What is Trauma-Informed Yoga?

Yoga is both a physical and spiritual practice that can be extremely helpful for the mind and body. However, many people who have experienced trauma may have a difficult time navigating through a typical yoga class. This is where trauma-informed yoga comes in.

Trauma-informed yoga recognizes the fact that some individuals have experienced different types of trauma. Due to this trauma, individuals may feel many different things both physically and mentally while participating in a yoga class. Trauma-informed yoga aims to recognize that trauma exists and that it can create different experiences and reactions in people. The goal of trauma-informed yoga is to not retraumatize individuals.

Trauma-informed yoga follows a set of principles to assist in not re-traumatizing individuals. These principles include:

• Invitational Language: using terms such as “maybe”, “if it feels good”, “if it is in your practice”, and “perhaps”, are all examples of language that invites choice into the practice. The invitational language aims to empower individuals to choose what is best for their bodies.
• Expectation Setting: Trauma-informed yoga aims to set expectations at the start of class to promote consistency, familiarity, and ease.
• Interoception: Or present body awareness. Interoception is the ability to feel bodily sensations in the here and now. Trauma-informed yoga focuses on sensations in the present moment to help regulate the body.
• Non-Attachment: It can be difficult in a yoga class, as well as in life, to not attach expectations to an outcome. Trauma-informed yoga aims to recognize that there is no good or bad, nor is there right or wrong. Instead, each moment and each class invites people to choose what is best for them at any given moment.

There you have it! A brief overview of what trauma-informed yoga entails. My YouTube channel has a variety of trauma-informed videos that you can practice along with here.