PLEASE NOTE: this workshop has been cancelled because of family illness.
Please Note: This workshop will be delivered online using Zoom. Participants will require a stable internet connection.
20% (£110 saving) discount when booking both this workshop & a Trauma Centre, Trauma Sensitive Yoga 20Hr Foundation Workshop
The body, yoga, mindfulness and neuroscience are themes that dominate contemporary conversations on trauma. These conversations often presume a prior level of expertise or else are so simplified that clinically significant distinctions are lost.
This 5 day workshop is intended to bridge the gap for those without a background in neuroscience or yoga but who wish to understand the current theories on what happens to our brains when we are threatened and how various yoga practices might either help or harm.
The workshop is suitable for:
those offering therapeutic interventions for trauma survivors
yoga teachers wishing to create a more trauma informed practice
those with little or no prior training in neurobiology
those without a yoga/somatic practice
Workshops FAQs document - Please follow this link. It will hopefully answer all your questions re. the workshops.
The Yoga Clinic (UK) does not consider those living with the effects of a trauma history, pathologically 'disordered'.
Please note: This program is solely for professional development and is not intended as an intervention for those who have experienced trauma. Talking about trauma, even in the context of an educational program, may be triggering.
Curriculum Overview:
Introduction to Neuroscience & Neurobiology:
The neurological processes by which we come to know and respond to our internal and external world
Interpersonal Safety & Interpersonal Neurobiology:
The neurological processes through which safety is created and experienced
The Effects of Safety - Thriving, Not Just Surviving:
The effects of safety on our cognitive, emotional and biological states
Interpersonal Danger & Interpersonal Neurobiology:
Varieties of danger - interpersonal and non-personal, abuse and neglect, chronic and single incident
The neurological processes through which danger is created and experienced
Surviving Danger:
Fight, Flight, Fawn, Freeze & Dissociation
The neurobiology of our survival mechanisms
The Side Effects of Surviving - Not Thriving:
Neurobiological theories for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Complex PTSD, Developmental Trauma, Dissociative Identity Disorders and Personality Disorders
Trauma Sequelae:
Neurobiological theories for the varieties of secondary trauma symptoms, including addiction, self-injurious behaviours, somatisation, foggy thinking and attentional issues, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, autoimmune disorders
Trauma Informed Practices:
Locating distress/locating blame - "what happened to you?" Vs "what is wrong with you?"
Attending to power dynamics and enabling agency
The Spectrum of Trauma Treatments:
Cognitive approaches to trauma processing - limitations and applications
Somatic approaches to trauma processing - limitations and applications
Psychoeducation
Yoga - A Relational Practice for a Relational Brain:
The 8 Limbs of Yoga (Ashtanga Yoga) as a psychological practice
Contemporary yoga and secular mindfulness
Yoga and Re-Traumatisation:
Yamas, Niyamas & moral judgement
Asana, Pranayama and physical assists
Meditation and dissociation
Ahimsa/The Hippocratic Oath, Scope of Practice
Yoga for Trauma Survivors:
Trauma Sensitive Yoga - somatic dissociation and embodiment
Trauma Informed Yoga - mindfulness, affect regulation, empowerment
Self-practice and group practices
General yoga classes for trauma survivors
Theoretical Frameworks:
Polyvagal Theory
Attachment Theory
Interpersonal Neurobiology
Classical and Operant Conditioning
Neuroplasticity
Cognitive Neuroscience
The Yoga Sutras
This workshop will be delivered online using Zoom. You will require a stable internet connection.
We will make use of a number of teaching mediums:
Additional pre-recorded content
Seminar style with accompanying slides and handouts
Case histories & lived experience
Teaching examples
Clinical examples
Small and large group brainstorming/discussion - Zoom breakout rooms
Experiential Education - some craft materials will be required; details will be sent out to participants
Teaching Practice - Zoom breakout rooms
Q & A sessions
Expert by Experience/Training, Panel Discussion (as part of an ongoing conversation that is The Critical Yoga Project)
Expert by Experience/Training, Panel Discussion
Friday afternoon - an opportunity for students and the panel to share insights and experiences.
Panel - Geneviève Grant, Lu Blue
Geneviève Grant has over 15 years experience devising and delivering bespoke coaching. Her client’s are often global companies with an aggressive financial strategy - Goldman Sachs, J. P. Morgan, Barclays Banking Group.
Geneviève’s clients look to her for ways to support and develop a competitive, resilient & adaptable company culture that is also respectful and engaged with the international profile of their workforce.
Prior to becoming a trainer and coach, Geneviève has been and continues to be performance poet, dramaturg, stage-manager and massage therapist. She draws on these experiences to enrich and deepen her coaching process.
Lu Blue found their way to yoga in 2001 and found a body-based approach to healing from addiction incredibly impactful in their recovery.
Encouraged to go deeper into an exploration of yoga practices Lu began a 200-hour Mindfulness yoga teacher training in 2016, followed by a 300hrs Trauma Centre, Trauma Sensitive Yoga certification in 2019.
Lu is queer & gender non conforming, they love to explore the mechanics and observations of natural movement. Fascinated in fragmenting expression of their own identity, they value and have found crucial, the understanding of embodiment, to develop an authentic self that empowers further growth, self acceptance and expression.
A Horticulturist and Garden Designer Lu believes that the elements of nature's movements and our environment are intrinsic to discovering a freedom of true expression.
Ashley MacDonald (tbc) has been developing and exploring a personal movement practice for over 20 years.
In her professional life she specialises in facilitating trauma informed yoga practices for those in secure prison and psychiatric facilities:
Cygnet Secure Hospital, Stevenage
HM Prison Whitemore
HM Prison, LittleHey
This work is offered to both staff and patients.
As an educator, Ashley creates trauma informed curriculum for Barefoot Body Training.
As yoga teacher, Ashley offers 1-1 trauma informed yoga sessions through her own Cambridge studio, Yoga at the Barn, restorative yoga practices for those living with Chronic Fatigue.
Possible topics:
the experience of embodiment, gender, sex and sexualities in personal identity
the experience of mental health service users/service providers, particularly within the NHS
the experience of curriculum content creation on yoga teacher trainings
the experience of working alongside incarcerated populations
the experience of those that are from non-white communities/racism as relational trauma
the experience of those that are from non-heterosexual communities/homophobia as relational trauma
trauma informed approaches to chronic and enduring poor mental health including the Open Dialogue approach to psychosis
the role of somatic approaches to mental health & their place in trauma informed care
This panel will be part of an ongoing conversation that is The Critical Yoga Project
Accreditation & Professional Development:
Letter of Attendance :
The Yoga Clinic (UK)
Delivered by Alexandra Cat, Director, The Yoga Clinic (UK)
This workshop together with the 4.5Hr E-Course in Trauma Sensitive Yoga satisfies the application requirements for The Centre for Trauma & Embodiment's certification program in TCTSY
Alexandra Cat holds degrees in Experimental Psychology, (Oxford University) and Philosophy of Cognitive Science (Sussex University).
She is a member of the teaching faculty for The Centre for Trauma & Embodiment (Boston, USA) program in Trauma Sensitive Yoga and is a regular guest lecturer on a variety of NHS Medical Education Programs.
Alex has worked as a yoga teacher since 2001. She offers trauma informed yoga practices for trauma survivors - The Yoga Clinic (UK).
Please see here for Alex's full resume.
TIMETABLE DETAILS
Each day will run from 10:00 - 16:30, including a mid morning, lunch and mid afternoon break
Students will be booking for the whole 5 days.
Booking Details
Non-Bursary Places:
There are 3 booking options.
UK Bookings - £550
UK Bookings when also booking a 20Hr TCTSY workshop - £440
International Bookings - £560*
*International students are asked to pay an extra £10 to cover a currency processing fee.
Bursary Places:
Six bursary places are available.
2 x £250 places reserved for those who identify as LGBTQI
2 x £250 places reserved for those identifying as Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic
2 x £100 places reserved for those employed as Peer Workers within mental health services
These places are for people who fulfil the following criteria:
LGBTQI and/or Black, Asian, Ethnic Minority and/or those employed as Peer Workers within mental health services - please do not submit a bursary application if your identity does not meet these initial criteria
residing in the UK
making your payment from a sterling (£) account.
would not otherwise be able to afford to attend the workshop - priority is given to those in receipt of benefits and/or peer workers
Applications for a bursary place must be submitted by Monday April 11th 2022 - some extensions may apply; please email.
Successful applicants will be notified of their offer by Monday April 25th 2022. Offers will be made to eligible candidates on a first come, first served basis.
Please Note: I am aware that acronyms centering heterosexuality &/or whiteness, and which reduce individuals to collective labels are problematic. I am in conversation/reflection around this subject - Alex Cat.
Payment Plans:
Payment plans for UK & bursary places will be available. Because each instalment will incur an international processing fee, we do not offer a payment plan for non-sterling (£) accounts
Please note: The Yoga Clinic (UK) does not consider those living with the effects of a trauma history, pathologically 'disordered'.
This program is solely for professional development and is not intended as an intervention for those who have experienced trauma. Talking about trauma, even in the context of an educational program, may be triggering.