Services
Trauma Sensitive Yoga
Safely reconnect with your body.
Lived experience of trauma affects so much more than an individual’s emotional and psychological wellbeing. Trauma also impacts the relationship with the body and how we move through the world and can have debilitating physical impact. In addition to effects such as anxiety, memory loss and dissociation, trauma can make victims more prone to serious chronic health conditions.
In the field of trauma recovery, body-focused treatment options are becoming an important part of multifaceted approaches to healing. Trauma Sensitive Yoga is one such body-led therapy that has been shown to reduce the symptoms of complex trauma and PTSD.
Soften
Mini Retreat in the Rainforest
Sunday June 2
11am - 3pm
Maiala Park Lodge, 37 Fahey Rd, Mount Glorious
A space where you might arrive into the soft place of your body, heart and being.
In our culture we are taught to toughen or harden to the suffering within us and around us. We are conditioned to ignore, distract, numb and disconnect, and sometimes these have been necessary strategies to cope and survive. Or in some spiritual or psychological spaces we are taught to just be positive, which not only serves to bypass our own pain, but often comes without a recognition of the layers of oppression and dispossession many millions of people are facing around the world, and that our humanity requires us to be awake to this suffering.
This mini retreat will offer the time and space for you soften, at whatever pace suits you and your nervous system, so that we might experience what is real and present in our hearts and minds, and in our collective body and feel more resourced to move through our uncertain world. Maybe in this safer group space we can feel our shared humanity. The wisdom of the winter season invites us into connection with ourselves in this way, to soften and to repattern the conditioning to toughen and push through, and therefore can be a supportive time to retreat in this way.
This trauma informed mini retreat will include yoga, movement, breath, guided meditation and rest, individual and group reflection processes, and nature based practices.
Nourishing vegetarian lunch provided.
If you would like to make a weekend of it, head to Maiala Park Lodge to book your beautiful accommodation in the rainforest.
What is included in the mini retreat:
A free 15 minute phone conversation with Edwina to check in, talk about what to expect and answer any questions you may have (no obligation to book in)
Small group (maximum 12 participants)
A gentle introduction to the group and the practice, and commitments regarding how we will engage with each other.
Invitation and choice in how you participate in the practices.
Options to practise from a chair or the ground or a yoga mat, or a combination of both.
Opportunity to reflect on your felt experience within the group and/or through a reflective journal process in your own time.
This is a practice and a space for all bodies and identities
No yoga experience is necessary.
Sliding scale fees are based on social and financial access to resources and capacity to pay (fees inclusive of GST):
Supporter rate: $143
Sustainer rate: $121
Community rate: $99
Supporter Rate is for people with abundant access to income and access to resources and social capital.
Sustainer Rate is for people with adequate income and access to resources. When booking, please use the coupon code: SUSTAINER-01
Community Rate is for people on very low income and/or facing marginalisation. When booking, please use the coupon code: COMMUNITY-01
Morning Moments
Trauma-informed Movement, Embodiment & Yoga
Next dates to be announced term 2, 2024.
Sign up to the newsletter at the bottom of the page to stay updated.
6.30am-7.30am AEST
A space held online over 6 weeks
This is an invitation to create the time and space to check in, to connect with yourself and your body.
To maybe experience a different relationship with your body and your nervous system.
To practise somatic and body based tools to support the way you move through your day, your week, your world.
What is included in Morning Moments:
A free 15 minute phone conversation with Edwina to check in, talk about what to expect and answer any questions you may have (no obligation to book in)
6 x weekly sessions including trauma-informed movement, breath, awareness, self-regulation and self care practices.
A gentle introduction to the group and collective commitments regarding how we engage in the group space.
Invitation and choice in how you participate.
Options to practise from a chair or the ground on a yoga mat, or a combination of both.
This is a practice and a space for all bodies and identities
No yoga experience is necessary.
Sessions will be recorded so that you can watch in your own time.
Sliding scale fees available based on your capacity to pay and your access to financial and social resources:
Supporter Rate: $180
Sustainer Rate: $150
Community Rate: $90
Supporter Rate is for people with abundant access to income and access to resources and social capital.
Sustainer Rate is for people with adequate income and access to resources. When booking, please use the coupon code: SUSTAINER-02
Community Rate is for people on very low income and/or facing marginalisation. When booking, please use the coupon code: COMMUNITY-02
Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga
Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) is an empirically validated adjunctive clinical treatment for complex trauma or chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD.
Developed by the Justice Resource Institute’s Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, TCTSY has origins in trauma theory, attachment theory, neuroscience and hatha yoga practice, with an emphasis on mindful body-based yoga forms and breathing practices.
Trauma Sensitive Yoga/TCTSY classes help survivors of complex trauma and post-traumatic stress to gently reconnect with their bodies in a safer environment, giving people the opportunity to:
practise being present
practise making choices
experience taking effective action
sense their environment
connect with the body through breath
TCTSY services provided by Edwina include:
Individual yoga sessions
Individual embodied counselling sessions
Small group classes
Tailored Trauma Sensitive Yoga programs for clients accessing a range of organisations, services and hospitals.
Short information sessions on Trauma Sensitive Yoga for a range of workplaces and service environments.
20hr TCTSY Foundational Workshops for yoga teachers, health professionals, and mental health workers.
You can also find Edwina mentoring and lecturing on the TCTSY 300hr Certification Training Program for yoga teachers and mental health professionals
What to expect in a class/session:
While TCTSY is based on gentle movement, its emphasis is on the internal experience of participants rather than mastering yoga poses or stretches. It’s not about ‘getting it right’; it’s about exploring and nurturing the inner self as you breathe and move.
By tuning into the body, TCTSY helps restore the connection between mind, body and emotions, empowering participants to make decisions that will guide their personal healing.
All classes respect and honour:
Privacy: No hands-on assists or adjustments.
Kindness: Invitational language is always used.
Choice: Different options and complete choice over what you do with your body.
Boundaries: No need to talk to others in group classes.
Fees
| Service | Fee | Medicare Rebates (if applicable) |
|---|---|---|
| Trauma Sensitive Yoga Individual session (30 minutes) |
$97 | N/A |
| Trauma Sensitive Yoga Individual session (60 minutes) |
$185 | NDIS participants may be eligible for funded sessions through their NDIS plan $193.99 |
| Trauma Sensitive Yoga Group session (60 minutes) |
$190 | N/A |
Testimonials
“A major step forward…”
With yoga, I reclaimed my body. That is a gift because I hated my body… I think yoga helped define me. It was a long process to consider myself not an outline… Just inhabiting my own skin is a major step forward.
TRAUMA CENTER TRAUMA SENSITIVE YOGA PARTICIPANT
“Incredibly useful…”
I found the trauma yoga practice incredibly useful. Primarily it was a time each week that I was able to nurture myself and practise being gentle with my body. It was the gentleness that I most liked about these yoga sessions. I really enjoyed the way you, Edwina, at all times offered choices about how we could move, affirming the notion that we know what’s best for our body.
PARTICIPANT IN 10-WEEK TRAUMA SENSITIVE YOGA PROGRAM, BRISBANE
“Safe and supportive…”
Eddie’s authentic, kind and generous spirit creates a space for yoga that is safe, supportive and nurturing. I love Eddie’s yoga classes and I always leave feeling restored, with a more open heart and a renewed excitement for yoga practice, both on and off the mat. Eddie has something very special to offer… I can’t recommend her highly enough!
PARTICIPANT IN 10-WEEK TRAUMA SENSITIVE YOGA PROGRAM, BRISBANE
About Edwina & TCTSY
Edwina is currently the only Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) licensed trainer and mentor in Queensland covering QLD, NSW and NT, under the supervision of TCTSY founders David Emerson and Jenn Turner. Edwina has facilitated yoga programs with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, children in foster care, people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds, LGBTQI+ people, women who have experienced sexual assault and veterans.
For more information, resources, and for links to the evidence base of TCTSY:
The Center for Trauma & Embodiment
www.traumasensitiveyoga.com