Trauma Sensitive Yoga

I just completed the Trauma Sensitive Yoga Teacher Certificate at the Trauma Center at JRI.  www.traumacenter.org.

I have been interested in using yoga to treat PTSD, since I started my teacher training at CMYI.  I actually chose CMYI because the owner/main instructor is a pioneer in teaching yoga to veterans with PTSD.

At the Trauma Center conference, I learned a great deal and met many interesting people in the field.   Here are some initial thoughts/notes:

1. As teachers of yoga to people with PTSD, we need to remember that we are just that yoga teachers, not mental health counselors. We have a specific role in contributing to the treatment of people with PTSD:   getting people to first notice their bodies, then befriend their bodies and ultimately use their bodies as a resource.
2. If possible, all participants in trauma-sensitive yoga should be in therapy.  It is great if the counselor can participate in yoga with the students, in the event that a student is triggered.  In lieu of a counselor in the class, having the phone numbers of students’ counselors is important.
3. The teacher needs to set expectations of the length of session (8 weeks, 12 weeks, etc…) and length of class (1 hour, 1.5 hours).
4. A slow but complicated flow is a good choice for a trauma sensitive yoga class.
5. Yoga for survivors  is about movement — not talking/preaching.  If people want to experience the world differently, they need to move differently.  You can use the body to take a form that changes feelings (from sagging shoulders head down, to uplifted heart and forward gaze in Mountain).  Have an experience in your body that is not about the trauma.
6. The group connection in yoga can be helpful to recovery.
7. Yoga Nidra, “sleep yoga,” and Hatha together are a great idea.  Encouraging sleep is important but the benefits of Hatha are great as well.  Hatha makes people feel empowered, accomplished.  It’s hard work. They are working with their bodies.  They are noticing their bodies.  They are kept in the present moment. They are learning to like their bodies.
8. Pranayama is very important.  People with trauma breathe shallowly.  People who don’t want to be alive breathe shallowly.