Jenny Liddiard, Certified Trauma Yoga Instructor

What Is Trauma-Informed Yoga?

Trauma-informed yoga is an approach to creating a safe, supportive space in which students can learn emotional regulation skills through connection with the breath and increased body awareness.

How Trauma Affects Your Brain and Body

Trauma leaves a lasting impression on the mind, body, and brain.

Even though the impact of different types of trauma can vary, the body still absorbs the traumatic experience. If a person experiences a traumatic event, the body automatically needs to protect itself and goes into a fight, flight, or freeze reaction. This response is stored in the nervous system as a stress response, even when potential threats have been resolved.

Survivors can often experience long-term effects such as hyperarousal, hypervigilance, numbness, dissociation, and emotional dysregulation.

How Can Yoga Help Heal Trauma?

Yoga can help recalibrate your nervous system as you:

• Begin to inhabit your body and increase body awareness.
• Develop breath awareness and skills to regulate your breath and emotions.
• Cultivate a sense of curiosity toward your internal experiences.
• Work within your “window of tolerance”, the optimal zone of arousal or stimulation in which you’re able to function and integrate new information most effectively.
• Access the space within yourself to meet discomfort and challenge with courage and compassion.