What is the Difference Between Trauma Sensitive, Trauma Aware, and Trauma Informed Yoga?

Transcript

is there a difference between trauma informed trauma aware and trauma sense of yoga yes there is one has a evidence base showing that it reduces symptoms of complex trauma and ptsd while the others don't hi my name is kathy i have 13 years of mental health research experience and since 2018 i've been working as a trauma-sensitive yoga facilitator and i really think it's worth knowing the difference between these sort of classifications of yoga so that you can make a choice as to what is best for you so it's becoming pretty clear that trauma is prevalent and it's been estimated that about 70 percent of people will experience some sort of trauma during their lifetime and this estimation was made prior to the pandemic so because of the prevalence of trauma there's been a rise in trauma informed and aware practices across a range of spaces including education health and of course yoga so a yoga teacher who is trauma informed or trauma aware understands that there's this prevalence of trauma and has some sort of understanding of um how a trauma history could impact someone's yoga practice and for example people who have experienced trauma often feel quite disconnected from from their body the way that they perceive body sensations can be altered following trauma and uh different sort of body sensations or body shapes can be triggering for someone who has a trauma history so a trauma informed or trauma-aware yoga teacher will make space for these types of symptoms and and provide often a a really safe and accepting place to practice yoga so that leaves trauma sensitive how does it differ well it goes a step further and so while it does incorporate trauma-informed and trauma-aware practices it's actually a therapy that hasn't or has been shown to reduce symptoms of ptsd and complex trauma and trauma-sensitive yoga was first developed at the center for trauma and embodiment uh in the usa and to help to try and distinguish this style of yoga therapy from other trauma-informed practices they often refer to it as trauma center trauma sensitive yoga or tc tsy now the key here is that this is a really structured method it's been tested over years it's been experimentally validated it's been reviewed by trauma experts and it's being published in scientific journals so what makes it different how is it a therapy well there's a few points firstly the language is very specific and the language that the facilitator uses and it's designed to help facilitate processes that can reduce symptoms of ptsd for example intraceptive awareness so and accuracy so the ability to notice accurately what is going on in one's body is interception another focus point is present moment uh awareness so there's more of an emphasis on what's happening right now rather than um with regards to the yoga practice you know how someone felt in a pose or shape previously or what they're expecting to sort of achieve in the future it's more really focused in on now and throughout the practice uh there's use of invitational language so everything is an invitation and and that just allows space for people's experiences because we're all slightly different and have different experiences so there's a um there's space for sort of physical empowerment through choice and emotional empowerment again through choice um and on top of this the the process or the practice is dosed so it's actually designed to meet the client where they're at on the day in in their overall therapeutic process and dosing is achieved through the amount of choice offered and the cues towards the invitations towards noticing different parts of someone's body or their body and also perhaps the yoga shapes that might be offered during the practice again this is just just giving space to that to the idea that trauma can really affect choice making um body perception and so just dosing the practice to to meet the client where where they're at and then on top of that the training is quite intensive for a tc tsy or trauma-sensitive yoga facilitator and it's over 300 hours of training specifically in trauma sensitive yoga methods trauma theory attachment theory which is important for developmental trauma or complex trauma and [Music] the neuroscience of of trauma and a certified facilitator also is supervised by the trauma center so they have to complete a certain number of continuous professional development development points each year and also submit sample videos showing their competency and trauma-sensitive yoga methods so there that's the difference so what's best you know trauma sensitive trauma aware or trauma informed yoga well it's really just going to depend on what you're looking for if you're looking for a general yoga practice that offers a sense of safety and level of awareness of how trauma can show up in a yoga space and then anything trauma aware or trauma informed would likely be pretty good but if you're looking for a therapy if you're looking for something that can help reduce symptoms of complex trauma and ptsd then it's worth looking for trauma's sensitive yoga and then going a step further and seeing if your teacher or facilitator is a certified tc tsy uh facilitator um so that's it thanks for making it to the end of the video uh if you found this interesting or helpful please feel free to like or comment