By Emily James: Columnist
Why is it important?
Increasing accessibility to a wider audience. There’s wider benefits.
Yoga has evolved significantly in the modern world as it continues to adapt to the changing needs and preferences of practitioners. Traditional yoga practices have been combined with modern techniques and technologies to create new styles such as hot yoga, aerial yoga. Trauma-informed yoga is growing in importance…
Trauma-informed yoga or trauma-sensitive yoga (TSY) is a way of making yoga accessible to many people. Some may look at it as an attitude to their teaching, for others it is a complete system with attention to language cues, room set-up and interaction with students. Houghton and Mackay’s freelance columnist Emily-Rose looks at the development of TSY and chats with Edinburgh Community Yoga to find out more.
Trauma-informed yoga was originally discussed as a system of teaching in 2002 at the Justice Resource Institute’s Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts with the work of David Emerson; author of Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body. His team, including Bessel van der Kolk, crafted a yoga therapeutic approach to traditional Hatha yoga to help people who may have experienced or be experiencing trauma.
Emerson ET. Al. developed the TCTSY model (Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga) now widely used globally.
The idea stems from the notion that yoga may be used as a therapeutic tool to calm the nervous system and relieve tension from the physical body, along with many other benefits to treating the variable range of symptoms of trauma.
Since the early formation of this approach to teaching yoga, many other organisations have been set up with a similar message to address the importance of making yoga accessible for everyone. Examples include The Yoga Clinic based in the North East and North Cumbria in the U.K., The Yoga Impact Charity in Sydney, Australia and Cultivate Kindness in Leeds, U.K.
Edinburgh Community yoga (ECY) based in Scotland is a not-for-profit social enterprise, currently in its tenth year of operation. It is ‘one of the most established yoga outreach organisations in the UK’, and is directed by Laura and Lorraine along with a team of teachers. ECY have developed an extensive offering of outreach events and trainings to bring yoga into different community settings.
Part of ECY’s mission is to reach people who may not usually have access to yoga studio classes, or feel they are inaccessible for them. ‘We exist to promote physical and mental health in Edinburgh by bridging the gap between marginalised communities and mainstream yoga provisions’.
Research has shown that yoga can help regulate the nervous system, improve sleep quality, and increase body awareness
ECY offers many types of classes from private or 1-1 yoga therapy sessions to chair yoga. ‘We [bridge the gap] by offering free yoga programmes on social prescription, in areas of social deprivation, and in partnership with NHS and third sector organisations’, ECY directors stated.
It is vital to have classes that reach a wide group of people and don’t unintentionally exclude people. Mainstream classes may make it difficult for some people to attend, especially if there is a focus on aesthetics over functionality and interoception. ECY aims to reduce barriers to participation and focuses on making their classes accessible to all: ‘accessibility and inclusion are at the core of our mission’.
TSY traditionally does not have hands on assists, as most cues are given verbally. This is in case a student may have experienced a trauma related to touching. Language can also be triggering, so it is important to offer invitational language with the key aim to enable each student to make their own choices. ‘We look to use yoga to develop agency and empower the people we teach’, ECY added.
There has also been research into the benefits of this style of yoga on participant’s wellbeing. US based TCTSY is the ‘first yoga-based empirically validated, clinical intervention for complex trauma or chronic, treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).’ The first pilot study in 2003 showed that yoga was an effective modality to treat PTSD. Many other studies have been completed to suggest similar results for anxiety and depression as well. ECY states: ‘our classes have been informed by clinical practices which evidence measurable positive impact on mental health and wellbeing.’
A trauma sensitive approach can help a range of people from retired veterans to those who have suffered childhood abuse, and anyone in between. TSY as an approach to yoga is developing as more people are becoming aware of the impact that trauma may have on an individual. Many of us have experienced trauma to some degree for a myriad of events and experiences in our lives; yoga that takes these unique experiences into account is essential.
Rid your body of it’s impurities,
let your speech be true and sweet,
feel friendship for the world
and with humility seek wealth and knowledge
‘Trauma-informed yoga is a proven model to help assist with physical and mental health issues as well as reducing loneliness and social isolation and yet access to high quality trauma-informed yoga teaching in areas of deprivation is extremely low’, ECY added. This shows the importance of reaching as many different communities and groups as possible. There is much more to yoga than simply practicing postures; it’s about working with our mind-body connection, and for many people, it’s re-establishing that connection that may have been dormant or unavailable due to trauma. Having a trauma-sensitive approach can help yoga teachers to move from assuming we know everything about our students to being open to their own choice-making abilities. Yoga is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and we all have different bodies, bone-structure, preferences and outlook on life. A TSY approach to teaching is a step closer to creating a more person-centred, nurturing and empowering experience when participating in a yoga class.
© 2024 Houghton & Mackay. All Rights Reserved. The content in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without prior permission to the rights owners. Top Photo: Alexandra Gorn. Prose: Emily James. ECY (Edinburgh Community Yoga who took part in this article may be reached via their website: https://edinburghcommunityyoga.co.uk/
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