T R A N S F O R M I N G   T R A U M A:  
Workshops for Human Services Workers

yoga for trauma

Professional Development Workshops for Human Service workers/professions

The ‘Transformative Power of Yoga’ workshops offer a gentle, self-nurturing journey using metaphor, distilled wisdom and research to glimpse the ways yoga helps release blockages that trauma creates.  The impacts of trauma (large and small) can be held, felt or hidden anywhere in our bodies, thought processes or emotional make-up.  For thousands of years yoga has helped release people physically, mentally and emotionally onto their unique path towards wholeness.


“It’s very striking that there’s nothing in western culture that teaches us that we can learn to master our own physiology— solutions always come from outside, starting with relationships, and if those fail, alcohol or drugs.”

Yoga, as trauma therapy, ... “helps people go to the dark without being hijacked by their physiology”

“Trauma cannot be accessed through words”,

“Yoga is limbic system therapy”,

“People need to feel safe in their bodies again”

(Dr. B.van der Kolk, Prof of Psychiatry & Medical Director Trauma Center, Boston).

These workshops will give you a self-paced and accessible experience of simple yoga practices (gentle stretches, gradual steps into postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques) that will inspire your work and bring balance to your day.  No yoga experience or flexibility necessary. Much of the yoga offered can even be done in a chair.  Participants often comment on the refreshing and nurturing balance created as we weave between thinking, learning, discussing and the gentle stretches, mindfulness, relaxation.

The program is always tailored to the needs of the group and draws on recent research and ground-breaking developments, such as those from the Trauma Center in Boston.  Topics can include:

  • Continuums of yoga for the continuums of trauma
  • The nature of trauma and its effects (including on the brain)
  • An overview of yoga – terms, practices, types and local options
  • A look at the research into how yoga helps transform trauma
  • Creative ways to bring yoga into daily life and work
  • Models of yoga in human services   
Workshops can be offered in a community setting, drawing together workers from various organisations and human service fields. Alternatively, some workplaces prefer to offer them as in-house professional development/team-building activities. The first workshop was offered in Hobart in 2012 and since then they have been conducted regularly in Tasmania and Victoria for counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, social workers, lawyers, teachers, nurses, mental health workers, youth workers, child & family support workers, migrant/refugee resource workers, sexual assault/child abuse support workers and the like.

Comments from participants include:

“Enriching”, “I gained so much”,
“There were many epiphanies”,
“It was so transformative for me”,
“Stimulated my curiosity”, 
“Gentle way of encouraging people to tune in to their unique needs”, “Generous sharing”, “Refreshing”,
“Set things in motion”, “A drip by drip miracle”,
“I can be more honest with myself about my own trauma”,
”Surprised at how effective simple techniques can be”,
“So many threads woven together to make a cohesive whole”,
“The simplicity is very positive”,
“I feel reassured about what I am trying to do professionally and personally”, “Gentle, flowing information and experience”

NOTE:  We have also had success bringing together yoga teachers and human service workers in these workshops, enriching their networks and exploring creative ways of bringing yoga to people and services who are dealing with the effects of trauma. 

See the current timetable or contact Lynn if you would like to find or create a workshop in your area.