Your relationship with your body can be a foundation for your healing

What Is Trauma Sensitive Yoga?

Trauma sensitive yoga provides an opportunity to practice movement in your body on your own terms. Offered privately or in a small group, trauma sensitive yoga gives participants the chance to explore choice-making, body awareness, and sharing power with your facilitator. It does not seek to process or “fix” trauma, but rather empowers you with tools to navigate your own healing.

Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY), developed at the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, is the original and most studied form of yoga that supports trauma survivors. TCTSY is an empirically validated, clinical intervention for complex trauma or chronic, treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

TCTSY practices can be beneficial as a supplemental treatment if you are already in therapy, but you are not required to be in therapy to explore TCTSY. Additionally, many people can benefit from a TCTSY facilitation style. You do not need a formal diagnosis to use this modality to support your own healing.

Private and small group TCTSY facilitation can be supportive for a variety of experiences, including:

• Grief and loss
• Adjusting to a diagnosis for self or loved one
• Life stage transitions
• Complex or relational trauma
• PTSD
• Chronic stress and burnout
• And many more.

I hold a 300-hr certification in TCTSY from the Trauma Center and would be happy to help you see if this modality would fit your current needs. I regularly offer trauma sensitive yoga events and private sessions, in addition to incorporating TCTSY methodologies in my core yoga instruction.

History of Trauma Sensitive Yoga

TCTSY was originally developed at the Trauma Center at JRI in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA, by David Emerson in clinical consultation with JRI clinical staff including Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, yoga teachers, and TCTSY participants. TCTSY continues to be researched and is now the key program of the Center for Trauma and Embodiment at JRI and overseen by David Emerson and Jenn Turner, LMHC.

Trauma Sensitive Yoga Resources

• 2014 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Study on TCTSY (PDF)
• Full TCTSY Research Library
• The Ethical Commitments of TCTSY
• TCTSY Instagram

General Trauma Resources

• Trauma and Recovery, by Judith Herman
• My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem
• Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body, by David Emerson and Elizabeth Hopper
• Trauma-Informed Yoga Card Deck, by Zahabiyah Yamasaki and Evelyn Rosario Andry