Bodhisattvas of Your Psyche: Therapy and Yoga. Working with the many parts of the self
There is something quietly profound in the way therapy and yoga meet. Not as separate disciplines, but as complementary practices that guide us back into relationship with ourselves.
In Buddhist thought, a bodhisattva is someone who chooses to remain engaged with the world, committed to easing suffering wherever it appears. They do not turn away from difficulty. They move towards it with steadiness, compassion and an openness to what is present. This is not reserved for spiritual figures or distant ideals. It is a quality we can cultivate within our own inner landscape.
Therapy and yoga, at their best, invite this same orientation.
Therapy creates a space where our inner experiences can be seen and spoken without fear of judgement. It allows what has been hidden or dismissed to come into the light, not to be corrected, but to be understood. Yoga offers a different, though equally vital, pathway. Through breath, movement and stillness, it brings us into direct contact with sensation, helping us notice what is happening beneath the surface of our thinking mind.
Together, they shift the focus from managing ourselves to meeting ourselves.
This becomes especially meaningful when we consider the work of Richard C. Schwartz, who introduced the idea that the mind is not singular but made up of many parts. Each part carries its own perspective, its own role and its own way of trying to help.
This challenges a deeply ingrained cultural assumption. Many of us have grown up believing that we have one mind, and that any conflicting thoughts or emotions are signs that something is wrong. Within that framework, distressing feelings are treated as problems to be controlled or eliminated.
Yet what if these experiences are not errors, but expressions of different aspects of ourselves.
When we begin to see the mind as multiple, a different kind of relationship becomes possible. The anxious voice, the critical voice, the impulsive urges, all can be understood as parts that have developed in response to our lives. Often, they are trying to protect us, even if their methods feel uncomfortable or overwhelming.
In a culture that places great value on self control, we are often encouraged to override these inner experiences through willpower. We learn to push down what feels inconvenient, to discipline what seems unruly. Over time, this can create an internal dynamic where certain parts become harsh and controlling, while others are hidden away or silenced.
The difficulty is that what we suppress does not disappear. It tends to resurface, sometimes with greater intensity. The more we struggle against ourselves, the more fragmented we can feel.
Therapeutic approaches that work with parts offer an alternative. Instead of trying to dominate or dismiss aspects of ourselves, we begin to approach them with curiosity. We ask what they are trying to do, what they might need, and how they came to take on their role.
Yoga supports this in a way that is felt rather than analysed. As attention moves through the body, we begin to notice how different states show up physically. A tightening in the chest, a restlessness in the limbs, a heaviness or a sense of withdrawal. These sensations can be understood as expressions of our inner parts, communicating in a language that is often more immediate than words.
When therapy and yoga are brought together, they create space for both understanding and embodiment. One helps us make sense of our inner world, the other helps us experience it directly.
Over time, this can lead to a more compassionate internal environment. Instead of trying to become a single, controlled version of ourselves, we begin to recognise that we are made up of many parts, each with a place and a purpose. The work becomes less about control and more about connection.
This has a wider impact than we might expect. As we learn to hold our own complexity with care, we often become more able to meet others in the same way. There is less urgency to judge, to fix or to simplify. More capacity to listen, to stay present, and to respond with thoughtfulness.
In this sense, the idea of the bodhisattva becomes something lived rather than conceptual. It is reflected in the way we meet our own inner experiences, and in the way we move through the world.
Therapy and yoga, together, offer a way of practising this. Not perfectly, but consistently. Not by striving to eliminate parts of ourselves, but by learning how to be in relationship with all that we are.
