Trauma-Informed Yoga
Josh Yetter, Clinical Director at Center for Prevention of Abuse
For Sexual Assault Awareness Month, CFPA’s therapy team is spotlighting the use of the ancient tradition of yoga as a powerful tool for the healing of trauma. Meaning ‘yoke’ or ‘union,’ yoga is a practice designed to bridge the perceived gap between mind and body, helping us experience and embrace our wholeness. Through practice, we come to better understand that our mental and physical experiences are inextricably linked.
Trauma-informed yoga is a modified practice designed to be gentle and supportive, promoting a sense of safety, connection, and presence in the body. It differs from traditional yoga in that it emphasizes choice and consent. Instructors invite students to move in ways that feel right for them, encouraging respect for the limitations of their body—a crucial, empowering shift for survivors, whose body autonomy and personal boundaries may have been violated or disrespected.
For many survivors of sexual violence, trauma is experienced in and through the body. In the relentless fight-or-flight search for safety, the body often sacrifices rest and recovery. Over time, system-wide somatic symptoms may manifest with no apparent physiological cause. These can include cardiopulmonary responses like elevated heart rate, high blood pressure, and shortness of breath; musculoskeletal issues such as tension, stiffness, and chronic pain; and neurological effects like headaches, dizziness, and heightened sensitivity to sensory input.
Through conscious breathing, grounding postures, and mindfulness, yoga helps us regulate our nervous system, moving us from constant reactivity into restful presence. In this movement, we find our healing, as our minds and bodies respond to safety created through intention. With practice, we allow for the time and space needed to reconnect with ourselves, finding wholeness in what we once thought broken.
This year, CFPA is honored to partner with SoulSide Healing Arts, a non-profit organization providing accessible and affordable holistic wellness and self-care classes, events, and workshops to the Peoria area community. SoulSide’s yoga instructors are trauma-informed and offer all classes at pay-what-you-can rates. For more information, check out their website at soulsidehealingarts.com.
