What Yoga Taught Me About Trauma, the Body and Choice
During my fourth winter of intensive yoga practice in India, I wrote and delivered my first trauma-sensitive yoga training at the ashram where my own experience of yoga had begun. Delivering that training felt like coming full circle.
I had first travelled to India after reading Bessel van der Kolk’s chapter on yoga in The Body Keeps the Score, which explores the role yoga can play in recovery from trauma. I was on my own path of recovery, medication-free, newly trained as a counsellor and delivering training to mental health professionals on trauma-informed practice. I understood trauma intellectually, but sensed that understanding alone was not enough. I needed to involve my body.
When I first arrived in India, I had little understanding of yoga. I was searching for a deeper connection with my body, but the practice quickly revealed just how disconnected from it I had become. In some traditional hatha classes, the emphasis on precision, discipline and correct form initially reinforced familiar patterns: I pushed to attain postures, competed and overrode messages telling me to stop or change, sometimes to the point of injury. During asana I was disconnected from what I felt; during savasana I dissociated, although I did not yet understand what was happening.
That first winter, however, I worked with a guest yoga teacher whose approach felt very different. She invited me to slow down, notice and become curious about my body rather than concentrate only on achievement. There was space to adapt, choose and listen. Her teaching began to show me what a different relationship with yoga and with my body, could feel like.
Over the years, what I understood professionally about trauma gradually came together with what I was learning through my own body. Yoga helped me reconnect with myself and find a greater sense of safety within my body. But my experiences also left me with a question: if yoga could help me reconnect with my body, yet sometimes reinforce my disconnection, what made the difference?
Isn't all yoga trauma-sensitive?
It is a question I hear often - and one that my own experience has taught me does not have a simple answer.
Yoga has enormous potential to support the nervous system. Movement, breath, awareness, rest and connection with the body can be deeply regulating, helping us slow down, reconnect and experience a sense of safety.
So why do we need something called trauma-sensitive yoga? Not because other forms of yoga are “bad” for people who have experienced trauma, but because even something intended to help can feel very different to a nervous system shaped by trauma. Trauma-sensitive teaching allows an understanding of those effects to inform how we offer the practice.
So, what is trauma-sensitive yoga?
Trauma-sensitive yoga is not necessarily a particular sequence or special type of yoga. It is an approach that recognises that people arrive on their mats with different histories, nervous systems and experiences of their bodies. What feels calming and grounding for one person may feel exposing or threatening for another.
Trauma can affect sensation, relationships, boundaries, choice and connection with the body. Someone may become hyper-alert and find it difficult to settle; someone else may become numb or disconnected. The nervous system may continue to respond as though danger is present through tension, altered breathing, pain, startle, restlessness, collapse or fight, flight, freeze and fawn responses - sometimes before the thinking mind understands why.
This is part of what Bessel van der Kolk means when he says that the body keeps the score. Recovery is not only about making sense of what happened; it may also involve developing physical safety, ownership and choice within the body. Through repeated experiences of safety and choice, the body can gradually learn the difference between then and now.
For yoga teachers, this matters because the body is where the practice takes place. Breathwork, stillness, closing the eyes, a posture or a teacher moving closer may feel supportive to one person and uncomfortable to another. The question becomes less about what a posture should look like and more about how the practice is experienced: how can we help someone remain connected to themselves and retain choice?
Why might we need it?
In class, survival responses might appear as restlessness during stillness, discomfort with closing the eyes or focusing on the breath, feeling exposed in a posture, becoming numb or disconnected, or finding touch and proximity difficult. Yoga can also bring emotions closer to the surface: someone may become tearful, anxious or angry without immediately knowing why.
None of these responses proves that someone has experienced trauma, and they do not need to be interpreted or encouraged. They simply remind us that body, breath, stillness and attention can affect more than muscles and joints.
Trauma-sensitive yoga supports safety, consent, boundaries and agency. A student might orient themselves to the room, keep their eyes open, move instead of becoming still, return to their natural breath, change their posture, rest or stop. The teacher offers clear options and respects the response, allowing the student to remain the authority on their own body.
How do we practice it?
Trauma-sensitive practice shapes the whole way we teach: our language, environment, pacing, relationships and decisions. It can mean respecting physical boundaries, seeking consent around touch, offering invitations rather than commands and providing genuine choices without presenting one as the “easier” or “better” option. There is no failure in changing a posture, resting or choosing not to do something.
Trauma-sensitive teachers understand why strong emotions may arise in a yoga class and are better equipped to respond safely and appropriately. This does not mean interpreting someone’s experience, diagnosing trauma or stepping into the role of a therapist. It means remaining calm, preserving choice, supporting immediate safety, recognising the limits of our scope of practice and knowing when additional support may be needed.
What this means for my teaching and practice
I do not see trauma-sensitive yoga as replacing other forms of yoga or as something reserved for people with a diagnosed trauma history. We do not always know what somebody carries into class, and perhaps we do not need to. We can create environments where boundaries are respected, there is no pressure to perform and people have space to say yes, no, not today or I’d like to try something different.
This learning continues to inform my trauma-sensitive yoga practice. It is not about avoiding all discomfort or promising that yoga will heal trauma. It is about creating conditions in which people can remain connected to themselves, listen to their bodies and choose how they respond. For me, that is where a sense of safety can begin.
Join me in Dahab
In February 2026, I joined a group of women on a 100-kilometre expedition through Sinai, ending in Dahab on the Red Sea. After trekking through Sinai and living Bedouin-style in the desert, arriving at Nour Boutique Hotel felt like a beautiful place to rest and bring our journey to a close.
We practised yoga together in the hotel’s rooftop shala, and as I spent time there, I began to imagine returning. The setting, the intimacy of the space and the opportunity to practise together made it feel like the right place to offer my next trauma-sensitive yoga teacher training.
I would love you to join me there from 15 to 18 December 2026 for this 30-hour training in Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt. Places are deliberately limited so the group can remain intimate, with time for meaningful discussion, personal reflection and supported learning. If the ideas in this article have resonated with you, the training offers an opportunity to explore them more deeply and bring them into the way you teach.
"My aim is to make trauma-informed knowledge accessible, practical, and empowering, while helping people develop the confidence and skills to support both themselves and others."
FAQs
Do I need prior teaching experience to attend?
A foundational yoga teaching background is helpful but not essential. This course is open to all practitioners and facilitators who work with people in a caring capacity.
Is this course certified?
Yes. You will receive a Certificate of Completion for 30 hours of Trauma Sensitive Teacher Training upon successful participation.
Do I need to have experienced trauma myself to attend?
No. This course is open to all. Participants are encouraged to work at their own pace and within their own comfort zone throughout the training.
Is the training trauma-informed in its delivery as well as its content?
Absolutely. Every element of this training - from the morning yoga to the workshop structure - is designed and facilitated through a trauma sensitive lens.
Is accommodation included?
No, but affordable beachfront accommodation is available at and near Nour Boutique Hotel. We are happy to assist with recommendations.
What should I bring?
A journal, comfortable clothing, an open mind, and anything that helps you feel grounded and at ease. Mats and props are provided at the venue.
Comments