Yoga Sequencing?
I am continuously learning and refining my yoga teaching style and approaches to teaching and my own practice. Following my first yoga teacher training, I felt I had to follow a sequencing approach focussed on building the training we were given. Sticking to a format which definitely works, but I wanted to be more flexible in my approach. When I became more immersed in my own yoga practice and completed the Advanced Practitioner Diploma in Dru Yoga, I fell in love with the art and playfulness of yoga class. A way to be more creative in my overall approach, working with the seasons. introducing Ayurvedic philosophy as well as yoga philosophy. . My teaching path was not going to be based in a typical studio class, it was focused on guiding diverse bodies and backgrounds of people. Making my yoga classes truly available to everyone. The specifics of the postures began to be less important. As long as my students are safe, they can create the posture which works best for their own body. I began shifting my energy into creating holistic classes that feel safe, accessible, and welcoming for all bodies.
I find an authentic approach is key in my teaching. Being me, myself as I am is what makes my classes popular, along with the holistic approach I take to my teaching.
I have recently trained in a 80hour Trauma Informed Yoga course which culminated in my creating a 6 week course. It still needs final tweaks, but now I have a manual with a 6 week course to deliver in a Trauma Informed way.
“Trauma-Informed Yoga is an approach to teaching yoga with a guiding framework that involves understanding, recognising, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma” (http:// www.traumainformedcareproject.org). We are not specifically treating trauma in a yoga class, but rather being aware of, and accounting for, the greater need for safety and trust within the space when we are working with others.
Trauma-informed yoga supports people who have experienced trauma in cultivating a connection and relationship with their bodies through empowering practices that prioritise the needs of the person healing from trauma.
Here are some core principles of trauma-informed practice that I operate by with my yoga teaching:
Respect - this begins with how you respect yourself, your family, the environment, and those in community.
Safety - always prioritising consent and fostering a sense of safety so individuals know they are safe with you, in the room and can make a choice to leave if/when they wish.
Creating a healing container - this begins during your own spiritual and cultural work, as you prepare for teaching, throughout the class, and to the closing and transition of the practice.
Offering choices - clear pathways to making decisions for what feels best in the individual’s body.
Empowerment/Agency - using a combination of themes, language, movements, stillness, and reflection to promote a sense of empowerment within the class
Transparency (or predictability) - stating what may be expected from the class, giving an overview, providing some time parameters or breath counts etc. Options to do something different are always available.
Collaboration - inviting the class to make the practice their own. Encouragement to move in a way that feels good and restorative in their bodies, minds, and spirits. Choosing to adapt posture, use yoga props/blocks, share in the circle (or pass) and feel they can share their voice to guide when they wish (which helps when you start class with a check in and check out). Or leaving out postures if these are not working for them today.
Today - always reminding people that all that is important is now. What your body does today, is what your body does today and each day is different. Go with it.
Some elements of a trauma-informed yoga approach include:
modeling movements
using slow progressions
offering invitational, empowerment-based language
integrating choices and providing options (e.g. A or B)
careful selection of physical poses and breathing techniques
maintaining a supportive and nonjudgmental presence
awareness of where you position your body in the yoga space (avoiding encroaching into personal space, i.e not standing over people or place hands on people without permission)
being mindful of the space (cautious use of lighting, candles, fragrances - putting care into your choice of using anything that stimulates the senses). Avoiding anything which triggers another.
Oh how I have loved making these changes into the way I teach and I am so filled with joy at the creation of my course which will be in one of my up and coming blogs with more details. I look forward to sharing the birthing of my course with you.
