Trauma-Sensitive Yoga
Jessa Walters has completed the 300-hour Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Facilitator (TCTSY-F) certification with David Emerson through the Center for Trauma and Embodiment in Boston. Jessa began teaching TCTSY in 2013 as part of a study through the University of Minnesota and the Domestic Abuse Project researching TCTSY as a viable clinical treatment for complex trauma.
"No intervention that takes power away from the individual can possibly foster their recovery, no matter how much it appears to be in their immediate best interest.”
–Judith Herman, from her book, Trauma and Recovery
"Held trauma is, by definition, a form of disconnection. It’s a place where the present moment of life in its fullness gets stopped and interwoven with an unfinished and painful history. Healing is about reconnection. Healing is about attending to those held histories and supporting them to integrate or release.”
–Susan Raffo, from her essay, What Do I Mean When I Say ‘Healing Justice’
RESOURCES
BOOKS:
Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body by David Emerson
Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the Body into Treatment by David Emerson
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman
My Gradnmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
TCTSY RESEARCH:
Effectiveness of an Extended Yoga Treatment for Women with Chronic PTSD
Claiming Peaceful Embodiment through Yoga in the Aftermath of Trauma by Alison Rhodes
Moving to Heal: Women’s Experiences of Therapeutic Yoga after Complex Trauma by Jennifer West
For more research and resources, please visit the Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga website.
Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Participants’ Reflections:
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“I felt empowered to choose what felt good for me in my body. At times I just did my own thing, following what my body and mind needed in the moment.“
–Gini Loch
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“The class was just what I needed, and I loved all the choices given. I enjoyed the freedom of staying in poses longer or trying different ones to see which best suited me.”
–Nicola S.
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“Experiencing Jessa's trauma-sensitive yoga class over Zoom gave me a real taste of this beautiful tool. I felt how it can have a significant impact, all the choice and softness felt healing to all parts of my being. I feel inspired to start speaking to myself the way she spoke to us – slowly, gently, with patience, warmth and spaciousness. How we speak to ourselves is how we speak to Life, isn’t it?!”
–Gergana Lambreva, Craniosacral Therapist