07/05/2026
🌿 Yoga, the Nervous System & the Path to Healing — Why Your Body Holds the Key-
So many of us come to yoga seeking flexibility, strength, or a moment of calm in a busy week. And those things are real and valuable. But what if yoga offered something far deeper — a direct pathway into your nervous system, your trauma history, and your capacity to feel safe in your own body?
This is what I want to talk about today.
Your Nervous System is Always Listening.
Before we can understand how yoga heals, we need to understand a little about how the nervous system works.
Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is constantly scanning the environment — not through your conscious mind, but through your body. This process, called neuroception (a term coined by Dr. Stephen Porges), is happening beneath your awareness, 24/7. It's asking: Am I safe? Am I connected? Do I need to fight, flee, or shut down?
For those who have experienced trauma — whether single-event trauma, complex developmental trauma, or the slow accumulation of chronic stress — this system can become stuck in states of survival. The nervous system doesn't distinguish between past and present. It responds to echoes of old threats as if they are happening right now.
This is not a character flaw. This is biology. And it is deeply, profoundly healable.
The Three States We Move Between
Drawing on Polyvagal Theory, we understand that our nervous system operates in three primary states:
🟢 Ventral Vagal — Safe & Social
This is the state of connection, curiosity, creativity, and calm. When we're here, we can think clearly, relate warmly, and feel genuinely present. This is our natural home.
🟡 Sympathetic — Fight or Flight
Activated when we sense threat, this state brings anxiety, hypervigilance, restlessness, anger, and an overactive mind. For many trauma survivors, this feels like the default setting.
🔴 Dorsal Vagal — Freeze & Collapse
When a threat feels overwhelming and escape seems impossible, the nervous system may collapse into shutdown: numbness, disconnection, fatigue, depression, and a feeling of not really being here.
Most of us oscillate between these states without realising it — and without the tools to return home.
Where Yoga Comes In
This is where a trauma-informed, somatically-aware yoga practice becomes extraordinary medicine.
Yoga — when taught with an understanding of the nervous system — is not about performing postures. It is about:
🌬️ Breath regulation — the breath is one of the only conscious entry points into the autonomic nervous system. Slow, extended exhales activate the ventral vagal state. We literally breathe ourselves toward safety.
🤲 Interoception — the ability to sense what is happening inside your body. Trauma often disconnects us from inner sensation (sometimes for good reason — it was too much). Gentle, mindful movement rebuilds this bridge.
🧘 Titration — moving slowly, in small doses, toward sensation rather than pushing through. This is the opposite of the "no pain, no gain" approach. We work at the edge of the window of tolerance, not beyond it.
💫 Co-regulation — the nervous system regulates in relationship. A safe, attuned therapeutic space — even in a yoga context — allows the body to borrow a sense of calm from the environment and the facilitator.
🌊 Pendulation — moving gently between activation and settling, teaching the nervous system that it is safe to feel, and safe to return to calm.
These are also the core principles of Somatic Experiencing — a body-based approach to trauma healing Ann has trained in which was developed by Dr. Peter Levine —
In Ann’s classes and workshops you might be invited to:
Notice the sensation of your feet on the floor before anything else
Pause mid-posture and ask: What am I feeling right now? Where do I feel it?
Rest in a posture longer than feels "productive" — and notice what arises.
Use movement to complete survival responses that were interrupted during overwhelming experiences
Track the natural rhythms of tension and release in the body
Experience the profound medicine of doing nothing — restorative postures that give the nervous system permission to land
This is slow work. It is subtle work. And it is some of the most transformative work a body can do.
An Exciting Announcement 🌿
I am so pleased to share that from June, I will be seeing clients one-on-one through South West Trauma Therapy in Bunbury.
As a somatic experiencing practitioner, psychotherapist, and trauma therapist, I work at the intersection of body-based healing, nervous system regulation, and evidence-informed trauma therapy. My approach integrates somatic experiencing, trauma-informed yoga, and psychotherapy to support you in moving from survival to genuine, embodied living.
Whether you are navigating complex trauma, anxiety, chronic stress, dissociation, or simply a deep sense of disconnection from yourself — there is a path forward. And your body already knows the way.
If this resonates with you, or someone you love, I would love to hear from you. 💛
📍 Southwest Trauma Therapy, Bunbury
📅 One-on-one sessions available from June
📩 DM me or check out our new website southwesttraumatherapy
You are not broken. You are a nervous system that learned to survive. Now it's time to learn how to live.
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