Private Yoga Instruction

Compassionate return to Embodiment – Trauma Informed Yoga (TIY)

Compassionate return to Embodiment TIY class is a safe place for students to experience

empowerment, self-efficacy, and interoception. Research has demonstrated effective for PTSD

and a greater sense overall of serenity, embodiment, and appreciation for everyday things.

Students regain comfort and connection to their bodies, emotions, and thoughts. It counteracts

rumination and improves self-regulation. Your TIYT is trained to support students as they begin

to notice what is happening inside their bodies. This return is not a medical treatment. We

always want students to discuss with their medical doctors prior so they can see and work with

you as you take what you experience back to them as part of your healing.

" Self-compassion is defined as “kindness directed toward the self.” At its core, trauma affects a person’s capacity to be self-compassionate, so trauma recovery is about nurturing and growing that ability "

Understanding Trauma-Informed Yoga

When the word trauma comes up, many of us think of experiences like war or domestic violence.

We often don’t see ourselves as survivors of trauma. Trauma to many feels like a word reserved

for certain types of events and experiences. Most are unaware of the effects of trauma, or how

they might be a survivor or someone dealing each day without guidance of healing, since they

assume their life experiences didn’t deserve to be included in that term.

What Is Trauma?

 A traumatic event involves a single experience, or enduring repeated or multiple experiences, that completely overwhelm the individual’s ability to cope or integrate the ideas and emotions involved in that experience. Recent research has revealed that psychological emotional trauma can result from such common occurrences as an auto accident, sudden job loss, relationship loss, a humiliating or deeply disappointing circumstance, the discovery of a life threatening illness or disabling condition, or other similar situations. Traumatizing events can take a serious emotional toll on those involved, even if the event did not cause physical damage. This can have a profound impact on the individual’s identity, resulting in negative effects in mind, body, soul and spirit. 

Regardless of its source, trauma contains three common elements: 

● It was unexpected.

● The person was unprepared. 

● There was nothing the person could do to stop it from happening. 

Simply put, traumatic events are beyond a person’s control. It is not the event that determines whether something is traumatic to someone, but the individual’s experience of the event and the meaning they make of it. Those who feel supported after the event (through family, friends, spiritual connections, etc.) and who had a chance to talk about and process the traumatic event are often able to integrate the experience into their lives, like any other experience.  

Consider the definition of trauma…Trauma is any deeply distressing or disturbing

experience that overwhelms our capacity to cope at one time or another. It can also

include secondary and vicarious trauma, which refer to indirect exposure.

Trauma can include life experiences like a parent not being emotionally available, loss of a loved

one, divorce, a bad accident, long-term illnesses, emotional abuse, living with a loved one with

addiction issues, and so forth.

How Trauma Affects the Brain

Trauma affects us physically, mentally, and emotionally. It leaves a lasting imprint on the

mind, body, and brain. When a person experiences trauma, the body automatically responds

with the fight, flight, or freeze reaction. This response is hardwired into the nervous system to

protect us from harm and move us toward safety. If the body absorbs trauma and the trauma is

not processed, survivors can experience hyperarousal, hypervigilance, numbness, dissociation,

and difficulty regulating their emotions.

Trauma symptoms can be equated to a “release value” for a dysregulated nervous system”.

We have the opportunity to de-pathologize trauma symptoms. Symptoms are not caused

directly by the event; they come from the involuntary biochemical responses in the body. The

brain stem regulates involuntary responses, and as such is a rich ground for trauma symptoms.

Common Examples of Trauma Symptoms can be: under eating, fatigue, restlessness, tracking

the room, discomfort with the back to the door, inability to relax (feels unsafe),promiscuous

behavior, no sex drive, addiction, insomnia, contracted belly paradoxical breathing, chest

breathing, tense, anxious, agitated, self harm, isolation, collapse, numbness, dissociation,

inability to feel, clumsy, brain fog, trouble processing information, forgetful, over exercising,

over working, inability to maintain employment, inability to forster or maintain meaningful

relationships, over eating. 

What Is Trauma-Informed Yoga?

Yoga can be a supportive practice that helps trauma survivors recalibrate the nervous system and

heal. Some basic yoga classes and what takes place in them can trigger students and retraumatize students. (e.g. noises, heavy breathing, smells, cueing or types of poses, hands on

adjustments, limited time to holding poses, movements around the room)

Trauma-informed yoga is an approach to creating a safe, sensitive space in which students

can learn to regulation skills through connection with the breath and increased body

awareness.

Principles of Trauma-Informed Yoga:

 We assume that anyone walking through the door may have experienced trauma.

 We recognize our students as experts on their bodies and experiences.

 We aim to create a safe, comfortable space that is empowering for all students.

 We strive to provide options and modifications for yoga poses recognizing that there is no

 “ideal” shape.

 We avoid too much stimulation with music, scents, objects in the room, lights, etc.

 We acknowledge that some poses and yoga props might make students feel vulnerable.

 We refrain from rigid statements and cueing and instead use language of inquiry.

 We refrain from “hands-on assists” or apply them cautiously if we do use them.

 We teach postures, movements, and ways of breathing that facilitate calmness.