Complex trauma, or (Complex PTSD or CPTSD) can be defined as ‘prolonged and cumulative trauma that is often experienced in the context of specific relationships or environments’.
According to psychiatrist Bessel Van Der Kolk, in the context of complex trauma it is the body that keeps the score:
the memory of trauma is encoded in the viscera, in the heartbreaking and gut-wrenching emotions, in auto-immune disorders and skeletal/muscular problems…
As a result of complex trauma, you may find it hard to experience internal sensations in your body: ‘Apprehension about being hijacked by uncomfortable sensations keeps the body frozen and the mind shut’.
Perhaps you may be overwhelmed by those very difficult trauma-related perceptions, sensations, and emotions, which you might try to avoid by disconnecting from your body. You may experience trauma-related sensations but not remembering where they come from.
As a result, you may feel a sense of disembodiment, emptiness, or you may not be able to experience an inner sense of self at all, among others.
In trauma-informed yoga (TCTSY) you are invited to engage in some yoga forms. You choose how or whether to join in the practice. If you choose to be in a yoga form, you may decide how to shape it. You may be invited (only if you wish) to notice sensations in your body while in a yoga form. The TCTSY Facilitator shares the practice with you, authentically so. You are always in control of your practice: it is indeed your practice. You will never be asked to do a form that you do not wish to do. There is no physical touch in TCTSY.
Invitational language, Choice, Interoception (‘our awareness of what is going on within the boundary of our skin’), Shared Authentic Experience, Non-Coercion are the core principles of TCTSY and they are designed to help you re-experience your body in a safe way, at your own pace, and only if you wish.
The scope of TCTSY it to try help you notice sensations in your body, and form a ‘greater tolerance’ for them as you experience them in a safe way. As a result, you may slowly start to experience your body again, safely so.
Again, quoting Bessel Van Der Kolk:
Yoga turn(s) out to be a terrific way to (re)gaining a relationship with the interior world and with it a caring, loving… relationship to the self.
If you wish to read more about complex trauma and TCTSY:
o Emerson, D. (2015). Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy. New York, Norton, pp. xv, 44.
o Herman, J. (1997). Trauma and Recovery. New York: Perseus.
o NICABM (2017). How Trauma Impacts Four Different Types of Memories. [Poster]. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/nicabm-stealthseminar/Trauma2017/img/co/NICABM-InfoG-memory-systems.jpg
o Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score. London, Penguin, pp. 86, 208, 273.
o West , J. I. (2011) Moving to Heal: Women’s Experiences of Therapeutic Yoga after Complex Trauma, Available at: https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:101480/datastream/PDF/view
Trauma Informed Yoga 