How to Make your Yoga Classes More Trauma-Informed

Transcript

hello my name is kate i am the co-yoga director of yoga renew and i'm here with our teacher lindsay and today we're going to be talking about trauma-informed yoga so i actually have never done a trauma-informed yoga training and it's something that i'm certainly interested in and lindsay has done a bunch of them consider her my expert in being able to talk about this and so what i'm going to do today is ask her a bit about this and she'll say oh i will learn from you and hopefully you'll be able to learn as well at home so i guess my first question is can you explain what trauma-informed yoga is yeah so trauma-informed yoga is a sector a style of yoga that you can learn to teach or even start to integrate into your own classes already where you're just more cautious about the language you use the type of asanas you offer different things that you do in the environment to create a more safe space for your students so that if they've been through some type of traumatic event or adverse experience that maybe has dysregulated their nervous system you're giving them tools to learn how to regulate their nervous system again in this controlled environment of the yoga space and so what i guess would you say the importance well not the importance in terms of being able to offer that because i know that there are actual like yoga classes labeled like yoga for trauma classes and and it's specifically the whole class is catered or taught to an audience who has been through some sort of trauma but in doing that for a regular yoga class that's just taught to the general public what are some of the key differences in terms of the approaches or are there triggers in those classes that we definitely want to stay away from yeah so um trauma-informed yoga can be used in more clinical settings right it can be used for veterans like at the va or it can be used in you know women's shelters or homeless shelters right so in those specific environments there are probably more i don't want to say rules because i don't want to make it so like linear but there's more things that you want to be cautious of but i think one really important thing to recognize is that every person in their life has experienced something that has you know affected them in that way maybe it's not what they call like a big t trauma right so maybe they weren't in a bombing or something really crazy but or not crazy but really like adverse but everyone's experienced some type of adversity in their life right so and especially when we teach yoga a lot of people now are coming to yoga because of the mental health benefits of it because they are feeling stressed or anxious or struggling with things and they hear yoga is something that's somewhat accessible for them to try that might help reduce their stress so already a lot of people are coming into the yoga class with the idea that it's going to help them on a mental level as well as physical and also a lot of people who come to yoga classes are women and women deal with a lot like there's i don't know exactly the statistic but like the amount of women who you know have been in that metoo movement right all the the women that are affected sexually so yeah sexual assault all these different things so it's really important i think to um classify your self not so much as a trauma yoga teacher right that you're only teaching to a specific population that's really been through something super traumatic but also recognizing that every person who comes to a yoga class has experienced something in their life and by you holding space in a way that's more trauma informed you're giving them those tools to um to use at their own pace whether or not they're you know really recently traumatized or um just somebody who's living life as we all do so really making sure that the way that we're approaching teaching our classes is helping to not cause potentially more stress or or more nervousness in the face of the trauma people have faced but really to create space and relieve some of that yeah exactly yeah so what are some key things that we can do to help make our classes more trauma informed yeah so um one thing you can do is starting by kind of simplifying your classes and the language that you use in your classes right so instead of maybe trying to impress your students with the most profound bind or handstand right you might try to keep the classes a bit simpler and focus on the sensations that people are experiencing in the postures right because really the goal is for people to learn how to read the cues at their body and the information that their body is giving them in a class right so it's more beneficial to move slowly and to recognize the feedback that their body is giving them because then that feedback can be used at other times in their life when maybe they have a difficult relationship with a boss or a co-worker and they can recognize oh my heart is beating really fast here i remember my yoga teacher said i can deep you know breathe deeper into my belly and that will help me uh deal with this moment right so the the goal is really to get people to start to recognize those sensations in their body and use that as information um when they're moving through life awesome so this idea of basically teaching people how to listen and to notice what how how their body speaks to them and have that inform the experiences that they're going through and be able to be to be able to re-regulate and yeah and react to that yeah and one of the major ways that you can do this is through offering invitational language right so instead of cueing your students saying step your right foot here your left foot must be parallel to the back of the mat xyz like really specific things you want to give options for people right because the biggest thing that happens when somebody experiences a traumatic or adverse experience is that their uh their ability to choose for themselves is taken away right they don't have that agency over their body so really what we want to do is give them back agency by giving them choices throughout the class right so you might say um something like that or you might say i invite you to place your hand here notice what it feels like when your hand is here you might explore placing your other hand here or your foot there what does it feel like in the body maybe you try option one option two is this and not qualifying options as better than each other or um the full expression of the pose right that's a very common thing you'll hear yoga teachers say right instead of creating a hierarchy of this option is better than the other saying you know today this might feel good in your body or if you're feeling a little more energized you might try option two and pick up your back foot right so giving choices to people really helps to rewire their brain to recognize that they are the agents the change makers in their life and that really is what we're doing through this language and it seems like a subtle thing but it really can be have a profound impact on your students and really empower them to take ownership over that so do you find that there are certain types of yoga that this type of language type of work aligns more closely with i guess if that so i i the reason i'm asking is i'm imagining like a power vinyasa flow where the whole thing is moving quickly doesn't leave much room for notice how it feels and that type of stuff so are there stuff styles of yoga that that lend themselves to creating the space for this type of environment more fully yeah yeah so to your point exactly like a power vinyasa class wouldn't really give you the opportunity to do these types of practices because in those types of classes and we learn in teacher trainings right you need to be directive with your cues you need to say inhale step your right foot back exhale do this right because you want people moving at a certain rhythm or pace so that wouldn't really give a lot of opportunity for that there's still ways that you can make your power flow classes more trauma insensitive but you're not it's not i wouldn't say like recommend it for dealing with yeah specifically yeah so i would say um like haka yoga so a little bit slower of a flow type of practice can be really beneficial um slower more restorative practices not necessarily restorative yoga when you're holding poses for five ten minutes at a time that can also be really triggering for people so i'd recommend just things where people are able to keep their eyes open throughout the class where they're able to notice the sensations and you're not hanging out for too long so like yin yoga might feel good for you dealing through something but i wouldn't recommend necessarily like yin or traditional restorative where you're really holding poses for too long until somebody is more comfortable with yoga and with their body and their experience that makes sense so you said something about giving people opportunities for their eyes to be open is it also recommended then in this work that when leading shavasana you wouldn't say lay down close your eyes if you're trying to teach from the point of view of being for sure yeah so um offering examples for or opportunities for people to close their eyes can be helpful for a lot of people right because they can start to in yoga we talk about inducing that state of pratihara of sense withdrawal so that can feel really great for people and it might feel great for people even if you're teaching a trauma informed class they might like to close their eyes and that could be fine but always giving that as an option and not necessarily saying you must close your eyes to meditate or in shavasana you need to close your eyes because then that can feel really unsafe for people right imagine you've never done a yoga class before you're not used to what's happening in the room there's maybe a teacher walking around the room and circulating right so it can feel scary or unsafe to have your eyes closed so i always try to give the option whether i'm teaching a trauma informed class or just a class in general especially with meditation i'll say you can bring your gaze down to one non-moving point on the floor the table in front of you or if it feels comfortable close your eyes right and just giving them that choice to know okay i don't necessarily need to have my eyes closed here i'm still able to do this practice with my eyes open wonderful so i mean i learned a lot and i think some of the key things that stand out for me as part of this is that really having the point of view and the perspective when leading classes to just create space for people to take ownership over their practice and do things and make choices that feel okay for them depending on the experience that they may or may not have had and their patent before coming into the class and being able to be sensitive to that is really the goal of teaching in this year yeah and i think if i could add a few more little pieces to like tips of how to practically do this um one would be just trying to limit the distractions in the classroom right so um just because you like essential oils doesn't necessarily mean that everyone's gonna like it or want essential oils right just because you like beyonce doesn't mean that that's the appropriate class and i'm saying this i love beyonce but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's the appropriate uh music for that class right so thinking about neutralizing the space as to not bring other distractions or potential triggers into the classroom for your students right and that also goes from everything even as a yoga teacher what you wear in a space right if i come into a class you know with my abs and my six pack and my uh you know crop top lululemon super expensive cheetah pants right that gives a certain energy versus if i come into a space wearing you know sweatpants that anyone would have or you know a t-shirt that anyone would have right the the way that you're relating to the students and holding space for them in a way to say i'm no different or better than you right we're trying to deconstruct that like authority right because as a yoga teacher you are the authority in the classroom right and so you want to make them feel as much like you're on an equal playing field as you can be right so from the things that you wear from even demoing the class right instead of walking around the class that can be very triggering for students right and i know this goes against a lot of things we're taught in like vinyasa yoga training right but um especially i find even for myself when i teach beginners i end up demoing all of the class for the most part because it's more beneficial for them to see what's happening and to also not feel like oh the teacher's watching me if i do something wrong you know or needing to adapt their bodies in that way so when you do the practice with them it feels very much like communal right we're all practicing yoga together there's no like teacher that i need to like raise my hand for or whatever right it's just a little bit more accessible in that way so those are a few things watching the music that you play maybe not playing beyonce instead maybe choosing not to play any music at all or playing um neutral music that doesn't have lyrics like ambient yes background yeah that's so helpful thank you so much for this for sharing these tips i i appreciate always learning from you and thank you so much for tuning in and joining us and we hope you'll follow along on our channel for more conversations like this