How Trauma-Informed Yoga Can Help Highly Sensitive People

How Trauma-Informed Yoga Can Help Highly Sensitive People

by | Aug 24, 2017 | Anxiety, Highly Sensitive Person, Trauma, Yoga

The following article was originally published on Introvert, Dear under the title “7 Reasons Trauma-Informed Yoga Is Perfect for Introverts and HSPs”.

I almost walked out of a yoga class last winter.

As an introvert and a highly sensitive person (HSP), I’m quick to experience sensory overload. Too much stimulus makes me anxious.

If you’re sensitive like me, you may find it ironic that a practice based on quieting the mind can be so stimulating in a lot of studios these days.

As a yoga teacher myself, I want to share with you the secret to finding yoga studios and classes that offer calmer experiences. First, I’ll tell you what happened that made me want to run.

Overstimulation in Yoga

The snow came in spades that weekend. After introverting for days, I decided to try a new studio in my neighborhood.

I walked into a heated room with yoga mats crammed together all facing a wall of mirrors. The music was so loud that I could barely hear the teacher, which was a shame because what I did hear was helpful. Then repeated snapping of her fingers started…and I wanted to run.

I was adjusted in poses rather forcefully without her knowing the inner workings of my body — and without consent. This sensory overload contributed to a stressful experience, the opposite effect of what we aim for in yoga.

We all have preferences when it comes to yoga. Thus, I say this not to criticize, but to hopefully bring to light some alternative options for the sensitive person. The secret I give students is to seek out trauma-informed teachers.

What is Trauma-Informed Yoga?

Trauma-informed yoga is an approach that bears in mind that any student coming to a class may have experienced trauma, and some aspects of yoga can be re-traumatizing. The approach offers a framework for creating a safe space in which students can connect with their breath and increase body awareness.

When I began thinking about what makes yoga trauma-informed, I realized the same principles are perfect for introverts and HSPs. I’m not grouping introverts and HSPs with trauma survivors, but the overlap in how we require safe space is noteworthy.

I teach yoga at a great trauma-informed studio in the Chicago Loop called Room to Breathe Chicago. It’s been built by sensitive souls, and you can expect to walk into any class and have a calming experience. I actually teach all my classes this way, as I believe we all benefit from becoming more mindful of one another’s boundaries in a world that often feels stifling and disrespectful.

If you’re a sensitive person who is new to yoga, or you’ve had a negative experience, I highly suggest looking for teachers trained in trauma-informed yoga and studios that have missions that include language like “empowerment,” “gentle,” “choice,” “sensitive,” and “accessible.” Many trauma-informed teachers are indeed introverted or sensitive folks themselves.

Why Trauma-Informed Yoga Is Perfect for Introverts and HSPs

1. We provide options. We encourage choice, whether it’s taking rest or a variation of a pose. We focus on self-paced, dynamic movement that centers on body awareness and breath rather than rigid dogma or vigorous movement. When we use alignment cues, they’re to keep students safe and develop greater presence. Modifications are abundant in our classes.

2. We keep our music chill. Sometimes I don’t use music at all so students can focus on their breath. When I do use music, I opt for soft, calming melodies without many lyrics. Loud music in yoga creates what we call a “rajasic” experience, which, in this context, could be understood as overstimulating the nervous system, which results in exhaustion and imbalance.

3. We use minimal hands-on assists. We refrain from placing our hands on students unless we’ve built a relationship or the student clearly states they want adjustments. We use cards that students can flip over to indicate if they want assistance. We are conscientious about the adjustments we do offer. It’s your practice, and you should be able to move and breathe in community with respect for your personal space.

4. We avoid too much stimulation. If heat is going to be created in class, we facilitate that process from the inside out rather than lumping students together in a heated room. We’re careful to limit class sizes so students have personal space. We avoid too many visuals and smells. When so many of us are up in our head space all day long, we want to provide an opportunity to quiet the mind, not spin it into a tizzy of stress.

5. We are aware of our voices. It’s not that we all speak in soft voices, but we find the balance in strength and softness. Yoga is not a spinning class or boot camp. We offer more opportunities for silence and stillness.

6. We teach the essence of yoga. Our cuing weaves yogic philosophy and meaning into the practice in a way that is genuine and helps students connect to their experience. We support the positive effects yoga has on the body, but will never teach it as a group of poses to be conquered. We cultivate interoception, the sense responsible for detecting internal regulation responses within the body, such as respiration, heart rate, and other physical sensations.

7. We don’t teach with mirrors. Yoga certainly encourages reflection. Self-reflection. The internal reflection you find when you are deep in your breath and body, connected to your present experience.

Not all trauma-informed yoga teachers are introverts or HSPs, and not all introverted and sensitive yoga teachers are trauma-informed. Yet, the intersection I see is the keen awareness of what creates a calm, safe environment that nourishes students and fosters introspection.

Are you a highly sensitive/introverted/trauma-informed yoga instructor or a student that knows a teacher who is? If so, please get in touch with me at info@melissanoelrenzi.com. I would love to build my resource list worldwide to refer students appropriately.

How Yoga Can Help Heal Trauma

How Yoga Can Help Heal Trauma

by | May 13, 2016 | Yoga

Could yoga really help in trauma recovery?

Quite possibly.

A growing body of research supports that yoga could have a powerful influence in healing from traumatic experiences.

Before getting into how it works, let’s take a moment to clarify what trauma is.

What is trauma?

Many people think of themselves as experiencing trauma survivors. I know that for myself, I significantly downplayed my past for years and felt like this word was reserved for survivors of sexual assault, war, and so forth.

Definitions vary, but trauma can be understood as “any deeply distressing or disturbing experience that overwhelms our capacity to cope”.

This may include events and circumstances such as:

  • Loss
  • Divorce
  • Emotionally unavailable parents
  • A bad accident
  • A long-term illness
  • The list could go on…

It can also include secondary and vicarious trauma, which refer to indirect exposure.

So, how can yoga help?

According to trauma research, including the research outlined in Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score, traumatic experiences result in a fundamental reorganization of the way the mind and body manage perceptions and specific changes in the brain occur. Here are a few examples:

  • Trauma survivors tend to operate in “fight, flight, or freeze” mode—experiencing hyper-arousal, hyper-vigilance, and increased stress hormones.in many situations which do not pose an actual threat.
  • The self-sensing areas in the medial brain (center) do not light up on brain-imaging scans in those who have been traumatized as they do in non-traumatized individuals. Without these centers being active, self-awareness is frequently compromised.
  • Traumatic memories are fragmented, and while survivors might build stories that reflect the traumatic memories, they rarely capture the inner experience of the mind and body. In fact, the area in the frontal lobe of the brain called Broca’s area, which controls speech, goes offline when a trauma flashback is triggered. You can imagine how talk therapy could have limitations.

Traumatic experiences are stored viscerally, so working through the body and movement can be critical in being able to regulation the body’s response.

Yoga helps us to retrain the body and rewire the brain to feel safe. 

Yoga can help improve your ability to self-regulate (manage behavior, emotions, and thoughts) and develop sensory awareness. As you learn to observe what is happening in your body and mind with curiosity, your awareness increases allowing an opportunity to subtly reconnect with the wisdom of the body. You slowly learn to regulate emotional responses while rebuilding a feeling of safety in your body.

Heightening your sensory awareness with safety and curiosity on board, it’s possible to begin to reduce fear and arousal, release stress, activate interoception (the sense responsible for internal regulation), and retrain the mind-body connection.

Further, breath awareness and lengthening of the exhalation helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of your autonomic nervous system associated with calm and rest.

Learning to befriend your body can be a critical step to the healing process.

Yoga is not a substitute for professional treatment. But it can be a great tool in truly augmenting the flexibility of mind and body.

If you’d like to practice online with me, you can check out my trauma-informed yoga class schedule.

Sources:
Van Der Kolk, Bessel (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma.
Emerson, David (2011). Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body.

An Essential Reason We Need Others for Self-Care

by | Apr 25, 2016 | Personal Growth, Self Care, Yoga

You know, in the last week I spent $435 on self-care in two seemingly disparate areas of my life.

As a yoga teacher, social worker, and someone who underwent a fair amount of therapy in her youth, I strive to cultivate self-awareness as part of my self-care practice. I also happen to have a partner who relishes self-analysis as much as I do… you can imagine what it is like to be a fly on the wall.

With this proclivity, it sometimes feels like we’ve got life covered. I can talk to my partner. I can do yoga. I can journal. I can cook. I can figure it out. Until… maybe I can’t…or even if I can…I need more.

So, I spent four days in a yoga workshop with senior teacher, Kim Wilcox. I wanted additional training on class sequencing to grow my anatomical knowledge, enhance my creativity, and make me a better teacher. I got all this from the training.

But what’s more is that I also found a new way of practicing that energized me and relieved my chronic back pain–for the whole day.

Kim was my mirror and she didn’t even know it. She reflected back to me some of what I was already feeling in my body, but she also provided me with a framework for moving toward greater health and energy to take care of myself.

The same phenomenon occurred last Wednesday when visited a therapist.

I have been struggling with certain personal relationships for a while and recently started to notice that I was sacrificing my own truth while letting others write the relationship contracts.

Shrinking my own voice has been a common theme in my life (I was doing this 17 years ago too).

I needed an extra boost to push me in the direction of truth. I needed another mirror.

And the truth is that sometimes we cling to unhealthy, but comfortable patterns when we have fear. Fear of change. Fear of discomfort. Fear of someone not loving us. Fear of having to face ourselves.

And even when the right answer is deep within our cells, sometimes it does not always feel clear…and of course, it is that much more difficult to implement it in our attempt to practice self-care. 

This is the time when we learn to listen to the voice inside that says she needs support to find clarity.

That support comes in countless ways and we must honor it when we need it.

I live in a country that prides itself on independence—and well, I think sometimes we internalize this concept and take it too far. We are ALL interdependent. I do believe our answers lie within us and at the same time I know the value of having teachers, mentors, therapists, and guides.

One of our greatest strengths as human beings is to be able to ask for help when we need it.

For me, asking for guidance moved me in the direction of creating healthier contracts with my own body and mind, as well as my relationships.

Having support in living my own truth is what allows me to take care of myself and hold space for others.

3 Key Components to Practicing Compassion During Injury

by | Nov 9, 2015 | Personal Growth, Self Care, Yoga

It can be difficult to practice compassion toward ourselves when faced with an injury.

We get frustrated with our bodies. We become self-critical when we don’t heal fast enough.

But to heal, we need kindness and compassion.

Today I want to share with you 3 key components of practicing compassion.

But first, a story.

I recently went backpacking and camping for a week in the southwest.

On day two, we were canyoneering through the Narrows in Zion National Park when I began to feel intense shooting pains in the joint capsule of my knee.

We were in the middle of a canyon applying agility with every precipitous stepping stone–and a good 10-hour hike away from being out of the canyon the next day.

Thoughts whirled in my mind.

How was I going to hike all this way?

Why is my body behaving like this for? I am a yoga practitioner and avid hiker. I don’t have knee problems.

Ow, it really hurts.

What if continuing this hike jacks up my knee permanently? I’m turning 34. How will I hike in my 60s?

I don’t want to complain. How would my stepdad have reacted? He never complained of the suffering he endured with Mesothelioma. Let me be like him. And what about my mom–her response to suffering? Oh god, this is just a knee…

Ouch.

Trauma sprung. Tears came pouring. There’s a lot I could say here, but…

I made it out of the Narrows. My knee returned to its strength and I returned to my mat.

When I got back to Chicago, a clumsy collision with a door frame at home landed me with a broken phalange. Bam. Crack. Uff.

I hobbled for 8 days with a poor tape job on my baby toe before seeing a podiatrist (apparently, taping the fifth toe to the fourth is a no-no).

I also hobbled along with a poor excuse to not do my yoga practice, but continued to walk, move things, teach yoga, and even audition at a studio–all while in a great deal of pain.

One of my yoga teachers advised me to do standing poses. Inside I balked, but realized maybe he was right. It is just my baby toe after all. Maybe continuing through the pain would help the healing process. Stop creating excuses, mind.

Then I asked the podiatrist if I could do yoga, he replied with an emphatic, “Nooooooo. Stay off it. It needs to rest.” And the mind said…”Yep, best to stay off of it. Excuse okay here.”

As competing thoughts patterns inhabited my mind, I acknowledged that what lies between is a middle path…a middle path that honors ahimsa, the Sanskrit word for “compassion” or “nonviolence”.

Ahimsa is rooted in the notion that violence can take place in our thoughts, words, and actions and when we have ill thoughts, they lead to derisive words and harmful actions. These, in turn, create destructive habits and ignorant conditioning. When we do harm to ourselves, we harm others and vice versa.

I constantly remind myself that yoga is not just asana (physical poses). The yoga practice takes place off the mat in how we lives our lives, interact with others, treat ourselves, etc. But to only practice off the mat can impede our ability to practice tapas (self-discipline). And providing space for tapas serves as our point of reference to continuously do the work of yoga.

I would be a fraud if I suggested I am over this battle in my head. It is never over. It’s always there.

It is a constant practice of listening to the body and choosing compassion. Nonviolence is not passive; it is active, intentional thought, word, or action or absence thereof. It is a balance of allowing rest and still forcing myself to move past excuse and onto my mat in a way I know is good for me right now. I have adapted my Mysore practice accordingly. See below for more info.

3 Ways to Practice Compassion During Injury:

1. Track your thoughts:

In yoga, we practice observing our thoughts when faced with discomfort and challenging emotions. Still, we tend to disavow both our strengths and weaknesses, breakthroughs and shortcomings. This is a balance of examining where you can push and where you can pull back, where you need perseverance and where you need gentleness. Where are you being too harsh? Where are you making excuses? They both warrant a turn to ahimsa.

I have been taking 10 minutes each morning to meditate and 30 minutes to journal. It is a practice of stillness while simply observing thoughts and then allowing time to reflect on paper. Even if you can only devote 10 minutes to sit in stillness and observe what comes up, this will have a profound impact on your life.

2. Watch your words.

Words often follow thoughts. And they have power. I have found myself uttering the words “my stupid broken toe” or “my friggin’ knee”. Each time, I have immediately recanted my words as I realized these words were unkind and not useful for my body. I love my toe. I love my knee. I love my body.

Words also make actions more real. I recently told my boyfriend, that I was making a commitment to self-care and compassion for myself–a commitment to myself and the women I will be holding retreat space for in January. I wake up at the same time every morning to meditate for 10 minutes, journal for 30, and then practice yoga for an hour in a way that honors where my body is that day–the same practice I will be asking of the women. Stating that commitment aloud has made it easier to stay on track with my own self-compassion.

If you are working through a particular issue and find the same negative thoughts, words and speech arising, take a moment to journal the new thoughts and words you would like to generate in place of the negative ones. Use those affirmations in your thoughts and verbal processes.

3. Attend to your actions.

You only get one body. If you are experiencing an injury or pain of any sort, let this be a time to make friends with your body. We are hypercritical of our thighs, skin, achy joints, and lack of flexibility. Make a conscious choice to fall in love with yourself–every aspect of you.

The only way you will hear how to best nourish your body is if you take time to really hear it. I went to a talk last night by a wonderful teacher and storyteller, James Boag. He reminded us that wild animals are always fit. They know exactly how to eat, when to eat, and how to move as part of their inherent instincts. I would go further and suggest they also know what their abilities and limitations are in times of injury. And they bounce back. They recover quickly.

Through these last two minor injuries (and they are minor!) I have experienced some fear and uncertainty. But it is only fear. When I really listen, my body tells me what it needs. It is unnecessary to follow all of the other voices around me. And it always needs movement and yoga–in a way that respects the principle of ahimsa.

How I adapt my Mysore practice:

You may have seen this video circulating on Facebook at some point. It shows a great way to modify the entire Ashtanga Primary Series without standing poses.

If this guy with a broken femur could continue his practice–anyone can practice. My little toe certainly is not going to stop me. The practice certainly feels different, but I find it still creates heat and offers most of the same benefits.

Have you had an injury that has affected your practice? How do you practice compassion?

Feeling Down? A Simple Trick to Ignite Your Strength

by | Sep 24, 2015 | Personal Growth, Self Care, Travel, Yoga

We all experience glum moods and irritation.

Sometimes it comes from an external circumstance. And sometimes it arises for what feels like no reason at all.

Today I will share with you a super simple way to spruce up your energy anywhere and anytime.

The other day I was sitting at the airport with a delayed flight…of four hours.

I had just finished an energizing few days visiting a friend.

But I was also been yearning to be in the presence of my partner…more than ever. Like, I really missed him.

Those four extra hours feel like an eternity.

The lovely Spirit Airlines (yes, we have a codependent sort of relationship—you keep behaving in a destructive way and I will pretend all is well) was about to grace the ornery passengers with amazingly generous food vouchers of a whopping $7.00.

While I was standing in line, I found myself slouching and slumping into negativity.

I quickly activated my “Tadasana” feet, legs, and spine. What a difference.

If you are unfamiliar with Tadasana, it is Mountain Pose. If you did not know any better, you’d think it is just standing.

But Mountain Pose is a very active pose energizing every body part from the inner arches of the feet to the skin on the back of the head.

I realized in that moment, that Tadasana is a pose that truly activates the mind into an alert and conscious state.

It is the pose that helps us to stand taller like a mountain, but also be taller and higher in our minds—just as we are when we are at the foothills of a mountain.

It reminds us not to get bogged down in the small hiccups of life and that all is in perfect harmony if we are in the mind.

Tadasana/Mountain Pose

1. Stand with your feet parallel at hip distance.

2. Distribute your weight evenly through all four corners of the feet—inner heel, outer heel, ball of the foot, and outer ball of the foot.

3. Lift up through the inner arches of your feet.

4. Tuck your tailbone slightly so that it points down toward the ground as you lift up through the pit of the abdomen.

5. Raise your heart and drop the low ribs gently.

6. Lift the back of the skull.

7. Breathe. Notice.

8. Be kind to yourself and others.

9. Trust that all is in perfect order.

How do you use Tadasana? Share your thoughts below!

Cheating on Yoga…

Cheating on Yoga…

by | Sep 15, 2015 | Personal Growth, Self Care, Uncategorized, Yoga

That’s right.

It’s not that I took up pilates or the local pole fit class.

Nope–I fell in love.

It is no surprise that my rhythm and ritual practice could be comprised by love. We have all been there; love has a tendency to flip us upside down and rattle our root chakra–the chakra associated with stability and grounding. Love frequently throws it into turmoil as old patterns, fears, and emotions surface.

The irony is that this comes just after I gave a workshop in July about the importance of ritual practice in self-care. And here I am, a complete hypocrite who has sacrificed her personal rituals in the name of love.

Over the last two months, I have identified a handful of believable excuses to talk myself out of practicing and attending workshops for which I would normally make time.

My current work schedule keeps me up late–I’m exhausted and need rest.

His place is too far from my yoga studio. I don’t have the time for traffic.

I forgot my yoga clothes.

I don’t have time.

What has happened is that I have temporarily replaced one love with another.

My dedication to everything yoga quickly waned when I began to feel a similar sort of sensation arise with my new boyfriend.

Suddenly, I discovered that his arms around me for an extra hour or two has repeatedly trumped the quiet whispers from my yoga mat begging me to come practice with her sacred support.

For the first time in my life, I feel unwavering commitment to my partner and the relationship we have entered; yet, I have found myself in a period of lesser commitment to the practice of yoga.

What I have been reminded of here is just how easy it is for me to lose part of myself in relationship.

I have felt ambivalent to share certain parts of my spiritual thoughts and beliefs for fear of his judgment. It’s silly really. He fell in love with me as the earth spirit that I am knowing our differences. He has shown me nothing but full love and support. So why the fear? I don’t think I need to answer that…

Anyone who has dated me might say I can be rigid and stubborn at times, but the paradox is that I can also be too flexible–flexible in the sense of not fully being who I am and honoring all of what is important to me.

Make no mistake that I also have a very flexible body in yoga practice–and strength is what I lack.

While relationships require a middle path, that middle path still requires two whole human beings who are willing to fully be themselves with strength.

Now, every time I make a conscious choice to voice my ideas and beliefs to him without shame and fully express who I am, I feel a greater closeness.

The best days are the days when we both honor our personal practices.

The other night, I told one of my teachers that I feel like I have been cheating on yoga. He looked and me and confidently responded, “It’s okay, Melissa; you can two-time.”

That I can. And I feel lucky to be graced with the welcome and love of both my mat and man.