The Teacher’s Guide to Accessible Yoga Trauma-Sensitive Teaching with Nityda Gessel
“Yoga is about embodiment, which is freeing, but a lot of us have experienced a level of disembodiment in the aftermath of trauma.” - Nityda Gessel
Trauma manifests in our body and affects how our nervous system responds to external situations. Yoga teachers should be aware that asking students to connect deeply with themselves can be challenging due to trauma.
Join Jivana and this episode’s guest, Nityda Gessel, to discuss trauma and its implications for yoga teachers. Together they explore what yoga teachers can do to create a safe and inclusive environment for a trauma conscious yoga practice.
Topics Include:
- Understanding the broad spectrum of trauma
- Invitational and exploratory language
- Setting the stage for a choice-based yoga class
- Self-regulation and co-regulation
- Continuous self-work
- Intersectionality, unconscious bias, and microaggressions
- The healing journey
Check out Jivana’s new book, The Teacher’s Guide to Accessible Yoga, and get more information about the book on his website.
Connect with Jivana:
www.jivanaheyman.com | @jivanaheyman | facebook.com/jivanaheyman
Nityda Gessel (she/her) is a somatic psychotherapist, trauma specialist, yoga teacher and educator, mom and heart-centered activist. Nityda is the founder of the Trauma-Conscious Yoga Institute, creator of The Trauma-Conscious Yoga Method℠, and author of Embodied Self Awakening: Somatic Practices for Trauma Healing and Spiritual Evolution (W. W. Norton & Company, 2023). Nityda has devoted her life to supporting the upliftment of others, working at the intersection of Eastern spirituality, holistic mental health, and embodied activism. Nityda founded the Trauma-Conscious Equity Foundation to narrow the health disparity gap by providing funding for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ mental health professionals to receive yoga and somatic training.
Connect with Nityda:
traumaconsciousyoga.com | @trauma_conscious_yoga_method