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Trauma is an emotional and physiological response to an unpleasant event in which the person experiencing it often had an extreme lack of choice in the outcome. Trauma is subjective, and there are many factors that can contribute to the degree in which the person is negatively affected. Some examples are:
Prior trauma's, especially those that happened in childhood or infancy
Access to supports
Duration of the exposure to the trauma (one time or ongoing)
Those who suffer from PTSD or trauma related symptoms (anxiety, flashbacks, trouble sleeping, hypervigilance, negative thought patterns, etc.) often create negative coping skills to avoid dealing with the impact that the trauma has left them with. These could include overworking, dissociation, substance use, and avoidance behaviors. Unfortunately the only way past trauma is through it.
How Can Trauma Sensitive Yoga help?
There are many components that are integrated into a trauma sensitive yoga class that can help students alleviate their symptoms. For example:
Vagal Nerve stimulation (Based on Dr. Stephen Porges Poly Vagal Theory)
Creating a safe physical environment to practice
NO hands on assists
Mindfulness-staying in the present moment
Emphasis on choice throughout the practice
Focus on feeling, not form
A less is more approach to movement
Encouragement of grace and compassion throughout practice
Releasing judgement, competition and expectations
Listening to the body
Empowerment - allowing students to be in control of how much or how little they participate in class. Just showing up may be all the student has in them today, and that in itself is celebrated
Use of cues to help students become curious about the sensations that are occurring in the body at the moment including the intensity while providing the opportunity for the student to choose how much they are willing to explore that day
Healing From Within: Trauma Sensitive Yoga Program
This 8 Week program is a complementary intervention for complex trauma or chronic, treatment resistant Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), with foundations in trauma informed practices, Poly-Vagal Theory, attachment theory, neuroscience and Hatha Yoga.
Talk therapy is a "Top-Down" approach, meaning you work with your mind and thoughts. Trauma Sensitive Yoga is a "Bottom-Up" approach to therapy, which means you work through the body. Some Bottom-Up techniques include gentle exploration of somatic sensations in the body, breathing exercises, and moving with intention.
The objective of the Healing From Within program is to provide a "safe" environment in which participants can begin to explore their experience from a somatic perspective. The goal is to help participants understand the neurobiology of trauma and how it manifests itself in the body and introduce techniques or tools such as breathwork, mindfulness, and movement that can help regulate the nervous system and therefore allow them to better manage the distressing effects of trauma.
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