Teaching Trauma-Informed Techniques
Humans are beautiful beings built for resilience, but sometimes trauma takes a toll on our bodies and brains. Long-term effects of a traumatic incident include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, relationships troubles, and even physical symptoms like headaches or illness. The western world associates emotions with women and weakness, so people struggling with the lingering effects of trauma are sometimes gaslit, downplayed, or dismissed. Do not discard your experience. Your feelings are valid even if you are still suffering from a traumatic event that occurred days or decades ago.
If you or a loved one is experiencing serious implications of a traumatic event that is impacting your ability to function at home, work, or school, please seek the help of a talk therapist or other trained professional. Peeps still seeking supportive self-care practices could embrace the holistic wellness approach to cope. I infuse trauma-informed care into my services to directly address stress and trauma. I share a breakdown below about what to expect in a trauma-informed yoga class.
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Intro
People that attended the Move + Meditate series that I hosted on the Fibromyalgia Care Society of America’s Facebook page or any one of my in-person yoga classes prior to the pandemic have probably heard me recite some version of the above script. I connect with new clients by sharing that I live with an auto-immune illness to let my students know that my classes are beginner-friendly and accessible to all. My vulnerability often sets the stage for a safe space. My students soften to share some of their physical ailments and mobility issues. I created this calming yoga and meditation class for beginners a few years ago, and the updated organic flow is featured below.
Don’t forget to add your favorite neck to this flow💜
Movement
One of my top takeaways from my trauma-informed yoga teacher training and frequently applied tools is to open the upper body before beginning breathwork or meditation. I structure most of my classes starting with upper body stretches that target the respiratory muscles and supporting muscles in the chest and upper back. I guide the organic movement while allowing my clients the freedom to connect with their body then breath. It is very much a moving meditation experience. I've also been incorporating more somatic movement in my opening sequences. Somatic movement is a practice rooted in moving naturally and thoughtfully to tap into sensations in the body and create new habits. All forms of somatic practice are designed to increase ease and range of motion. The classes are gently guided and emphasize exploration, awareness, and autonomy.
I leave strength-building poses like downward dog and sequences such as sun salutations out of my trauma-informed classes. Popular postures and flows can be inaccessible to beginners and sometimes lead them to a triggered vulnerable place. I offer safer alternatives like this progressive movement series that I created for my client experiencing nerve pain in their lower leg and foot. I start the ten-part series guiding students from their backs to bellies, seated, then kneeling before building our way up to Down Dog in the final sequence of the series. I created this series instead of a handout to help my client between classes and support a larger audience. People experiencing pain or limited mobility in the areas listed below can benefit from this series.
· Toes/Feet/Ankles
· Knee Joints
· Hip Joints
· Calf muscles
· Hamstrings
· Quad muscles
Each video caption includes instructions about how to use the series. I added a pain self-assessment, guidelines on practice frequency, and recommendations on how to start and maintain a pain journal. Pain journals are tools to document a running record of pain changes over time and any new pain or symptoms that develop. I have been documenting my chronic arthritic and Lupus pains since 1994. My records have not only helped me to understand my body more, but they have also been an invaluable resource to share with my medical teams and have helped to inform my treatment plans. Leading pain researchers like Bessel Van der Kolk MD, Maggie Phillips, and Peter A. Levine verify the effectiveness of this practice.
Language
I'm a self-proclaimed word nerd that loves language and lyrics. There's thoughtful intentionality around trauma-informed language that lights me up! Trauma-informed yoga class cues center how movement feels versus how it looks. The instructor guides the practitioner to notice if movements are useful and right for their body. One of the common symptoms of fibromyalgia is soreness; people often suffer from body aches, sore muscles, and stiff joints. These symptoms are super similar to what I experienced living with Lupus. I kept them top of mind when I created the Move and Meditate: Pain Management Series. I started the first September session with a somatic sequence. The purpose of this sequence was to dial down the effort and increase the ease to explore internal sensation.
I taught a summer series to young people participating in the Center for Pre-College Upward Bound Program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The virtual wellness workshop series centered mindfulness curriculum inclusive of trauma-informed yoga, therapeutic art, and emotional intelligence discourse to support the student's developing emotional intelligence and build resilience to their stressors. I took this class as an opportunity to intentionally increase middle and high school students' language around feelings and emotions to support them in strengthening their self-awareness skills. I uploaded snippets of the series to the Yoga for Feelings Playlist for those that want to follow along and flow through feels.
Meditation
Don’t let its position on this page fool you! Meditation is my top tip for pain management and the top tool in my trauma-informed yoga classes. Meditation helps to build resilience to pain, stress, and trauma by helping us to feel more embodied and connected to our physical and emotional experiences. I have multiple meditations across many platforms. Some are short and interspersed within the asana practice to create mindfulness and to build endurance for meditation; others are stand-alone sessions spanning twenty minutes. Check out the links below to some beginning-level guided meditations.
• Simple mindfulness in everyday activities like brushing teeth
• Contemplating poetry and sound frequencies
• One-minute sitting somatic meditations
• Reiterate the intention for the session
This offering is an example of one of my opening guided movement and meditation sequences.
Breathwork
Controlled breathing has been practiced in African and Indian cultures for thousands of centuries, and in recent years breathwork has been western world validated as an emotional regulation technique by scientific studies. This alternate nostril breathing practice is one of my favorite balancing breaths for big emotions. Taking frequent breathing breaks is an effective way to cultivate a clear path to self-compassion and patience. I have gently guided my fibromyalgia fam to breathe thru brain fog and the Newark Center for Meditative Culture community through the stress-relieving lion’s breath meditation. Teaching beginner-level pranayama in trauma-informed yoga classes is a must because a big benefit of breathwork is the ability to lower our stress hormone, cortisol. Conscious breathing leads to lower cortisol levels, calmer nerves, and a clearer mind.
Outro
Trauma-informed yoga and therapeutic art classes can be used as tools to destress and improve mental health and well-being. Comprehensive trauma-informed care is inclusive of establishing a safe space, mindful movement, meditation, and breathwork to increase vitality, balance emotions, and calm the nervous system. Seeking supportive self-care practices is a step in the right direction in learning how to bounce back better from a traumatic event. Sign up for our newsletter below to see our seasonal holistic wellness workshops and trauma-informed classes created to improve emotional, physical, mental health, and well-being.
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