Trauma-Informed Yoga and Therapy: A Holistic Path to Healing
In my work as a therapist, I’ve seen again and again how trauma lives not just in the mind but in the body. Clients often tell me, “I know I’m safe now, but my body still reacts like I’m in danger.” This is one of the reasons I’m passionate about combining traditional therapy with trauma-informed yoga, because healing requires us to work with both mind and body together.
Why Trauma-Informed Yoga?
Yoga is often thought of as stretching or relaxation, but when it’s adapted through a trauma-informed lens, it becomes something more profound: a way to gently reclaim connection with one’s body. Trauma-informed yoga invites choice, curiosity, and presence, rather than performance or achievement.
For many trauma survivors, and for those in eating disorder recovery, the body can feel like a battlefield. Trauma-informed yoga shifts the relationship: instead of demanding, we listen. Instead of controlling, we notice. The practice itself becomes a safe rehearsal space for self-compassion and body trust.
Where Therapy and Yoga Meet
Traditional talk therapy allows us to name experiences, explore patterns, and build insight. Trauma-informed yoga brings that exploration into lived, physical experience. When combined, they create a powerful synergy:
Awareness and Language: Therapy helps clients name emotions and notice triggers; yoga offers tools to feel and regulate those states in the moment.
Grounding and Safety: Both modalities emphasize choice, pacing, and agency, key elements for trauma recovery.
Integration: EMDR and other trauma therapies often stir up strong body responses. Yoga provides an accessible way to soothe, ground, and integrate after deep processing.
Reclaiming the Body: Where trauma and eating disorders can create distance from the body, yoga becomes a compassionate practice of re-connection.
What a Session Might Look Like
A combined session doesn’t look like a fitness class, it’s not about headstands or flexibility. It might mean:
Beginning with a grounding breath practice before EMDR processing.
Moving through a gentle sequence after exploring painful memories to release tension.
Using yoga postures as metaphors in therapy—mountain pose as stability, child’s pose as rest, warrior as empowerment.
Pausing to notice body sensations, and learning to interpret them with kindness rather than fear.
These practices are always guided by consent, collaboration, and client readiness. The focus is not “doing yoga correctly” but cultivating safety and curiosity in the body.
Why This Matters
For trauma survivors, healing often comes in layers. Talk therapy can uncover insights, but without addressing the body, many clients still feel hijacked by anxiety, flashbacks, or urges. Trauma-informed yoga offers a bridge: a way to embody safety, compassion, and resilience.
When combined with therapy, it provides a fuller picture of recovery; one that honors both the stories we carry and the bodies we live in.
Closing Thoughts
The most meaningful part of my work is witnessing clients reclaim their relationship with themselves. Trauma-informed yoga and therapy together create a pathway not just to symptom relief, but to deeper connection, freedom, and peace in body and mind.
