwork involve conscious breathing practices that can influence stress, mo...

In this episode of The Yoga Therapy Hour , Amy Wheeler welcomes yoga therapist, meditation teacher, and breathwork facilitator Laurie Angress for a thoughtful conversation about conscious connected breathwork and its potential to serve as a portal into deeper self-awareness, healing, and connection. Laurie shares her personal journey into breathwork, including how curiosity led her to explore a pr...

In this solo episode, Amy Wheeler explores a fascinating question: What happens when we look beneath the physical practice of yoga and return to its deeper purpose? Beginning with the history of āsana, Amy traces how yoga postures evolved from simple meditation seats into the diverse practices we know today. Along the way, she examines the Tantric influence of the Śiva Saṃhitā, the rise of embodie...

Episode Summary In this episode of The Yoga Therapy Hour , Amy sits down with Danielle Burke, a certified yoga therapist and licensed professional counselor, to explore what happens when traditional talk therapy meets embodied practice. Danielle shares her journey from mental health counseling into integrative wellness, where she now blends yoga therapy, somatic awareness, and lived experience to...

In this solo episode, Amy Wheeler explores the second yama, satyam (truthfulness) , and its essential relationship to the first yama, ahiṃsā (non-harming) . This conversation moves beyond simple definitions and into the lived complexity of speaking truth in real relationships, real bodies, and real moments. Drawing from personal reflection—including her own experience with illness and voice—Amy in...

Episode Overview In this thoughtful and grounded conversation, Amy Wheeler sits down with Marlysa Sullivan, a physical therapist, yoga therapist, and educator working within the Veterans Administration and at Notre Dame of Maryland University. Together, they explore the Niyamas from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as living practices—less about rigid rules and more about ongoing self-inquiry, ethical...

In this episode, Amy sits down with Posture Ellie , a posture specialist based in the Peak District of England, whose work bridges movement, awareness, and human transformation. Ellie shares her personal journey from corporate burnout and disconnection to discovering yoga as a turning point—one that ultimately led her to specialize in posture as a powerful, accessible entry point into healing. Tog...

Episode Description In this episode, Dr. Amy Wheeler continues the Season 10 exploration of the Eight Limbs of Yoga as a regulatory framework , turning inward toward the Niyamas —the personal disciplines that shape how we care for ourselves and engage in inner work.  Rather than presenting the Niyamas as a checklist of ideals, this conversation reframes them as practices that create the internal c...

In this conversation, Amy sits down with Colleen Carroll for a thoughtful exploration of Santoṣa —often translated as contentment, but experienced as something much more nuanced. Rather than presenting contentment as a passive or idealized state, this episode examines it as a living practice—one that unfolds in the middle of uncertainty, chronic pain, changing identities, and the natural fluctuati...

Episode Overview In this conversation, Amy sits down with Lee to explore the role of daily practice— sādhana —as a living, evolving process rather than a fixed routine. Together, they reflect on what it means to cultivate steadiness in the mind, nervous system, and heart, and how consistent practice becomes a pathway toward deeper self-understanding, inner guidance, and connection to something gre...

Episode Overview In this conversation, Amy Wheeler sits down with yoga therapist and educator Ashley McKeachie to explore the lived experience of ahimsa —non-harming—as it unfolds in real time with aging bodies and evolving nervous systems. Ashley shares how her work with older adults (ages 55–95+) has reshaped her understanding of yoga therapy, shifting from performance and outcomes toward presen...

What does it mean to trust that life will work out —not as a belief, but as a lived, embodied experience? In this solo episode, Dr. Amy Wheeler explores the intersection of the Yamas —the ethical foundation of yoga—and the neuroscience of safety, regulation, and predictive processing . Rather than approaching ethics as a set of rules to follow, this conversation reframes them as natural expression...

In this episode, Amy sits down with Mala Cunningham, a pioneer in integrating yoga therapy with mental health care. The conversation offers a steady and thoughtful exploration of how yoga therapy supports individuals living with anxiety, depression, and chronic stress, not by bypassing these experiences, but by helping people build the capacity to be with them differently. Mala brings decades of c...

In this episode, Amy sits down with Deborah Santana—author, philanthropist, and lifelong spiritual practitioner—for a conversation that explores what it means to live from inner sovereignty. While many may recognize her through her 34-year marriage to Carlos Santana, this conversation clarifies something more essential: Deborah Santana has lived a deeply self-directed life shaped by spiritual inqu...

In this solo episode, Amy Wheeler explores one of the most important psychological teachings in the yoga tradition: the five kleśas , described in Chapter 2 of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. These teachings help explain why human beings experience suffering even when they are sincerely trying to live well. Drawing from both Sāṅkhya philosophy and the Yoga Sūtra, Amy walks listeners through the deep...

In this solo episode, Amy Wheeler brings clarity and steadiness to the recent scientific critique of Polyvagal Theory by Paul Grossman and colleagues. Rather than reacting defensively or dismissing prematurely, this conversation explores what mature fields do when a theory is questioned: they clarify, refine, and return to foundational principles. Amy examines: • What the critique of Polyvagal The...

In this conversation, Amy sits down with mindfulness teacher and writer Oneika Mays to talk about her new book, Sit with Me: A No-BS Journey to Mindfulness and Meditation —part memoir, part meditation guide, and an unflinching look at what it means to practice loving-kindness in real-world conditions, including inside Rikers Island. Oneika shares what it felt like to work inside a system built on...

In this solo episode, Amy returns to one of the heart-teachings of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra : learning to observe the fluctuations of mind and how they shape behavior, communication, and the way we show up in relationship and daily life. Rather than analyzing or diagnosing, she frames this as svādhyāya —steady self-reflection rooted in classical yoga philosophy. Amy walks listeners through Vyāsa’s f...

What happens when we stop treating suffering as a fixed identity and start relating to it as a changeable state? In this conversation, Amy Wheeler is joined by Colleen Millen, a licensed marriage and family therapist and yoga therapist who works at the intersection of somatic psychotherapy, nervous system regulation, and post-traumatic growth. Colleen shares how “healing happens in present time,”...