EMPOWERMENT, CONNECTION, RECOVERY
“Trauma Sensitive Yoga provides present-moment body awareness that supports self-regulation.”
Kate Watkinson
TRAUMA and the BODY
Trauma is not what happens to us but what happens within our body as a result. The good news is that you can use the wisdom of your body to support you in recovery.
Trauma creates imprints within the body. This means that a victim of trauma may experience its affects years after the trauma has ended.
In experiencing trauma the body automatically responds to protect itself by activation of the sympathetic nervous system in states of fight, flight, freeze or fawn.
These states are involuntarily reactions to threats. With trauma survivors the response continues, sometimes long after the traumatic event.
TRAUMA CENTRE TRAUMA SENSITIVE YOGA (TCTSY)
TCTSY is an empirically validated, body-based, clinical intervention for complex trauma and PTSD.
Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) was originally developed by David Emerson, Jenn Turner & Bessel van der Kolk at the Centre for Trauma and Embodiment in Boston, USA.
TCTSY uses physical forms/movements to support people to develop body awareness, safety and agency.
Elements of Yoga are adapted to encourage a positive relationship with one’s body. This creates self-empowerment that is often compromised with trauma.
The emphasis is on the internal experience of the participant rather than the external expression of a form.
CORE COMPONENTS of TRAUMA SENSITIVE YOGA
TCTSY has foundations in trauma theory, attachment theory, neuroscience, an understanding of systemic oppression and hatha yoga, with an emphasis on body-based therapy.
The core components of TCTSY are –
- INVITATIONAL LANGUAGE. Trauma survivors most likely have experienced a power over dynamic. Invitational language encourages self-empowerment.
- CHOICE MAKING. Participants are offered choices about how they practice yoga. This supports a sense of agency.
- INTEROCEPTION. Is the capacity to feel sensation within one’s body which can be disrupted with trauma. The practice cultivates interoceptive awareness.
- SHARED AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCE. Mutual participation between the facilitator and participant highlights attunement and relationship.
- NON-COERCION. “No intervention that takes power away from the survivor can possibly foster recovery no matter how much it appears to be in the person’s immediate best interest”. Judith Herman, MD
“In research…my colleagues and I have shown that ten weeks of yoga practice markedly reduced the PTSD symptoms of patients who had failed to respond to any medication or to any other treatment.”
Bessel van der Kolk
TRAUMA SENSITIVE YOGA OPTIONS
Group sessions take place in Invercargill on Monday evenings. A trained Social Worker/Counsellor is also present to offer support. ACC sensitive claims approved.
Individual sessions where Kate works privately with a client are also available.
HOW TO BOOK
“The possibility of renewal exists as long as life exists”.
Gabor Mate, MD