Trauma-Focused Yoga

12/31/2025

Passing this nugget along for us yogis that need it. Thanks Balance Yoga + Barre for sharing this tutorial. 🙏

12/30/2025

Between the rush of the holidays and the reset of the new year, the nervous system can feel a little stretched. I wrote a short post on a few breathing practices that support regulation in an easy, accessible way.

Three simple breathing practices that help settle the nervous system, grounded in physiology and designed to support regulation without force.

12/22/2025

Funny and so true! 🤣

12/10/2025

Today is special.

Beth recently completed the Trauma-Focused Yoga teacher training and practicum, and I had the honor of recognizing her as a Certified Trauma-Focused Yoga Practitioner.

She has poured so much intention and care into this work, and I celebrate her today.

If you’d like to read more about her path and this milestone, the post is on the blog: https://traumafocusedyoga.com/trauma-focused-yoga-training/

12/09/2025

12/01/2025

There’s been a growing interest in somatic and bottom-up approaches to healing, which is exciting to see. At the same time, I often notice the terms trauma-informed, trauma-sensitive, and trauma-focused being blended together. Each serves a different purpose, and understanding those differences can help us offer support more thoughtfully.

I wrote a short blog looking at this continuum through the lens of yoga, though these ideas apply to many practices. My hope is that it brings clarity for anyone exploring somatic work or considering yoga as part of their healing or their professional care.

https://traumafocusedyoga.com/blog/

Clear explanation of trauma-informed, trauma-sensitive, and trauma-focused yoga. Understand the continuum, the research, and how to choose the right model.

11/26/2025

It’s not about performing poses, but about honoring the body. Take a breath and join me in embracing presence in your practice.

11/19/2025

I presented at the CACTN Connecting for Children’s Justice Conference this week, and it was such a great experience. As a presenter, those moments when the room smiles back are everything. I loved getting to share this session, and the questions afterward were hands down the best part. If you were there, thank you for showing up with so much intention.


Peace out, Tennessee. 🥰❤✌️

11/17/2025

Fawning is a highly adaptive trauma response where we unknowingly “play pretend” to survive.

Fawning is a hybrid response, activating the sympathetic (hyperarousal) and parasympathetic (hypoarousal) branches of the autonomic nervous system at the same time.

• The hyperarousal aspect of fawning has us instinctively managing the moods and states of those “in charge.” We lean into the very relationships that are causing us harm, appeasing our perpetrators while taking personal responsibility for all relational difficulties. Fawning can be incredibly active.

• But at the same time, we are detaching from ourselves. The hypoarousal of fawning numbs our connection to self, our broader sense of agency, and often, our ability to feel the effects of the abuse at all.

We are threading a fine needle when we fawn, neither risking greater harm through fight or flight, nor shutting down completely. This highly adaptive response is moving beyond playing dead to playing LIFE. We are playing pretend, and we don’t even know it. We are playing house, playing the game (to survive or escape our situation), playing a part—sometimes as many parts as there are people in our lives.

🌟Click the link in my bio to get a Free PDF on the Fawning Trauma Response and to order FAWNING: Why the need to please makes us lose ourselves – and how to find our way back. AVAILABLE NOW 🤗