The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All

An essential manual for yoga teachers and students to create a trauma-sensitive practice that benefits and supports all.

People are turning to yoga for its stress-reducing practice and transformative philosophy. But for those who have a trauma history, the practice can be triggering. The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga offers an inclusive approach to yoga for teachers and students of all ages and abilities, especially those who have experienced trauma. Some of the themes covered include:

How do the impacts of trauma show up in yoga spaces

Suggested language for shifting power to the practitioner

How to create an environment conducive to healing

How to practice or teach poses in a way that includes all

And much more

 
This book is beautifully illustrated with 260 photos of poses and sequences, modeled by trauma survivors who share stories of how yoga helps them heal. Land works with people of all ages, from young children to seniors, who are coping with a range of traumas including physical, emotional and sexual abuse, homelessness, genocide, and incarceration. She is a passionate advocate for making the benefits of yoga and mindfulness available to all.

LARA LAND is a deeply compassionate somatic therapist, life coach, consultant, and yoga-teacher trainer specializing in trauma sensitivity. Her work is directed in helping to heal trauma, both subtle and significant, and to train others to do the same using yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and breathing practices. Lara has spent the last twenty-five years studying and sharing yoga asana, chanting, meditation, and philosophy directly from her teachers in India. Her commitment is to honor the traditions of yoga by responding to the needs of each individual using a unique combination of practices and techniques that are appropriate for their personal growth. Lara is the owner of Land Yoga, coproducer of SOULFest, and executive director of Three and a Half Acres Yoga. Her self-published life-purpose planner, My Bliss Book, was released in 2018. She has been featured in Yoga Journal, New York Magazine, the Huffington Post, and on NY1, Fox5, CBS, and Pix11.