Trauma Sensitive Yoga for trauma survivors, and their therapists – with Sasha Bates
With trauma embedded in the body, research shows that talking therapies can only go so far. The Boston Trauma Centre’s research in bodily based, non-verbal ways of working resulted in “Trauma Sensitive Yoga” (TSY) – an enquiring, therapeutic form of yoga helping those with PTSD and complex trauma reacquaint themselves with their bodies.
We’ll cover:
- How TSY can be used in therapy.
- How yoga and trauma are intimately connected with the body’s respiratory and autonomic nervous systems; current neuroscientific and qualitative research; clinical examples.
- Practical exercises: mat-based and chair-based sequences, providing experience and takeaway skills
- When TSY may be helpful, and when it may not. How standard yoga classes might sometimes work to harden defenses and hinder recovery.
- How TSY differs from more conventional yoga, especially the guiding principle that there is no expectation to achieve or conform.
- Suitable for those with injuries, restricted movement, or little strength or flexibility.
About Sasha Bates:
Sasha Bates, MA, MBACP, is an integrative psychotherapist in private practice, BWY and Yoga Alliance trained yoga teacher, with additional training in Restorative Yoga and in TSY. Since TSY training in 2013, Sasha has used it in private practice with traumatised individuals and groups suffering from conditions as diverse as anorexia, dissociation, PTSD and CFS, as well as NHS group settings. Sasha’s third book, Yoga Saved My Life, explores the many parallels between yoga and psychotherapy.
