Trauma-Informed Yoga: A Body-Mind-Heart Approach to Trauma Recovery
With Karen Storms-Rohm
Trauma-Informed Yoga, for me, supports us with two arms.
One arm is the methodology used to transform a regular Yoga class into one that is conscientious and attentive to the symptoms of traumatic stress and complex trauma. This is expressed in the language of the instructions, the length we practice each pose or technique, use of props or lack of use of props, classroom environment, and the behavioral acknowledgment of the instructor as a co-regulator. All of this has a profound effect that transforms the typical yoga space into a venue for psycho-somatic healing.
The other arm is about the purpose. Trauma-Informed Yoga is a trauma recovery therapy. In a nutshell, when we experience trauma, of any kind, the nervous system activates a trauma response system described as fight, flight, freeze, fawn. When this happens, our bodies shut down certain faculties to direct resources to our necessary survival faculties. If traumatic experiences reoccur, or if trauma is not thoroughly processed, and especially if trauma is experienced in childhood, our body takes on those faculties of survival as its baseline. In short, over time, we "lose ourselves" to the effects of the traumatic experiences.
In the past, popular treatment for trauma recovery has been a “top-down” approach such as talk therapy. We tell our stories over and over to try to come to some analytical resolution. In doing this, we subtly, and not so subtly, relive the traumatic experiences in our nervous system. However, the body never feels a resolution. So, the programming of the trauma stays stored in our body. Besides the emotional and mental instability and shutdown that can occur, this type of stress stored in the body has been linked to chronic pain and inflammation, auto-immune disease, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, hormone disease, even cancer.
Here I won't take time to explain the science that describes what exactly happens in the body when we suffer acute, chronic or complex trauma, because my wealth of knowledge lies in the Yoga practice and there are wonderful resources available to understand trauma. When I first learned about Trauma-Informed and Trauma-Sensitive Yoga, I thought: of course Yoga is an excellent therapy for trauma! Not only does it offer coping skills through mindful breathing and exercise, the goal of Classical and Tantric Yoga is to decondition the body and mind, transforming the nervous system into a balanced, calm, and awakened state. Only then do we begin to experience real meditation. I think, in our own ways, most of us who return to Yoga practice, even in our modern, westernized versions of Yoga, unconsciously or subconsciously experience some amount of traumatic stress relief. The physical practices of Yoga, in both the Classical and Tantric schools, offer their own psycho-somatic methods for deconditioning and relieving traumatic stress. Besides the physical practices, when it is practiced holistically, Yoga offers a diagram of conscientious lifestyle choices, self-study, and spiritual development...all leading one back to one's essential nature and ‘the be-ing beyond the trauma’.
This is the work we do together. I have had the great fortune to study and practice with deeply caring facilitators. My approach is rooted in the “bottom-up” ways of choice-based, guided somatic experiencing as well as breathwork, and we incorporate mental and spiritual discovery and mastery for a whole-istic outcome. I refer to this as a body-mind-heart approach to trauma recovery.
Everything I share comes from authenticity, devotion, humility, and admiration for the divine human being. Everyone I work with, probably unexpectedly to them, gets showered with gratitude and praise for their courage and resilience. If you're reading this, thank you, again and again, for the work you are doing. Below is a testimonial from a brilliant woman engaged in this program, so you can read about how all of this theory lands in real life.
Trauma-informed Yoga is available at Kindred Waters Collective, in private and small group classes, to women, men, and those who identify on the gender spectrum. If you or someone you know is interested in the benefits of this practice, please reach out and we’ll decide together how to proceed.
Karen Storms-Rohm
email: karenstormsrohm@gmail.com text: 231.383.0184
“I have spent a decade working on my inner self. I started with talk therapy, which unveiled a lot of things for me and gave me some great tools, but mostly a different way to think of things. I added Acupuncture which brought me back into my body and gave me a whole new perspective of myself and how I fit into my own life. I have recently added Trauma-Informed Yoga with Karen and this has taken all the tools I’ve learned to another level. I have found I now feel at home with myself, gained an ability to feel “myself”, and feel/listen to my intuition. My anxiety shut off and I just feel like I have my own life to live, within my family. It’s a struggle to find the words to describe the changes this therapy has brought, as they can seem subtle but are profound. People pleasing is turning off and my ability to navigate FOR myself has arisen. Trauma therapy with Karen has been the best gift I’ve ever given myself. I no longer fear or try to “relieve” anger, disappointment, or sadness. I am able to just experience them and they pass on their own. My world has shifted.
I could go on and on I’m sure, but that hopefully describes something. You have changed my life for the better and I hope to have a similar impact on our world. ”