What if feeling better wasn't just about stretching your muscles, but also about understanding yourself a little better?
I'll admit, when I think about yoga, I picture stretching, flexibility, and trying to hold a pose while wondering why everyone else makes it look so easy.
But after sitting down with Leila Stuart, owner of Centerpoint Yoga Therapy here in White Rock, I realized there's a whole lot more to it.
Leila has been helping people connect with their bodies and minds for decades, and she's been doing it since long before yoga studios seemed to pop up on every other corner.
In fact, she's been running her studio since 1999, making it one of the longest-standing yoga studios in White Rock.
And as I discovered during our conversation on The Best of White Rock, her approach to yoga is a little different from what most of us might expect.
From Massage Therapy to Something Much Bigger
Leila's journey started with a simple observation.
While working as a massage therapist, she noticed that her clients seemed to improve faster when they incorporated movement into their recovery.
Rather than simply treating the problem someone came in with, she became interested in helping people understand how their bodies worked and how they could take a more active role in feeling better.
That curiosity eventually led her deeper into yoga therapy.
Now, Leila wasn't exactly late to the yoga party. She started teaching around 1993, back when yoga looked quite different from what it does today.
There weren't memberships, trendy workout clothes, or a new studio opening every other week.
People often studied with the same teacher for years.
Her own teacher, Sandra Sammartino, wouldn't even graduate students from her teacher training until she believed they were truly ready.
I loved that.
These days, we're so accustomed to taking a course, completing the required hours, and walking away with a certificate. Leila's experience was different. You earned your qualifications when your teacher believed you had developed the skills.
That commitment to learning stuck with her.
Over the years, Leila continued studying movement, anatomy, and the connection between our physical and emotional well-being. She went on to teach yoga therapists herself for nearly 15 years and even wrote two books.
It's safe to say she's learned a thing or two along the way.
So, What Exactly Is Yoga Therapy?
This was probably my biggest question going into our conversation.
What's the difference between yoga and yoga therapy?
According to Leila, the biggest difference is that yoga therapy takes the practices of yoga and adapts them to the individual.
In a traditional yoga class, you might follow an instructor through a series of poses.
In yoga therapy, the instructor takes a much closer look at you as a person.
Maybe you've got a sore shoulder, a swollen knee, chronic pain, or something else that's making movement difficult.
Instead of expecting you to fit into the class, Leila adapts the movements to fit you.
She also brings years of experience as a former registered massage therapist, giving her a deeper understanding of anatomy and how different parts of the body work together.
But here's where things get interesting.
Leila isn't just interested in helping people move better.
She's interested in helping them live better.
As she explained during our conversation:
"I came for the physical, but I stayed for all the other stuff."
That's something she's heard from clients repeatedly over the years.
And the more we talked, the more I understood why.
Your Body Might Be Telling You More Than You Think
During our interview, Leila introduced me to a couple of terms I hadn't heard before.
One was experiential anatomy.
Now, I don't know about you, but anatomy class wasn't exactly the highlight of my school years.
Memorizing muscles, bones, and where everything attaches? Not particularly exciting.
Experiential anatomy takes a different approach.
Instead of just learning where something is in your body, you learn to actually feel how it works.
Leila gave me an example involving shoulder pain.
Most of us think about moving our arm as something that happens at the shoulder. But what if you learned to initiate that movement from your spine?
That small change in awareness could completely change how the movement feels.
And instead of just doing an exercise ten times and hoping for the best, you begin understanding how to move differently throughout your day.
Reaching for something in the cupboard, shaking someone's hand, or simply going about your regular activities.
The idea is that the benefits don't stop when you leave the yoga mat.
Then she introduced another term: interoception.
Essentially, it's your ability to recognize what's happening inside your body.
Think about the moment you instinctively reach for your phone.
You might not even realize you're doing it.
Leila explained that when we become more aware of those internal urges, we can start recognizing them before automatically reacting.
She even demonstrated a simple hand movement called a mudra, which involves focusing on touching your fingers in a particular sequence.
The idea is to interrupt your usual thought pattern and bring your attention back to the present moment.
As someone who's fascinated by human behaviour and why we make the decisions we do, I found this particularly interesting.
How often do we react to something without really thinking about it?
Probably more than we'd like to admit.
Sometimes the Biggest Changes Aren't Physical
One of my favourite moments from the interview came when I asked Leila about clients who had experienced meaningful changes through her work.
She told me about a woman living with fibromyalgia.
The woman experienced significant pain and fatigue, which had limited what she could do in her everyday life.
After attending Leila's classes, she stayed behind one day to share something surprising.
Of all the practices they'd worked on together, the one she felt had helped her pain the most wasn't a physical movement.
It was forgiveness.
Not stretching. Not strengthening. Forgiveness.
That really caught my attention.
Leila explained that yoga therapy looks at the whole person, including physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.
For some people, movement is what makes the biggest difference.
For others, it might be breathing, awareness, or learning to let go of something they've been carrying around emotionally.
Of course, everyone's experience is different, and yoga therapy isn't a substitute for medical care. But hearing how this woman connected her emotional work with her experience of pain was fascinating.
It also reinforced something Leila kept coming back to throughout our conversation.
We're not just a collection of muscles and bones.
Everything is connected.
And sometimes the thing that helps us feel better isn't necessarily the thing we expected.
Apparently, Yoga Therapy Can Make You Better Company at Home Too
Leila shared another story that gave me a good laugh.
She said several women in her classes had told her their husbands actually encouraged them to keep attending yoga therapy.
Naturally, I wanted to know why.
Her answer?
"Because I'm way better at home when I go to yoga therapy."
Fair enough!
But there's a pretty interesting point behind that comment.
When we're less stressed, more aware of our emotions, and better at recognizing what we need, that can affect how we interact with everyone around us.
Our spouses, kids, coworkers, and friends.
Leila explained that as people develop a stronger sense of themselves, they often become more compassionate toward themselves, too.
And that can influence the choices they make and how they respond to everyday situations.
Maybe that's one of the most overlooked benefits of taking time for yourself.
It's not necessarily just about you.
This Isn't Your Typical One-Hour Yoga Class
Another thing that surprised me was how Leila structures her classes.
For starters, they're two hours long.
And before you start imagining two hours of holding difficult poses, that's not what happens.
Her classes begin with a check-in.
Students share how they're feeling, what's working for them, and what challenges they might be experiencing.
From there, Leila guides them through gentle movement, breathing exercises, and practices designed around a particular theme.
When we spoke, her classes were focused on brain health.
She explained how different movements, breathing techniques, and even changes in where we direct our attention can influence how we experience movement.
There's also time for meditation and relaxation.
And because Leila knows her students and their individual needs, she can adjust what she's teaching based on how everyone is doing that day.
It's a thoughtful approach that feels very different from simply showing up, following a routine, and heading home.
She also offers both in-person and online classes, making it possible for people to participate in different ways.
You Don't Have to Be Flexible to Start
Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Leila what she thought was the biggest misconception people had about yoga therapy.
Her answer was something I suspect a lot of people can relate to.
They think yoga isn't for them.
Maybe they're not flexible enough.
Maybe they have an injury.
Or maybe they've tried yoga before and felt completely out of place.
I can relate to that last one.
There's something slightly humbling about watching someone effortlessly fold themselves into a position that makes your hamstrings hurt just looking at it.
But Leila wants people to understand that yoga therapy isn't about being able to twist yourself into a pretzel.
It's about meeting people where they are.
As she put it:
"In yoga therapy, we start where you are."
That's such a simple statement, but I think it says a lot about her philosophy.
You don't need to arrive with a certain level of fitness, flexibility, or experience.
You just need to be willing to learn a little more about yourself.
A White Rock Business Built on Helping People Feel Better
One of the things I enjoy most about hosting The Best of White Rock is meeting people who have dedicated years of their lives to making our community better.
Leila is certainly one of those people.
She's been teaching yoga since the early 1990s and operating her studio in White Rock since 1999.
That's an incredible amount of experience, but what stood out to me wasn't simply how long she's been doing this.
It was how curious she still is.
She's continually learning, exploring research, and finding new ways to help her students understand themselves.
And despite all that knowledge, she has a wonderful way of making complicated ideas feel approachable.
I went into our conversation expecting to learn a little more about yoga therapy.
I left thinking about how we move, how we think, why we form habits, and how much of our everyday behaviour happens without us even noticing.
Connect with Leila Stuart at Centerpoint Yoga Therapy
If you've been curious about yoga therapy, or you're looking for a gentler, more personalized approach to movement and well-being, I'd encourage you to connect with Leila.
Whether you're dealing with physical discomfort, looking for ways to manage stress, or simply interested in understanding your body a little better, Leila is someone worth getting to know.
Centerpoint Yoga Therapy, White Rock, BC
Website: leilastuart.com
Instagram: @leila.stuart
And who knows? You might show up for the stretching and discover something entirely different.
Know Someone Who Deserves to Be Featured on The Best of White Rock?
White Rock and South Surrey are full of incredible people doing interesting things, and I love having the opportunity to share their stories.
If you're a local business owner, entrepreneur, or professional making a positive impact in our community, I'd love to hear from you.
The Best of White Rock is all about introducing our neighbours to the people and businesses that make this such a great place to live.
🚀 Apply to be featured on The Best of White Rock and tell us a little about your story.
You never know who might be inspired by it!
