Practicing Trauma-Informed Yoga Helps Us Heal.

Through a regular practice of yoga, we can help ourselves regulate our emotions and gain a sense of safety, connection, and belonging for our lived experience, our bodies, and our community. What makes Trauma-Informed Yoga special is the way it is taught and the sense of safety it provides.

Trauma-Informed Yoga is an approach to yoga instruction that addresses the specific needs and symptoms of trauma survivors and incorporates self-regulation strategies through the fusion of safety reassurance, body movement, and breathwork. One of the more important aspects of Trauma-Informed Yoga is its ability to calm the nervous system, and in this way, yoga helps address dysregulation, dissociation, and body disconnection.

“We don’t use the body to get into the pose, we use the pose to get into the body.”

– Bernie Clark, Yin Yoga

Yoga is more than just a workout or a way to stretch our body, yoga is an ancient transformative practice developed more than 2000 years ago. In Sanskrit, the ancient language of yoga, the term “Yoga” means to yoke or to unite. By its own definition, Yoga is an activity that aims to unite within us all of the elements that make us human: our body, our mind, and our spirit. Through conscious body movement and breathwork, the practice of Yoga provides the practitioner with a sense of wholeness and belonging. This gradual integration of the self is transformational and healing.

Yoga reminds us of our innate resilience.

Yoga’s health benefit comes from the combination of body movement, breath work, deep relaxation, and meditation. These fundamental elements of yoga, as the ancient practice always intended, can help you transform your health mentally, physically, and spiritually. Moreover, a consistent yoga practice reminds us, that no matter what, we can be safe in our bodies and more importantly, that we are capable. Yoga reminds us of our innate resilience.

“Our studies show that yoga is equally as beneficial—or more beneficial—than the best possible medications in alleviating traumatic stress symptoms.”

“In the studies we did involving neuroimaging of the brain, before and after regular yoga practice, we were able to show that the areas of the brain involving self-awareness get activated by doing yoga, and those are the areas that get locked out by trauma and that are needed in order to heal it.”

– Bessel van der Kolk, MD

“Studies have shown that the practice of yoga can change our Heart Rate Variability [HRV].”

“Well-regulated people tend to have a robust HRV which enables them to have reasonable control over their impulses and responses. Low HRV is linked to people who have experienced trauma where they have a difficult time responding to impulses that are perceived as threats. People with low HRV are easily thrown off balance and are at risk for developing a variety of illnesses including depression, heart disease, and cancer.”

– Overcoming Trauma through Yoga, Bessel A. Van Der Kolk, MD