Trauma-Informed Yoga
The past is omnipresent in your mind and your body.
When trauma happens, one of the main things attacked is your sense of safety. One, or more, traumatic events heightens your fight, flight, or freeze response.
Your brain thinks you’re in danger all the time triggering you to scan rooms when you enter them. Or make sure you can see the exit of a building to feel comfortable. Hearing someone yell or a look of anger on someone’s face makes you uneasy, scared and ready to take flight.
Your body responds to your brain feeling you’re in danger all the time. It freezes when you hear that song on the radio or smell something reminding you of a bad experience. It runs away from loud noises or jumps. Your body may even fight someone when you feel threatened.
Don’t be mad at your brain and your body! It’s trying to protect you. It doesn’t know you’re not back in that trauma experience. Your brain and body are stuck in past trauma.
A good seated spinal twist can relieve the burden of trauma!
Yoga can help bring you into the present by helping you relax the bad thoughts and feelings attached to your past. It can also help with the physical pain you had no idea was connected to trauma trapped in your body.
Yoga brings awareness to your body and your surroundings through breath, sight, and touch.
Trauma trapped in your body can manifest into tension in your neck, shoulders, back, and other areas. Did you know you can breathe into those areas of your body and feel it release?
You have the power to learn and do that!
Being mindful of your body and your thoughts helps you replace the bad things you say about yourself, “It’s my fault,” “I’m a bad person,” “No one will ever love me” with positive, healthy, compassionate thoughts like “I am a safe” and “I am loved.”
You can start to learn these things in the therapy room and beyond.
What it looks like…
There are no intense classes, fancy yoga outfits, or yoga socks (who knew that was a thing!).
The moves in our classes will meet your body where it is.
And there may be props! Who doesn’t love a good yoga block or blanket!
Meditation and mantras are helpful, so be open-minded to create one for yourself.
When you realize the benefits…
On your road to deliverance, we will “downward dog” our way to the mountain top in your perfectly executed mountain pose.
The goal is to learn how to connect you to the present and be able to use these techniques daily to stay grounded in the present. Build on them outside of therapy and create a practice of self-compassion, forgiveness, and mercy toward yourself.
Using the breath alone can slow your heart rate, ease tension in your body, and tell that part of your brain that’s always saying, “Danger, Will Robinson, Danger,” that you’re okay.
You are not alone on this path.
I’m here to be your guide and support. Don’t wait to learn how to empower yourself to walk out of the past and heal your body and mind from trauma.
Call today to find out more information about classes and workshops for trauma, anxiety, and stress management. Yes, yoga can help in those areas too!
Call today for a free, no-obligation consultation: (317) 395-3716