By Maria Macaya
I have taught countless yoga classes throughout my career, and have taken a number of trainings in trauma-informed yoga. Of all of my learning, practice and exploration, there are a few elements that stand out to me as essential to any TIY training. When you’re looking for training, I encourage you to seek out these elements, not just in the curriculum but in the way the training itself is conducted.
Understand Trauma and Its Impact
First things first, you can’t offer trauma-informed care without a deep understanding of what trauma is. It’s especially important to know symptoms of PTSD and complex developmental trauma, and how traumatic experiences impact people. We usually describe the effects of trauma as symptoms a person experiences, and there are many possible symptoms. It can be confusing, because some of these symptoms appear as behaviors that are the polar opposite of one another!
The most common symptoms I hear discussed in trauma-informed yoga trainings are hyper-vigilance, re-experiencing, avoidance, and mood fluctuations. Other important things to track include cognitive (mental) changes and somatic, or body-based, impacts. In training, we can get so focused on the nervous system that we overlook the words people use to describe themselves, or subtle shifts in posture and eye contact. All of this is important, and helps us figure out how to help people.
Of course, it helps to understand each of these “symptoms” as coping mechanisms – they are the body’s attempt to prevent or escape harm. Most of the challenges people face in the wake of trauma are, in fact, adaptive behaviours - conscious or unconscious. They may be an emergency response that gets stuck, or simply a way to manage life in what becomes an uncertain and unsafe world.
Seeing these symptoms as the person’s best way to survive and handle life has raised my connection and understanding of myself and others. When we see symptoms of trauma as adaptive behaviours, it is easier for us as trauma-informed yoga facilitators to connect and realize the importance of all the other aspects of trauma-informed care. Any TIY training you pursue should include this humane approach to the experience of trauma.
Embodiment and Inclusion
Trainings can be a place where we as facilitators are encouraged and invited to reconnect with our own bodies. Modern life in general has the effects of getting us to disconnect from the body, and trauma exacerbates this. In a society where mind and intellect is prioritized, we need, as trauma-informed yoga facilitators, to be connected with our own bodies. It is only from that place of connection that we will be able to see how we feel in certain settings and in this way know who to work with, who to refer to, and how to regulate ourselves. Connecting with our own bodies allows us to be able to share the practice from a place of authenticity. First, we include our whole selves.
As much as we invite our own embodied experience to the table, we invite others to do the same. A good trauma-informed training should also bring awareness to intersectionality, inclusion and the dignity of all human beings. This is essential because we live in a world where some groups are subject to serious oppression in addition to coping with the impacts of intergenerational traumas. This trauma (and much resilience) lives in the body. Understanding that our social systems are still not created to support all communities, and that the resources many people need are difficult for them to access, helps us consider how to include people across backgrounds, cultures, experiences and identities.
We can also increase our awareness of how our language, behaviour and cultural habits may be perpetuating discrimination. As trauma-informed yoga facilitators, we can make conscious choices that change the dynamics within the space of our sessions. Trauma-informed practice can indeed encourage embodiment for all bodies, and can offer many pathways to inclusion. Look for a training that respects your body and invites people of all backgrounds to join.
Empathy and Empowerment
Empathy asks us to live through someone else’s experience - be it cognitively or emotionally. It also invites us to listen attentively and without judgement. As trauma-informed facilitators learning the approach of empathy is a gift because it enables us to try to put ourselves in the shoes of the people who come to practice with us. We listen with our ears and eyes without making judgment, and give the benefit of believing that like all beings, our students are searching for happiness in the best way they can. Being open and curious about their search guides us to deeper connection and understanding.
As yoga teachers we can fall into the “guru trap”. Often people see yoga teachers as “balanced”, “good and virtuous” people who “have it all figured out”. Ouch! This puts more power in the hands of the teacher, often at the expense of the student. Additionally, the flow state effect of the practice can let practitioners confuse the cause of the flow state believing it to be the teacher or facilitator instead of the practice itself.
Unfortunately, our own hopes as facilitators of being that person we are seen as, or being put on a pedestal, can lead us into the trap of pretending to be what we are not, which puts us in danger of stepping out of our scope of practice. Knowing how to be an attentive and empathetic listener will give us the tools to listen and make the person feel listened to and seen, and focusing on the students’ empowerment will also help us be more aware of when we are in our scope of practice and when we are not. This also helps us be clear, honest and responsible when suggesting someone gets help from another professional. Being clear with our scope of practice helps interrupt the guru dynamic, and remind students of their own power. Seek out a training that models healthy empathy and empowerment.
Human-Informed Yoga
Trauma-informed yoga, it’s teachings and ways of seeing and understanding is essential – not only for our role as yoga facilitators, but as human beings in general. We can assume we all have experienced some form of trauma, and we will act out in what we have come to understand as our personality – our pet peeves, what we like and don’t like, what we seek and what we avoid. Trauma-informed training can change how you understand people, how you connect, and how you respect and see each person's state and evolution. This destigmatising effect is already essential - letting trauma be a word that needs to be part of our general vocabulary, while at the same time used with respect and responsibility.
If You’re Looking to Study Trauma-Informed Yoga
My journey with Trauma-Informed Yoga has been shaped by my studies at the Center for Yoga and Trauma Recovery (CYTR). I’m proud to say that I’m now a Certified Provider through the CYTR. I have completed the 8-week Y4T Online Training Program and the 9-month Advanced Training and Mentorship Program, and have accumulated many tools and tons of knowledge that helps me support my clients in healing trauma mindfully through yoga. To learn more about yoga and trauma recovery, check out the 8-week Yoga for Trauma Online Training Program here.
Maria Macaya
María Macaya is the founder and president of Radika. She moved to Barcelona with her family in 2014 after living in the United States, Central America and Europe for 30 years. She has a BA in Art History and International Relations from Tufts University, an MA in Art Criticism from Columbia University, and a BA in Creative Writing from Stanford University. Maria is an 800-hour advanced Jivamukti Yoga teacher and mentors in their training and JTAP Program.
Maria has trained in Yoga for Trauma in the Trauma and Embodiment Center in Brookline Massachusetts, and with the Center for Yoga and Trauma Recovery in California, and in Yoga for Depression and Anxiety with The Life Centre. Maria also has a certificate in Addiction and Recovery from Stanford University and is currently studying in the one year program in Compassionate Inquiry.
Maria has taken courses in Positive Psychology (UPenn), Neuroscience (King's College and Nazareth Castellanos), Somatic Therapy (Peter Levine), Design Thinking (Potsdam), and Non Violent Communication in an attempt to continue to get tools to better serve people suffering from mental distress as well as the people who attend her trainings. Maria retreats with Buddhist Jack Korfield and Pema Chodron for her personal spiritual growth.
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