Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TSY) and mindfulness programs meet the need where we are and provide real time opportunities to shift the trajectory of future generations. Trauma Sensitive Yoga, TSY, has a different intention than yoga designed for fitness. While some of the movements are similar, TSY is choice centered movement that focuses less on the external look of a yoga pose and more on the internal felt sensation of the individual. Research has confirmed that these body based treatment modalities create new neural pathways and nervous system patterning that decrease PTSD style symptoms while increasing the accessibility of alternative coping skills.
We define trauma as an experience that takes power, control and choice away from an individual. This creates a pattern of coping within the survivor’s brain and nervous system that does not support their continued thriving. Through invitational language and non-coercion, TSY allows a participant to restore connection to their body and cultivate a sense of agency and empowerment. It reminds the body and brain of the children and adults who practice that they are not their trauma, they are not their behavior, they have a choice to be who they want to be.
Yoga Village creates strong, sustainable relationships with our community partners; this consistency allows our facilitators to model what healthy relationship means, by showing up in ways that invite safety and honor healthy boundaries. By allowing our participants to integrate these skills we are reminding them that they hold the key to their own resilience and a pathway to shift from surviving to thriving. The element of consistency is crucial to establishing a sense of safety in relationship.
