Trauma-Sensitive Yoga: Empowering Women Survivors
For women healing from trauma whether from abuse, assault, or systemic violence traditional yoga spaces can feel unsafe or triggering. Trauma-sensitive yoga (TSY) offers a different path: one rooted in choice, safety, and empowerment. Developed in collaboration with trauma therapists, TSY avoids hands-on adjustments, commanding language, and forced poses. Instead, it invites survivors to reconnect with their bodies on their own terms gently, slowly, and without judgment. In this guide, well explore how to practice safely, what teachers must understand, and how yoga can help survivors reclaim agency, strength, and peace.
Table of Contents
- What Makes Yoga Trauma-Sensitive?
- Safe Practices for Survivors
- What Teachers Must Know
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Final Thoughts
What Makes Yoga Trauma-Sensitive?
Trauma lives in the body. Survivors may feel disconnected, numb, or hypervigilant. Trauma-sensitive yoga creates a space where they can safely inhabit their bodies again without pressure, performance, or intrusion.
Key principles include: using invitational language (you might try ), offering choices (feel free to modify), avoiding hands-on assists, and focusing on interoception (inner body awareness) over alignment. The goal isnt flexibility its reconnection.
Safe Practices for Survivors
Start with grounding. Sit or stand, feel your feet on the floor. Breathe slowly. Name 3 things you see, 2 you hear, 1 you feel. This anchors you in the present.
Choose poses that feel safe and empowering:
Mountain Pose (Tadasana): Stand tall, arms at sides. Feel strength and stability. You are grounded. You are here.
Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II): A stance of power and resilience. Gaze forward your focus, your future.
Childs Pose (Balasana): A sanctuary. Kneel, fold forward, arms extended or resting. Breathe into your back. You are safe.
Legs-Up-the-Wall (Viparita Karani): Rest and restore. Let gravity hold you. You are supported.
Real-life tip: Keep a journal nearby. After practice, write: Today, I felt No judgment. Just witness.
What Teachers Must Know
Never assume. Always ask: Is touch okay? Use gender-neutral language. Avoid poses that mimic vulnerability (like deep backbends or prone positions) unless explicitly invited.
Create predictability: announce transitions, dim lights gradually, avoid sudden music changes. Offer exits: Feel free to step out anytime no explanation needed.
Most importantly: hold space, not solutions. Healing isnt linear. Your role is to witness, not fix.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I do trauma-sensitive yoga alone at home?
A: Yes start with guided videos from certified TSY instructors. Create a safe, private space. Go at your pace.
Q: What if a pose triggers me?
A: Stop immediately. Return to grounding breath. Youre in control always. Skip or modify anything that doesnt feel safe.
Q: How is this different from therapy?
A: TSY complements therapy its somatic (body-based) healing. It doesnt replace talk therapy but deepens it by releasing stored trauma physically.
Final Thoughts
Healing from trauma is not about erasing the past its about reclaiming the present. Trauma-sensitive yoga offers a gentle, courageous path back to your body, your breath, your power. You are not broken. You are becoming. Every breath is a step toward freedom. Every pose, a declaration: I am here. I am safe. I am mine.
