“The hierarchical top-down approach we are usually trained in is insufficient.”

“The challenge for yoga teachers is to reflect on how we can teach safely, with clear instruction, and simultaneously offer students the options they need to make their own choices,” Heyman says. A one-size-fits-all approach to yoga is harmful since it discourages personal agency. Modern yoga in the West has been appropriated, commercialized, and whitewashed, emphasizing able-bodied strength and flexibility and often marketed to thin, affluent, white women. yoga postures that aggressively open the hips and spine.when a teacher’s language and sequencing is exclusive rather than inclusive.artificially heated environments that exceed the body’s normal temperature.certain breathwork ( pranayama) practices.holding postures for a prolonged period of time.For trauma survivors, some mainstream yoga techniques can reactivate the fight-or-flight response, putting the sympathetic nervous system into overdrive.Įxamples of when yoga can trigger trauma include:

The intent of any yoga practice is to facilitate the “rest-and-digest” response of the parasympathetic nervous system - which is the opposite state to the “ fight, flight, or freeze” response that holds many trauma survivors captive. Establishing presence and finding a sense of grounding can help you connect to your mind and body in a way that feels secure.Īs you are guided through a supportive experience, you may observe sensations and emotions that arise without feeling triggered or overwhelmed. Trauma-informed yoga is less about how poses are executed and more about the feeling of embodiment (being within your body) within a pose. While many regular yoga classes encourage students to move through emotional discomfort, trauma-informed yoga creates a safe space for people to pay attention to signs of dissociation and distress that may come up, and to stop whenever they need. And many yoga poses can even be triggering for those who’ve endured physical trauma, particularly sexual trauma.Ī safe, secure, and predictable environment surrounded by a like-minded community is the foundation for this type of practice. Many yoga teachers aren’t trained to treat medical or mental health conditions.

address nervous system dysregulation, dissociation, and feelings of disconnection from the body or surroundings, which are common after experiencing trauma.

increase body awareness (interoception) in a safe and controlled way, which can promote feelings of physical, emotional, and psychological safety.

This form of yoga may include self-regulation strategies to: Trauma-informed yoga teachers are trained to be conscious of trauma and understand how trauma intersects with the practice. “Trauma-informed teaching means we assume that all our students have had some kind of trauma in their lives and that we teach in a way that offers a space for healing from trauma, rather than triggering it,” he says. “All yoga teaching needs to be trauma-informed,” says yoga therapist Jivana Heyman, founder of Accessible Yoga and author of Yoga Revolution based in Santa Barbara, California. Trauma-informed yoga (TIY) describes an approach to the practice that addresses the specific needs and symptoms of trauma survivors. This means that mind-body practices like yoga can be challenging, and even harmful, for those who have endured any form of trauma - whether acute or complex. Trauma doesn’t just affect the mind - it can also be held in the body.

Trauma informed