Trauma-Sensitive Yoga: An Evidence-Informed Approach to Healing
At New Leaf with Nisha, healing begins when we reconnect with the innate wisdom of our bodies.
For those navigating trauma, grief, and loss, Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) offers a gentle yet powerful path to release stored emotions, rebuild inner trust, and cultivate lasting resilience.
In this blog, I explore how TCTSY can support your recovery journey, why it is so effective for emotional healing, and how we honour the sacred tradition of Yoga in our work.
Acknowledgment: Yoga is a sacred practice that has been a part of Indian culture for over 5,000 years. Writing about Yoga feels both an honour and a privilege. As a lifelong learner, knowledge seeker, TCTSY facilitator, and imperfectly perfect human being, I approach this writing with deep respect, humility, and a heartfelt intention to do justice to this ancient wisdom.
What is Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY)?
Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) is an evidence-informed, somatic approach to healing that focuses on rebuilding emotional safety, trust, and reconnection to the body's innate wisdom.
Unlike traditional forms of Yoga, TCTSY shifts the emphasis away from physical achievement or mastering postures and instead invites participants into the present-moment experience and choice-making, cornerstones of trauma recovery.
TCTSY was developed by David Emerson, founder of the Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) program at the Justice Resource Institute (JRI), and evolved through collaboration with Jenn Turner, co-founder of the Center for Trauma and Embodiment.
It is grounded in clinical research and recognised as a proven adjunctive treatment for complex trauma, developmental trauma, and PTSD.
At its heart, TCTSY is about empowerment, choice, and agency - encouraging individuals to move, breathe, and notice in ways that feel right for them, fostering a healing relationship with their own bodies.
“Our bodies hold the grief, the fear, and the hope we could not always speak. Healing begins when we offer the body what it never had before: safety, presence, and choice.”
You can learn more about trauma recovery approaches through resources like Heal with CFTE.
How is Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TSY) different from Traditional Yoga?
TCTSY shifts the emphasis from "doing it right" to experiencing what feels right for you. This distinction is vital, especially when supporting individuals whose experiences of trauma may have included a loss of agency, autonomy, or body trust.
The Role of the Body in Trauma Recovery
As renowned trauma expert Dr. Bessel van der Kolk reminds us in The Body Keeps the Score, "Trauma is stored not as a narrative, but as a sensory experience in the body."
Trauma deeply imprints on the nervous system and body, often leading to disconnection, emotional numbness, hypervigilance, or chronic stress.
TCTSY supports healing by:
Re-establishing bodily safety through present-moment experience.
Offering choices that foster trust, care, and autonomy.
Building a new relationship with the body through movement and breath.
Regulating the nervous system in gentle, sustainable ways.
As Judith Herman, pioneer in trauma recovery, beautifully states: “Recovery can take place only within the context of relationships; it cannot occur in isolation.”
In TCTSY, the relationship between the facilitator and the participant is collaborative, respectful, and non-hierarchical, creating a compassionate space where healing unfolds naturally.
How Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Supports Healing from Grief and Loss
Grief and trauma are stored in the body. They are not simply "emotions" but lived experiences that affect how we move, breathe, and relate to ourselves and others.
TCTSY supports healing by:
Offering a non-judgmental space for emotional exploration.
Restoring body trust after experiences of betrayal, grief, or abandonment.
Empowering personal agency, promoting choice over the body and emotional experiences.
Regulating the nervous system through invitational movement.
Over time, TCTSY nurtures emotional resilience, helping individuals process stored grief, fear, and trauma at a supportive and sustainable pace.
Evidence Behind Trauma-Sensitive Yoga
Research consistently shows that somatic therapies, such as Trauma-Centered Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY), are highly effective in trauma recovery. In "The Body Keeps the Score" (van der Kolk, 2014), Dr. Bessel van der Kolk emphasizes the significance of body-based therapies in helping trauma survivors reclaim a sense of safety, agency, and presence. Additionally, studies conducted by David Emerson and Jenn Turner at the Center for Trauma and Embodiment demonstrate that TCTSY improves emotional regulation, enhances mindfulness, and reduces PTSD symptoms. A qualitative descriptive analysis by West, Liang, and Spinazzola (2017) further supports these findings. Their research indicates that TCTSY’s focus on mindful movement and interoceptive awareness aids in regulating emotional arousal, increases the ability to safely experience emotions in the present moment, and fosters a sense of comfort and safety within the body. The study also introduced the G.R.A.C.E. themes, which provide valuable insights into how Trauma-Sensitive Yoga can facilitate positive changes both on and off the yoga mat:
Grace & Compassion: Becoming aware of what one needs to feel healthy, noticing that everyone moves at their own pace, and integrating the TSY emphasis on doing what feels right for one's own body cultivated greater gentleness with the body and patience with the process of change.
Relation: Participants reported a stronger connection to their inner experiences - becoming more attuned to physical sensations and emotions - alongside deeper and more meaningful personal relationships.
Acceptance: Many described a growing acceptance of themselves, their bodies, and their lives as they were, finding greater peace with the past and present.
Centeredness: Trauma-Sensitive Yoga helped participants experience a quieter mind, with less rumination, more space to think, alternative perspectives, reduced reactivity, and an increased sense of positivity.
Empowerment: TSY fostered greater control, confidence, and active engagement in life. Participants reported feeling equipped with tools for effective action and resilience when facing obstacles rather than withdrawing or disconnecting as they might have.
Judith Herman's ground breaking work, "Trauma and Recovery" (1992), further reinforces the importance of relational, body-centered healing practices that foster empowerment, choice, and reconnection - all core elements of TCTSY.
To learn more about evidence-informed approaches to trauma recovery, you can explore Heal with CFTE.
A Personal Reflection: My Journey with TCTSY
On a personal level, my journey with Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) has been incredibly transformative. Through this practice, I have rediscovered what it means to feel safe both within myself and in my relationships. It has helped me understand that being heard, seen, and respected is my right as a human being—not something I must earn through performance. Practicing Trauma-Sensitive Yoga has guided me in rebuilding trust within my body, tuning in to my needs, and recognizing the gentle strength that comes with making choices. This deeply personal transformation shapes how I support and guide others, always doing so with profound respect, compassion, and a heartfelt belief in the healing capacity that resides within each person.
Trauma-Sensitive Yoga at New Leaf with Nisha
At New Leaf with Nisha, Trauma-Sensitive Yoga is woven into a holistic, whole-person approach to emotional and somatic healing.
As the practice evolves within New Leaf, TCTSY will be integrated in ways that feels most supportive for our valued clients through personalised one-on-one sessions, small group offerings, or embodied practices within counselling support.
If you're curious about how Trauma-Sensitive Yoga can support your emotional and somatic healing, you're warmly invited to reach out.
Together, we can explore what safety, presence, and empowerment can look like - personalised and integrated for you and at your own pace.
Conclusion: Healing Through Compassionate Movement
Healing from trauma is a journey of reclaiming safety, trust, and agency. At New Leaf with Nisha, we warmly welcome you to explore Trauma-Sensitive Yoga as a path back to yourself – with compassion, choice, and gentle strength.
References:
Emerson, D., & Hopper, E. (2011). Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body . North Atlantic Books.
van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
Herman, J. L. (1997). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence - from domestic abuse to political terror. Basic Books.
West, J., Liang, B., & Spinazzola, J. (2017). Trauma-sensitive yoga as a complementary treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder: A qualitative descriptive analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 73(9), 1170–1181. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22465
