Yoga Therapy for Trauma

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Trauma is not just stored in the mind — it lives in the body. Trauma can be held in the body in many ways:

Muscle tension

Insomnia and difficulty sleeping

High blood pressure

Hypervigilance

Being stuck in hyperarousal (“fight/flight”)

Being stuck in hypoarousal (“freeze”)

Decreased heart rate variability

Numbness or lack of feeling

Lowered immune function

Yoga therapy is a unique method that address these physical trauma symptoms in a safe, compassionate, and effective way. It draws on yoga poses and philosophy to provide a healing experience for both the mind and body. Instead of an emphasis on physical fitness or creating the “right” version of a pose, the movements in these sessions focus on awareness, self-agency, personal choice, and a positive connection with your own body.

Individual yoga therapy sessions might include some or all of the following:

Safe touch. All versions of touch can be done fully clothed, and will always include continual communication and ongoing consent. Some variations include still touch on a single, prediscussed body part; gentle, targeted bodywork on an area of tension; or a gentle, relaxing full-body massage.

Somatic guided visualizations. Guided meditations and visualizations that allow you to further explore your inner experience using images, symbols, and movement.

Free movement. Structured space to freely explore movements and express your experience through outward action.

Personalized movement sequences. Yoga sequences designed to embody themes and concepts you are working to explore (e.g. taking up space, reaching out vs. withdrawing inward, increasing energy or decreasing arousal, strengthening vs. softening)

Yoga therapy can be tailored to your own levels of mobility and yoga experience. If you are coming to yoga therapy to primarily focus on working through embodied trauma, I ask that you are also actively working with a mental health therapist. A wrap-around approach is the safest and most effective way to address trauma.

Further resources to explore: