What Is Trauma Informed Yoga?
“The goal of a trauma-informed yoga practice is to build resiliency and establish greater self-regulation. It is about feeling safe and at-home in our bodies so that we can feel stable, have good self-esteem, and healthy relationships.”
Life happens
So many things are out of our control and sometimes, it can feel overwhelming, leading to stress, anxiety, insomnia, and a general lack of wellbeing. While none of us can control our external environment, we can learn to build our tolerance for being with difficult experiences and difficult emotions as they arrive. We can not stop things from happening but we can learn to cultivate resilience, self regulate and stay present as a way of remembering our innate power, managing stress and anxiety and, hopefully, preventing overwhelm.
Self-regulation is the innate ability to quiet the nervous system, remain present, manage stress and anxiety, and accurately assess safety in our immediate environment. When we are regulated, or when we can notice states of dis-regulation and use practical tools to calm nervous system arousal, we be in and with our experiences without feeling overwhelmed
And, our nervous systems interact with each other, meaning that my balance and wellbeing has an impact on you and yours on me. This is referred to as co-regulation. The more we can practice self-regulation and build our own resilience, the greater impact we can have not just on ourselves but also on the lives, experience, and wellbeing of those around us.
To cultivate a culture of wellbeing, for ourselves and for our communities, we prioritise evidence-based practices of self-regulation – grounding, centering, orienting, and breathwork. These tools have been shown to improve overall wellbeing by improving focus, clarity, and communication, and by reducing stress and anxiety. We prioritise resources that are simple, practical, and accessible to all, and can be practiced anywhere, and anytime. We believe in the power of this self regulation toolkit to remind us of our own strength, and to guide each of us towards rediscovering it.
“Trauma Informed” and “Trauma Sensitive” yoga trainings are getting more and more popular these days as research is showing the benefits of yoga for those struggling with trauma symptoms. Yet being trauma informed is not just necessary when teaching people who have active trauma symptoms, it is important for everyone. Everyone has experienced some sort of trauma, big or small, as well as general stress; and both can impact our ability to self-regulate (to feel safe, grounded and present).
The yoga postures offer a unique opportunity to both strengthen the muscles and stretch areas that carry tension. This combination, along with an emphasis on breathing and mindfulness is why yoga is often called a “mind/body” practice- because it can get us in touch with our sensations and emotions.”
Yoga for Trauma Concepts, Tools and Skills. Collective Resillience e-manual 2020.
Trauma is an event that overwhelms a person physically or emotionally. Examples include: war/conflict, physical or sexual abuse, car crashes, accidents, life-threatening illness, major injury, or sudden and unexpected loss. Experiencing a traumatic event does not necessarily mean that a person becomes traumatized. Some people, however, have a difficult time bringing their body and mind back into balance after trauma. When this happens, it is because the traumatic event remains unresolved and stuck in the body and mind, causing physical, psychological, and emotional struggle.
Trauma impacts both the mind and the body. Unresolved trauma keeps people trapped in the past, affecting their ability to accurately assess reality - what is happening in the present - as they can feel they are reliving past events. If someone is unable to bring body and mind back in to balance after a traumatic event, they may find that their actions are increasingly driven by impulse instead of by reason. They may feel unsafe, even when there is no danger present. This feeling of danger may make the person feel as though they want to escape their body so that they no longer have to feel pain and other difficult emotions. Or, the person may feel safe even if there is danger present because they find it difficult to accurately assess the danger.
Trauma-informed yoga supports us by providing a safer space in which to make choices for ourselves and about our own bodies. This freedom to make our own choices – for example, making decisions based on what we feel in our own bodies about how deep we want to take a pose or whether or not we want to modify a pose to match our energy levels – can help to release trauma from our bodies and find a better connection with the present reality. Through yoga, we connect to our breathe and learn to understand where we are in space and time in a way that allows us to find a sense of safety in our physical body.
As we develop a regular practice, we may find it easier to maintain a sense of balance, well-being, and mental and physical health. This balance may make it easier to discover a safe and compassionate place in our bodies and in our breath that allow us to stay present to reality and to our environment. Eventually, we may learn to better trust ourselves and our instincts, making it a bit easier to be kinder and gentler with ourselves and with others.
“A traumatic event changes those who suffer it, and all change involves loss….survivors have much in common with the bereaved. He must mourn for something he has lost of himself. ‘I am not the same person I was: I will never be the same again.’ The questions, however, is whether in the end the survivor will be less of a person than before, a more disturbed person, or whether he can become more of a person, the disaster becoming a focus for growth.”