Trauma vs. trauma
Trauma-informed yoga is an approach to yoga instruction that emphasizes creating a safe, supportive, and empowering environment. By taking into account the potential impact of trauma on participants’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being, practices are designed to promote healing and resilience.
Trauma, whether big “T” or little “t,” encompasses a spectrum of experiences that profoundly impact an individual’s mental and emotional well-being. Big “T” Trauma refers to significant, often life-threatening events such as natural disasters, violence, or abuse, which can lead to severe and long-lasting psychological consequences like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). On the other hand, little “t” trauma comprises more subtle yet still distressing experiences like bullying, loss of a loved one, body dysphoria, or ongoing stressors, which may not meet the threshold for a diagnosable disorder but can still disrupt one’s sense of safety and trust in the world.
Both types of trauma can leave lasting scars, influencing how individuals perceive themselves, others, and the world around them, highlighting the importance of support and healing for those who have undergone such experiences. This is why trauma-informed yoga is crucial to create more successful experiences for some people and overall beneficial to everyone.
It’s Common for Trauma to Manifest in the Following Ways:
- Being easily startled or frightened.
- Always being on guard for danger.
- Self-destructive behavior, such as drinking too much or driving too fast.
- Trouble sleeping.
- Trouble concentrating.
- Irritability, angry outbursts or aggressive behavior.
- Overwhelming guilt or shame
While coping with trauma isn’t easy, intentional yoga practices led by compassionate guides can help. For example, iRest®️ Yoga Nidra has been endorsed by the US Army Surgeon General and Defense Centers of Excellence as a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to treat PTSD. Even in practitioners without a formal PTSD diagnosis, iRest®️ has been clinically proven to reduce the stress hormone cortisol and yeild deep benefits to nervous system repair.
Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Emphasizes Safety and Empowers Choice
In all yoga classes, practitioners move through physical and emotional discomfort. However in trauma-informed yoga classes, the creation of a healthy container for people to pay attention to signs of dissociation and emotional or physiological dysregulation is emphasized. Through the art of paying attention to the nervous system, practitioners are then encouraged to stop for rest whenever needed, thus gaining practical skills for off the mat.
Rather than commanding language, which can strip away personal autonomy, trauma-informed teachers use invitational cues that allow practitioners to introspect and select what feels best for them. Through layering modifications or options into the postures, trauma-sensitive guides resource students to use the posture to get into their body, rather than forcing their body into postures. This brings them home to the true essence of yoga- connection!
Remove Dogmatic Thinking that Clouds Felt-Sense
Classes may still have themes that draw from the ancient wisdom of the practice, but the message aims to remove dogmatic or unfamiliar terms that can become overwhelming or cause excessive thinking. Trauma-informed yoga is more about sensing and feeling than it is about thinking and doing. Often, the practices shared provide tools for resiliency and nervous system regulation that may be taken off the mat.
The use of Sanskrit in trauma-informed yoga can vary depending on the instructor and the specific context of the class. Some instructors may choose to use Sanskrit sparingly or not at all, opting instead for clear, accessible language in order to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment. Others may integrate Sanskrit terms alongside their English translations, but always with sensitivity to the potential impact on participants who may not be familiar with the language or who may have negative associations with it due to past experiences. Ultimately, the priority in trauma-informed yoga is to prioritize the well-being and comfort of all participants, so instructors will make choices about language and terminology based on what best serves the needs of their students.
Benefits from Trauma-Sensitivity
To varying degrees, we all experience trauma in our lifetime. Thus, trauma-informed yoga is people-informed yoga. Anybody with a nervous system can benefit from it!
Furthermore, certain populations will see far greater results with a guide who makes special considerations to help them feel safe. Resources exist for populations who have more acute experiences such as veterans, first responders, SA survivors, marginalized groups, domestic abuse survivors, etc.