Trauma Awareness: A Yogic Framework

What is trauma? What does yoga, historically, have to say about it? And how can we use trauma awareness to build more conscious yoga communities where everyone feels safe and welcome? 

In this program with Sean Feit Oakes, you’re invited to take a deep dive into these questions and more. This course is especially useful for teachers who want to learn more about yoga’s philosophical perspective on trauma and healing, and practically speaking, desire to make their classes more accessible. It’s also useful for students who want to understand more about trauma through the lens of yoga.

What you’ll get, module by module:

• In the first module, Sean speaks to the importance of developing more trauma awareness in the yoga community, and he outlines the specific themes you’ll explore throughout the course. He also provides philosophical and practical insight into how our current understanding of healing trauma aligns with the historical concept of liberation (moksha) found in yoga, and how yoga can help people find liberation now, in this era.

• In the second module, Sean defines trauma and how it affects people, explains the three primary behaviors of the autonomic nervous system and how they influence us, and elucidates why classical forms of meditation aren’t necessarily beneficial for people who have experienced trauma. After that, he guides a trauma-aware meditation where you’ll use your senses to cultivate feelings of safety and ease.

• In the third module, Sean sheds light on what classical yoga, specifically as it’s expressed in the Yoga Sutra, can teach us about trauma and healing. He also shares how attention to the body through hatha yoga can help us restore balance to our nervous system.

• In the fourth module, Sean shares approaches you can use to customize vinyasa for trauma and general principles that yoga teachers can follow to make their classes and/or studio spaces more trauma-aware. 

Join us for this engaging program and use what you learn to make your yoga classes more accessible to those who’ve experienced trauma, or simply for your own benefit.