Trauma-Informed and Trauma-Responsive Yoga Teaching: A Universal Practice

Catherine Cook-Cottone, Ph.D. is a Professor and Researcher at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), Licensed Psychologist, and Registered Yoga Teacher. She specializes in embodied self-regulation (i.e., yoga, mindfulness, and self-care) and psychosocial disorders (e.g., eating disorders and trauma). In this work, Catherine creates and researches trauma-informed mindfulness and yoga curricula delivered and studied in North America, East and Central Africa, Middle East, and Eastern Asia. She is founder and president of Yogis in Service, a not-for- profit that trains yoga teachers and creates access to trauma-informed yoga where there is no access, receiving the American Psychological Association's presidential citation for service for this work. She is co-author of the Mindful Self-Care Scale (MSCS) and Co-Editor in Chief of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention. Catherine has written eight books and over 75 peer reviewed articles and book chapters. Her books include, "Mindfulness and yoga for self-regulation: A primer for mental health professionals," and "Mindfulness and yoga in schools: a guide for teachers and practitioners."

Joanne Spence, D.Min, ERYT-500, C-IAYT is a certified yoga therapist and founder and director of Yoga in Schools. Joanne trains and teaches internationally in a range of settings, including teaching yoga in prisons, hospitals, schools, churches, and sometimes on street corners. She has more than thirty-five years of clinical experience as a mental health professional and twenty-plus years as a teacher and practitioner of yoga. She is the author of two books and book chapters. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

Shirley Telles has a degree in conventional medicine (MBBS) and a MPhil and PhD in Neurophysiology. Both MPhil and PhD theses were on the effects of yoga practice. Dr. Telles received a Fulbright fellowship in 1998 and in 2001 an award from the Templeton Foundation for creative ideas in neurobiology. In 2007 she received an Indian Council of Medical Research Center for Advanced Research to study meditation's effects through autonomic variables, evoked and event related potentials, polysomnography and fMRI. Dr Telles has been the director of Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar, India; www.patanjaliresearchfoundation.com since 2007. Dr. Telles has over 198 research papers cited in bibliographic databases and authored 7 books. She is an enthusiastic practitioner of yoga.

Gail Parker, Ph.D. CIAYT, E-RYT 500 is an author, psychologist, educator, and certified yoga therapist. She serves as President of the Black Yoga Teachers Board of Directors (BYTA). She is the author of Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma and Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress with Yoga.