Is resting from yoga actually making your low back pain worse?
In this episode, Cathy breaks down one of the most common and most harmful beliefs yogis have about managing recurring low back pain. The idea that pain always means tissue damage, and that rest is the safest response.

You’ll learn:
 ✨ Why pulling back from your yoga practice can increase nervous system sensitivity
 ✨ The surprising science behind pain, load, and your brain’s “protectometer”
 ✨ How chronic pain becomes a learned pathway (even after tissues have healed)
 ✨ Why rest helps in the short term… but can stall long-term recovery
 ✨ The difference between acute vs chronic pain and why the rules are different
 ✨ A step-by-step method (the BRM – Biofeedback Response Method) to keep practising yoga safely during recovery
✨ How to modify poses without reinforcing fear, avoidance, or hypersensitivity
✨ The mindset shift every yogi needs to make to break the recurring flare-up cycle

If you’ve ever wondered why your back feels better when you rest, but flares up the moment you return to yoga, pilates, or even daily tasks. This episode will help you understand exactly what’s going on and what to do instead.

Want the key teachings and mantras from this episode, plus every past episode all in one place?

Download the growing collection of Empowered Yogi Podcast Takeaways + Mantras.
It’s your quick reference guide to help you stay anchored in the teachings that help you heal, move, and live with intention long after each episode ends.

Prefer to read?
This episode is available as a blog: cathyaganoff.com.au/blog
 

🎧 Listen now to learn how to stay on the mat while healing your back safely, calmly and confidently.

Resources & Links Mentioned in This Episode

• Download this episodes: key takeaways and mantras
  
  
• Explore local yoga therapy & physio services → tribalance.com.au
  
  
• Join Cathy's next FREE Live workshop: Yoga For Low Back Pain 

Thanks for listening. If you’re ready to break free from the injury-recovery cycle and future-proof your yoga practice, hit follow so you never miss an episode. And if you find value here, please scroll down and leave a 5 star review. It helps more yogis like you discover this work.

The best place to connect with me is over on my insta. You can DM me there @cathys_yogajournal. I'd love to know any aha moments you had from this episode. It helps me to know what's resonating with you and how to serve you better.

Are stress and unprocessed emotions secretly fueling your low back pain? In this episode, physiotherapist and yoga therapist Cathy Aganoff explains how your brain’s protectometer, its built-in threat detector links stress, chronic pain, and the nervous system. Discover how yoga therapy offers powerful tools to release stored stress, retrain your nervous system, and reclaim safety in your body.

Drawing on both neuroscience and yoga philosophy, Cathy shares:

• Why stress and stored emotions often show up as tension and pain in the low back and hips.
• How your nervous system “learns” pain after months of chronic stress.
• The difference between band-aid fixes (like simply cutting back your to-do list) and true nervous system retraining.
• Practical yoga therapy tools, breathwork, gentle rhythmic movement, strength training, affirmations, and meditation, to help you discharge stress, calm your protectometer, and feel safe in your body again.

If you’ve ever noticed your back pain flare during times of overwhelm, or wondered why rest alone doesn’t fix the problem, this episode will give you fresh insight into the stress–pain connection. You’ll also hear Cathy’s personal story of heartbreak and chronic back pain, and how yoga became the missing piece in her healing.

👉 Key takeaway: Safety is the real medicine. By processing stress and building resilience through yoga, you can retrain your nervous system and reclaim comfort in your body.

Resources & Links Mentioned in This Episode

• Download this episodes: key takeaways and mantras
  
  
• Explore local yoga therapy & physio services → tribalance.com.au
  
  
• Join Cathy's next FREE Live workshop: Yoga For Low Back Pain 

Thanks for listening. If you’re ready to break free from the injury-recovery cycle and future-proof your yoga practice, hit follow so you never miss an episode. And if you find value here, please scroll down and leave a 5 star review. It helps more yogis like you discover this work.

The best place to connect with me is over on my insta. You can DM me there @cathys_yogajournal. I'd love to know any aha moments you had from this episode. It helps me to know what's resonating with you and how to serve you better.

Episode 3: The Most Important Pose to Modify for Your Low Back in Yoga

What if the yoga pose causing your low back pain isn’t what you think? In this episode of The Empowered Yogi Podcast, Brisbane physiotherapist and yoga teacher Cathy Aganoff reveals the single most important movement to modify if you want lasting low back pain relief, and it’s not a backbend or twist.

You’ll learn:

• Why one common yoga transition is responsible for so much spinal overload.
• The science behind hip hinging and glute activation and why your brain may have “forgotten” how to move this way.
• How a simple modification can build resilience in your spine and protect your back on and off the mat.
• A practical mantra you can carry into your practice and daily life.

If you’ve felt frustrated by recurring back pain during or after yoga, or overwhelmed by conflicting advice online, this episode will give you clarity and confidence in how to move forward.

✨ Key takeaway: You don’t need to stop practising yoga. You just need to retrain how you move.

Free resource: Register for Cathy’s live workshop to learn this modification step-by-step → cathyaganoff.com.au

Resources & Links Mentioned in This Episode

• Download this episodes: key takeaways and mantras
  
  
• Explore local yoga therapy & physio services → tribalance.com.au
  
  
• Join Cathy's next FREE Live workshop: Yoga For Low Back Pain 

Thanks for listening. If you’re ready to break free from the injury-recovery cycle and future-proof your yoga practice, hit follow so you never miss an episode. And if you find value here, please scroll down and leave a 5 star review. It helps more yogis like you discover this work.

The best place to connect with me is over on my insta. You can DM me there @cathys_yogajournal. I'd love to know any aha moments you had from this episode. It helps me to know what's resonating with you and how to serve you better.

Episode 2: The Missing Link in Your Low Back Pain Recovery Journey

Are you doing all the right things for your back pain, but still not getting lasting relief? In this episode of The Empowered Yogi Podcast, Brisbane physiotherapist and yoga therapist Cathy Aganoff reveals the often-overlooked missing link in low back pain recovery and how yoga therapy can help you finally break the cycle of recurring pain.

You’ll discover:

• Why common treatments like massage and core exercises often aren’t enough
• The three key foundations of long-term low back pain recovery
• How awareness of your neutral spine, core stability, and hip hinge movement can transform healing
• The role yoga therapy plays in reconnecting your body and brain for pain-free living

Whether you’re struggling with ongoing low back pain, or you’re a yoga teacher, physio, or health professional looking for fresh insights, this episode offers practical tools and thought-shifts to support lasting change.

✨ Key takeaway: Recovery isn’t about doing more, it’s about addressing the missing link that’s holding you back.

👉 Listen now to learn how you can apply these strategies in your own life and start moving toward a stronger, pain-free future.

🔹 Resources & Links Mentioned in This Episode

• Learn more about Cathy Aganoff → cathyaganoff.com.au
• Download this episodes: key takeaways and mantras
  
  
• Explore local yoga therapy & physio services → tribalance.com.au
  
  
• Join Cathy's next FREE Live workshop: Yoga For Low Back Pain 

Thanks for listening. If you’re ready to break free from the injury-recovery cycle and future-proof your yoga practice, hit follow so you never miss an episode. And if you find value here, please scroll down and leave a 5 star review. It helps more yogis like you discover this work.

The best place to connect with me is over on my insta. You can DM me there @cathys_yogajournal. I'd love to know any aha moments you had from this episode. It helps me to know what's resonating with you and how to serve you better.

🎙️ Episode 1: Yoga Therapy for Back Pain.

How a Brisbane Physio Discovered Yoga and Never Looked Back.

If you’ve been struggling with low back pain and feel like you’ve tried everything — from physio and Pilates to stretching, medications, or massages — only to end up back in the same cycle of pain, this episode is for you.

In this very first episode of The Empowered Yogi Podcast, I share my story as a Brisbane physiotherapist who discovered yoga not just as exercise, but as a powerful therapy for healing back pain and reclaiming freedom in movement.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why traditional approaches to back pain often fall short (and what’s missing from your recovery)
• How yoga therapy blends physiotherapy principles with nervous system regulation
• The surprising role stress and mindset play in chronic pain
• The key shift that helped me move from frustration to empowerment — and how it can help you too

This episode is perfect for you if:

✔ You experience recurrent back pain or flare-ups that disrupt work, sleep, or daily life
 ✔ You feel stuck in the “quick fix” cycle that never lasts
 ✔ You want to understand how the brain, body, and stress are linked to your pain
 ✔ You’re curious about how yoga therapy is different from a regular yoga class

Key takeaway

True recovery isn’t about pushing harder. It’s about retraining your body, calming your nervous system, and stepping into a new, empowered way of healing.

✨ Don’t miss an episode: Subscribe to The Empowered Yogi Podcast so you never miss tools, insights, and strategies for overcoming back pain. 

👉 Ready to go deeper? Learn more about yoga therapy for back pain by registering for my FREE Live workshop at cathyaganoff.com.au

Thanks for listening. If you’re ready to break free from the injury-recovery cycle and future-proof your yoga practice, hit follow so you never miss an episode. And if you find value here, please scroll down and leave a 5 star review. It helps more yogis like you discover this work.

The best place to connect with me is over on my insta. You can DM me there @cathys_yogajournal. I'd love to know any aha moments you had from this episode. It helps me to know what's resonating with you and how to serve you better.