Inspiration for Trauma-Informed Yoga by Joanne Spence

Why Joanne Spence, as a LifeForce Yoga Practitioner and mental health specialist, wrote Trauma-Informed Yoga: A toolbox for therapists: 47 simple practices to calm, balance, and restore the nervous system.

I remember the early years of working as the first yoga therapist at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC). At the time, I had a significant number of hours of yoga teacher training under my belt, and I had years of experience as a social worker (albeit Australian-trained and not licensed in the US). I had been teaching yoga full-time for six years and in that time I gained, a great deal of experience in a diverse array of environments.  I taught in community spaces, yoga studios, churches, schools, and even hallways, working with all types of bodies. It seemed like a dream come true to be invited to teach at WPIC and be able to combine my love, and my life-changing experience, of teaching yoga with my desire to serve people experiencing acute mental illnesses.

At WPIC, I was working with people who were hospitalized and receiving inpatient treatment for their mental health. As strange as it may sound, I was delighted to be working in such a space. Indeed, I saw it as a calling. However, before each class, I experienced an agonizing time during which I knew I knew stuff about yoga, had  experienced a personal healing of my mental and physical health through yoga, yet that self-knowledge was not yet transferring into something I could teach.  I was in an austere, psychiatric hospital with little or no ambience, no yoga props, and accompanied by the regular occurrence of many distracting peripheral activities.

Order Trauma-Informed Yoga: A Toolbox for Therapists Today!

I muddled through those first few years and settled into a gentle, yoga practice from a chair. I remember leaning on books such as Amy Weintraub’s Yoga for Depression as an initial and valuable resource. Feedback from patients was incredibly helpful, along with my own clinical observations. So, when I learned that there was an upcoming week-long LifeForce Yoga training in Tucson, I committed to figuring out how I could attend – no small thing when you work part-time at a hospital, own and run a yoga studio, and have three school-aged children. A supportive spouse – and my hunger for more knowledge – led the way in making this training a reality for me.

I loved the training so much that I signed up for the second seven-day training the following May. That first training was the first time I had heard the words “trauma-informed” and “yoga” in the same sentence. I found language for the things I felt in my own body, feelings that related to my own trauma, that I had never before associated with each other. The trainings added significantly to my knowledge base, as I had hoped. My agonizing before classes dissipated. I now knew how to apply my yoga knowledge to mental health settings. Of course I could not know all that could be known on the topic of yoga and mental health, yet at the same time, I understood and witnessed the fact that work in the subtle body – through the breath and a very small amount of movement – did wonders for my clients (and for me). Sometimes my clients seemed to experience everyday “miracles” with just a handful of practices.

Over time, the idea grew into a book…how do I apply very small doses of yoga movement and breathwork – many things I learned through LifeForce Yoga – to group and individual clinical settings? Was it as simple as I saw it, felt it, and observed it to be? Perhaps, perhaps not. But I wanted to address the reality and intensity of working with very ill individuals and seeing shifts that I observed as nervous system regulation.

Over the intervening years, I developed go-to practices. I began to see the benefit that any one of those practices could be effective on its own, based on its own merits. I eagerly followed the research on dose response to yoga, although there’s not a lot of it. But it seems that yoga “does” its best work as a daily practice in as little as 5-15 minutes. If you balk at this sentence, think of the science of habit. If you can habituate 5 minutes of practice, the duration will increase, mostly because your body will want to do more. And, we get better at things we practice. Such small increments of time were also workable in talk therapy sessions.

At some point early on, I realized and acknowledged the privilege it was for me to invest two whole weeks (and more) to dive deeply into these yoga teacher trainings. That, and teaching full-time adds up to an embodied experience that not all therapists or yoga teachers have the time or resources for. The more I taught foundational practices, the more I heard “can you come every day and teach us?” I could not do that, but I did spend a considerable amount of time (nearly a year) not only writing down the practices themselves, but also how, why, and when to do them. I still highly recommend that you plan and figure out how to do more training.  Until then, my hope is that my book will be a reliable guide to get you started on how to share with everyone you meet the basics of breath work and simple movement to affect mood and regulate the nervous system!

Practice with Joanne

The 6 Movements of the Spine are essential movements for keeping the spine healthy.
In this practice, Joanne leads accessible inversions.

About the Author

Rose Kress

Rose Kress ERYT-500, C-IAYT, YACEP, Owner/Director of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute, and author of Awakening Your Inner Radiance with LifeForce Yoga. She directs retreats and training programs on using LifeForce Yoga to manage your mood.

One thought on “Inspiration for Trauma-Informed Yoga by Joanne Spence”

  1. Congratulations 🎉 Joanne! This is a thoughtful article about your own evolution into a yoga therapist from the weaving together of your experience, training, compassion and insight.

Leave a comment.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up for our Research Newsletter

Cart

What People Say

“I gained tools for working with my own depression and with my clients’ depressions.” — Robert Sgona, LCSW, RYT, psychotherapist, Yoga teacher, Camden, ME.
“Yoga Skills for Therapists is the ideal resource for those who want to bring yoga practices into psychotherapy or healthcare. Weintraub, a leader in the field of yoga therapy, offers evidence-based, easy-to-introduce strategies for managing anxiety, improving mood, and relieving suffering. Helpful clinical insights and case examples emphasize safety, trust, and skillful adaptation to the individual, making it easy to apply the wisdom of yoga effectively in the therapeutic context.” — Kelly McGonigal, PhD, author, Yoga for Pain Relief, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Yoga Therapy
“I integrate strategies like mantra tones and pranayama, but above all I invite myself and those I teach to cultivate svadhyaya, to practice self-observation without judgment.” — Barbara Sherman, RYT 200, LFYP, Tucson, AZ
“This program changed my life in a significant way. It helped me connect with the spirit which is something you can’t get from psychotherapy and medication.” – G. W., artist, Pittsburgh, PA
“I learned lots of ways to reduce the anxiety and depression of my patients and myself.” – Aviva Sinvany-Nubel, PhD, APN, CNSC, RN, psychotherapist, Bridgewater, N.J.
“I have gained an incredible opening and clearing of old obstructions. I hope to return to my life and fill this opening with things I love to do and that give me joy!” — Lisa Shine, administrative assistant, Ballston Lake, NY
“This workshop has changed so much — my self-image and my life. My own heart’s desire is 100% clear. I gained tools to help myself and others to live life fully.” — Marcia Siegel, Yoga teacher, therapist, Carlsbad, CA.
“My personal practice will change, as well as my yoga classes. I have a better understanding of yoga!” — Andrea Gattuso, RYT, Yoga Teacher, Hackettstown, N.J.
“I have found the pranayama (breathing practices) especially easy to introduce in a clinical setting. Some people have benefited quickly in unexpected and transformative ways.” — Liz Brenner, LICSW, LFYP, Watertown, MA
“My life is already changed! I will use the tools I learned in my own practice and in my work. I feel safe and seen.” — Susan Andrea Weiner, MA, teacher/expressive arts facilitator, El Cerrito, CA.
“I gained perspective of who I am in the world and this will change my life significantly.” — Mary Ford, artist, Southport, CT
“My patients can now have the same effects as many medications without having to actually take medication!” — Deborah Lubetkin, PSY.D, LFYP, West Caldwell, NJ
“Words do not do justice to all that I learned. This workshop changed my life!” — Jen Nolan, Teacher, Cortland, NY
“I utilize the LFY techniques in both a class room setting and one-on-one environment. The skills have infused my teachings with compassion, mindfulness, and awareness.” — Kat Larsen, CYT, LFYP
“I began a fantasy during the meditation exercise... almost as if I’d been there. It’s now an on-going work of fiction.” — Serian Strauss, Tanzania
“A client who returned said, "When I came before, you helped me understand and get where I wanted to go. Now you show me yoga practices I use to help myself understand and get where I want to go.” — Sherry Rubin, LCSW, BCD, LFYP, Downingtown, PA
“I came hoping to learn to move past some of the obstacles blocking my creativity. Over the course of this weekend, I feel I’ve gained a certain measure of faith in myself and in my ability to change. I also had some realizations that I believe will be very helpful to me. I feel encouraged. Both the content and presentation of this program were so well-thought out that I can’t think of any way to improve it.” — Andrea Gollin, writer & editor, Miami, FL
I absolutely love this stuff! I have been using it with my clients and I am just finding it to be so incredibly helpful. There seriously something for everything. Although I am not as skilled as I hope to be someday, even at my level of training I’m finding that I am beginning to figure out what to do. It just blows my mind! - Christine Brudnicki, MS, LPC
“I feel profoundly transformed, both physically and emotionally. The connection between mind, body and spirit was clearly evident to me, but revealed to me through this workshop as an integrally vital link to overall health.” — Nadine Richardson, program manager at rehab agency, Monroe, CT
“This workshop helped me rededicate my energies and begin to work through some of the blocks I’ve felt creatively.” — Steve Mark, college professor, New Haven, CT
“I have gained a softer heart, more receptive mind, and tools to enrich both personal and professional aspects of my life.” – Regina Trailweaver, LICSW, clinical social worker, Hancock, VT.
“I have been reminded that I am not on this path alone, that others are sharing the journey that sometimes seems so difficult. I have also been reminded of the importance of daily practice and I will do that. The whole program has been an incredible experience for me. Thank you!” — Lorraine Plauth, retired teacher, Voorheesville, NY
“Giving my clients a strategy and permission to quiet their minds and rebalance the sympathetic nervous system has been very beneficial to them and in our work together.” — Sue Dilsworth, PhD, RYT 200, LFYP, Allendale, MI
“I have found the LFYP training to be incredibly useful in giving people specific tools to use in maintaining physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual balance, and further opening their intuitive abilities.” — Nancy Windheart, RYT-200, LFYP, Reiki Master, Animal communication teacher, Prescott, AZ
Scroll to Top