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FLOWING INTO THE CONVERSATION IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A DIFFERENT WAY to talk about your feelings and stresses, try yoga therapy. Megan Carson, founder of Sparks Yoga and a former social worker, is using her experience and what she loves to reach people in a unique way. She recently started to offer yoga therapy. "What I found, especially with my private clients who were doing yoga, is that it was like a therapy session anyway. We ended up talking just as much as we were moving," said Carson. She went back to school to get her license for therapy and has blended the two together. She will usually meet a client where they are and each session is different, but her goal is to have a blend of talking therapy, mindful breathing and yoga. Carson said she wants to make this therapy session as easy as possible, since people often get spooked by formal and traditional therapy. She starts by sitting in a comfortable place and chatting with a client. They talk about anything the client wants to talk about, then they move onto a yoga mat to stretch. Carson said this is when the client usually starts to open up more and the conversation really starts flowing. "We need therapy for our minds just as much as our bodies, just as much as our emotions," said Carson. "Especially now, people are feeling the consequences of the pandemic, including the emotional tolls it has taken." Carson is taking clients of all ages, and has recently been getting more calls for yoga therapy with children. "They really open up a lot," she said. THE STATE STEPS IN The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Diseases (DBHDD) also has stepped up to help anyone experiencing anxiety, depression and anything else the pandemic may have triggered. "At the beginning of the pandemic, we anticipated that we would have an increase in people who would not have normally identified themselves as having a mental health illness or even having an addiction," said Monica Johnson, DBHDD director. "The pandemic brought out stress in everyone. It demonstrated that individuals are all on a continuum of being one event or one catastrophic experience away from having trouble with mental health." MEGAN CARSON 50 maconmagazine.com | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022