The Modality
What is yogic bodywork?
Yogic bodywork is a co-created bodywork modality — primarily clothed — drawing on four threads: Thai massage, assisted stretching, yoga postural adjustments, and breathwork. The client participates. The session is organized by breath. The result is deeper than most massage and more accessible than most yoga.
It is not massage in the traditional sense. It is not yoga in the traditional sense. It is something new — built from what works in both — organized by breath, grounded in position and pressure, activated by participation, and completed by rest.
The Method
Breath
Every session is organized around the client's breath. The practitioner follows; the breath leads.
Position
Body geometry is set before pressure is applied. Thai-derived positioning uses gravity and lever mechanics to open tissue.
Pressure
Sustained, considered pressure through clothing — structural and specific, calibrated to the client's breath.
Participation
Micro-instructions invite active engagement — not performance, but presence. The bodywork becomes co-created.
Rest
Integration is part of the work. Stillness after pressure sequences lets the nervous system consolidate what just happened.
Programs
Two ways to train
Live Now — Enrolling
Continuing Education
Hands-on CE workshops for currently licensed massage therapists. Earn CE hours in a new modality while expanding your clinical range.
For: licensed massage therapists (LMTs)
Learn more →Coming Soon — Join Waitlist
Full Certification
A comprehensive practitioner training in yogic bodywork — the full method, its philosophy, its science, and its clinical application.
For: aspiring practitioners & serious students
Learn more & join waitlist →Free Resource
Try a 15-minute taste
The free mini-class introduces the first pillar — breath — through a short guided practice you can experience right now. No equipment, no experience needed.
📷 Founder portrait
Founder & Faculty
Christine Marie Mason
Christine has taught yoga and anatomy for thirty years. The Yogic Bodywork Institute is the practitioner-training branch of her broader work in somatic embodiment — a rigorous attempt to systematize what she has witnessed the body do, again and again, when it is worked with rather than on.
She is also founder of the Living Tantra Institute and Rosebud Woman, and author of nine books on embodiment, consciousness, and practice.
From the Journal
Recent writing
Opinion
Breath, Position, Pressure, Participation & Rest — The Science
The physiological and neurological evidence behind the five elements of yogic bodywork.
Opinion
A Yogic & Tantric View of Healing & Self-Agency
What the classical traditions say about the body as intelligent participant in its own healing.
A new institute building a new modality. Here's where we are with accreditation and licensing status →