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Old Dec 03, 2012, 07:54 PM
autotelica autotelica is offline
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Member Since: Jun 2012
Posts: 855
I've talked about this before ad nauseum. My therapist and I are sometimes in the same yoga class. We tend not to be now because she prefers the early morning class (and I like sleeping in!), but for a long time we were in the same class together. Sometimes I will join her if I have a scheduling conflict.

It was weird at first. For one thing, all the members of the yoga studio seem to know her. At first I was scared that if I was friendly towards her, then I'd be announcing to everyone that she was my shrink. Which is kind of stupid now that I think about it. Who else but other patients would know that she was a shrink? And why would me just saying hello necessarily mean that I was her patient?

And then secondly, I was nervous that she wouldn't want to talk to me and that I would say hello and she would pretend she didn't hear me. But that didn't happen at all. She talks to me like she would a friend. Sometimes she'll lean in real close and catch up on current events since my last session with her (like asking if I've seen my pdoc yet). Besides the instructors, she's the only person who really talks to me when I'm at the yoga studio.

The staff at the studio now know that we have a professional connection. It was embarrassing at first, but I'm kind of relieved now.

So it doesn't have to be weird and I don't think it's necessarily unethical, as long as all parties involve maintain their boundaries. The shared yoga experience has been helpful in making me feel closer to my therapist, I think. Besides work, yoga is my only other area of face-to-face people interaction. I'm glad my therapist is able to see this setting first-hand so she has an idea of what I'm talking when I regale her with my stories.
Thanks for this!
skysblue