I started my personal Yoga practice in earnest in 2020. The gyms had shut down with the rise of the Global Pandemic and while trapped at home I was looking for a way to move my body. My goal in taking up Yoga at the time did not extend much beyond the physical. I wanted to gain a little bit of strength, gain a little bit of flexibility, and maintain my physical appearance (I know, I probably had better things to worry about- but hey, blame the patriarchy). That’s it. But three years on, I can truly say Yoga has become an imperative tool in my healing journey and my work as a therapist.

I share this personal anecdote as many clients (who are not from Asian backgrounds) come to Yoga in a similar way. They enter a yoga studio looking for a new exercise class, not necessarily a spiritual practice or a way to heal their trauma. Afterall, Yoga is a 5.7-billion-dollar industry in North America and the fitness industrial complex is always encouraging us to spend on the latest workout “trend”. However, Yoga is of course much more than that.

Yoga is an extremely resilient form. For the last 2000 years it has assimilated different practices, philosophies, and schools of thought. It has always been dynamic which is part of the reason that it has flourished for so long. And while some forms of Yoga (Power Yoga, Arco Yoga) exist on the capitalist fringe of the original spirit, other adaptations have maintained a greater reverence for the mind-body connection which underlies most traditional Yoga practices.

So, when I discovered Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TSY), I knew I had found a tool that could become imperative in teaching my clients the importance of the mind-body connection. TSY is a particular style of practice developed by Emerson & Hopper while working at the Trauma Centre in Boston. It was popularized by the publication of The Body Keeps the Score where Bessel Van Der Kolk shares the key stages that went into developing this program and the scientific research that underlies it.

Indeed, research has shown that TSY can reduce symptoms of PTSD in clients with complex trauma. These improvements happened earlier and were maintained longer compared to other more traditional interventions (psychoeducation, cognitive processing therapy) according to two randomized control trials. On a physiological level, TSY effects our Heart Rate Variability (HRV). HRV is a measure of the variation in time between heartbeats and can be used determine balance and function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The function of the ANS is related to health outcomes like heart disease, cancer as well as depression and PTSD. Individuals with PTSD showed disturbances in their HRV. Breathing tends to be rapid and shallow, and the heart rate tends to be out of sync with the breath. Yoga has been shown in contemporary research to improve HRV, thus contributing to healing from trauma.

What happened as I continued my personal Yoga practice, extended far beyond these physical benefits. I learned impermanence. I started to go easier on myself. I made choices about how to move. I didn’t feel like I always needed to push myself to the extreme. I learned to laugh at myself and sit in present awareness. I had epiphanies on the mat, as if my brain had worked out a complex math problem without thinking about it. I was changed by my daily practice.

The lessons I was lucky to internalize implicitly through my initially hodgepodge practice are made explicit in TSY. Some of the key themes that are highlighted in TSY classes include:

Experiencing the Present Moment: encouraging participants to remain in the here and now and cultivating somatic awareness.
Making Choices: Listening to the body and expanding the felt sense of choice.
Taking Effective Action: actively doing things that put you in control and practicing self-efficacy.
Making Rhythm: moving in synchrony with others, developing coregulation skills.

TSY also incorporates the five principles of trauma informed care: safety, transparency, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. TSY instructors stress client’s autonomy. They make it possible to reconnect with your body and find a new home in it.

Here are some examples of TSY poses (and what can be learned from each).

Centering: Seated Twist- If you are feeling out of balance, finding a way to recenter can offer you a chance to realign with your body. Take a comfortable seat with your feet flat on the ground. Notice your feet, notice your spine tall and upright. Start to invite a gentle twist to the left. You may wish to place your right hand on your left knee and your left hand on your hip as you start to look over your left shoulder, only going as far as comfortable, always stopping if there is any pain. Notice that you may not have to go very far to feel a sensation. You may want to pause wherever is comfortable and take a few deep breaths. Switch sides. Return to center.

Building Curiosity: Neck Rolls – Trauma can be characterized as a chronic disconnection, from both our bodies and our relationships. Neck Rolls can offer a moment of reconnection and build curiosity towards safe sensations in the body. Find yourself in a comfortable seat with your feet on the ground and your hands gently resting in your lap or wherever is comfortable. Start to invite your right ear to drop towards your right shoulder. Notice the sensations. Change the tilt of your chin and again notice how your feelings change. Move to the other side at your own pace, being careful not to strain yourself. Pause for a moment to feel into a certain sensation. Come back to centre and maybe dip your ear just a millimeter. Play around at your own pace. Get curious.

Containment: Seated Childs Pose – Sometimes trauma can leave us feeling emotionally overwhelmed and unprotected. The goal of seated child’s pose is to offer containment, a chance to regulate emotions. Sit with your feet flat on the floor, a little further apart than your hips, if it feels safe to do so. You have options: lean forward onto your forearms, pause here if it feels right. You may want to reach you fingertips towards the floor. Feel free to try any movements, shake your head left and right, open and close your jaw. Stay in the fold for 20 seconds, then return to an upright seated position.

So, when I recommend Yoga to my clients, it is from a place of personal learning, backed by both contemporary research and tradition. Adding TSY as an adjunct to your healing practice can be deeply beneficial to embodying the lessons of therapy.

References

Emerson, D. & Hopper, E. (2011). Overcoming trauma through yoga: reclaiming your body. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Kelly et al. (2021) Trauma-Sensitive Yoga for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Women Veterans who Experienced Military Sexual Trauma: Interim Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 27. 545-559.

van der Kolk, B. (2014). Chapter 16: Learning to inhabit your body: Yoga. In The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. London, UK: Penguin Books.

van der Kolk, Stone, L., West, J., Rhodes, A., Emerson, D., Suvak, M., & Spinazzola, J. (2014). Yoga as an adjunctive treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 75(6), e559–e565. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.13m08561

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