You might be wondering what Yoga for Trauma is and how Trauma Sensitive Yoga can heal trauma. I’m Jen Stuart and, in today’s blog, I will help you understand better what this practice is in comparison with a regular yoga class.

How is Trauma Sensitive Yoga different from a regular yoga class?

• Empowerment through language

Practitioners use an invitational language to encourage students to choose what they would like to do. This way, people can explore their body, discover their comfort zone and decide if they want to step out of it or not. Trauma removes the right to make choices but this practice gives it back to students. 

Some words can be disempowering and triggering. The word “pose” can have a negative connotation for people who have suffered physical or sexual abuse. We rather use “form” or “shape”.

• Students actively exercise their decision power.

This is an important part of how yoga helps heal trauma. Teachers play the role of a guide, supporting the student through their healing journey, holding space, a safe one. Students exercise their right to make decisions and be respected. They regain the confidence to make choices freely.

• No hands-on assists

Some practitioners provide physical assists if the client allows them too, I prefer to not do it at all. Touch can be triggering for some trauma survivors. Part of Trauma Sensitive Yoga training is to learn to teach from a place of compassion and empathy, understanding what things can affect a person, even if they don’t affect us.

• The practice is at the speed and pace of each participant, it is a unique way of exploring a yoga practice. There is no need to keep to the rhythm of the teacher, they are simply there to hold the space

The Trauma Sensitive Yoga principles, practice, and research revolve around the student. That means that the class moves at the student’s rhythm. The pace is as gentle as the client need it to be. It allows the students to focus on the present moment instead of in the next form.

• Personalised classes

Usually, regular yoga classes have several students, but Trauma Sensitive Yoga classes are meant to be for small groups. My classes usually have 3-8 people, placed in one line, so they don’t have anyone behind them and have plenty of space to move.

• Space is tailored to meet the students’ needs

As I stated before in my post about the elements that make a yoga space safe for trauma survivors, elements like lights and windows are important to create an environment where clients feel secure. Assuring the clients that there will not be interruptions (like strange people entering the class when it has already begun) is also vital.

• Mindfulness

Instead of encouraging the client to clear their mind, we guide attention to body sensations or the lack of them. Mindfulness allows students to notice their bodies, their breathing, among others. It brings them back to the present and to their current feelings, moment by moment.

If you have never taken a Trauma Sensitive Yoga class and would like to start, please visit Journey with Jen and let me accompany you through your healing process.