SAAM 2025 WEEK 1: WHY TRAUMA-INFORMED YOGA?
Julie Fernandez, Exhale to Inhale's Director of Curriculum Development and Mentorship
Click to read Week 2: How Trauma-Informed Yoga Works
What inspired you to teach trauma-informed yoga, and how does it differ from traditional yoga?
Yoga was the first door to healing I found as a survivor. It helped me navigate the aftermath of trauma, offering a way to reconnect with myself when I felt disconnected from my body. But I also encountered challenges—spaces that didn’t feel safe, teachers who didn’t understand trauma and mistook my symptoms as resistance or defiance, rather than a natural response to trauma, and practices that sometimes felt more triggering than supportive.
That’s why I’m so passionate about trauma-informed yoga. Unlike the way yoga is practiced in the west—which often emphasizes structure, discipline, and achieving certain postures—trauma-informed yoga is about choice, safety, and self-agency. It’s not about forcing the body into a pose—it’s about learning to listen to the body again. By creating spaces where survivors can move at their own pace and make choices that feel right for them, yoga becomes more than a practice—it becomes a tool for healing.
What makes trauma-informed yoga an accessible and effective tool for survivors?
Trauma can create a deep disconnect between the mind and body. Survivors often disconnect from their body and sensations as a way to protect themselves. Trauma-informed yoga is designed to create a safe environment where protective strategies can be gently replaced with a more positive connection to the body. It helps bridge that gap in a way that feels supportive and empowering.
It's accessible because it removes hierarchy and rigid expectations. There’s no pressure to perform, no hands-on adjustments, and no assumption that a certain posture is "good" or "correct." Instead, it’s a space to explore movement, breath, and stillness at one's own pace—restoring choice, which trauma often takes away.
Over time, this practice helps survivors build capacity to stay present, notice their sensations without fear, and re-establish trust with their own bodies. That’s what makes it so powerful.
What do you wish more people understood about the role of yoga in trauma healing?
I wish more people understood that trauma healing isn’t just about processing memories—it’s about reclaiming safety, power, and connection within ourselves. Yoga can be a profound tool for this because it works with the nervous system, not against it.
It’s not about “calming down” or “just breathing through it.” It’s about learning how to be with what arises in a way that feels supportive rather than overwhelming. When practiced with trauma awareness, yoga becomes a way to gently rebuild a relationship with the body—on the survivor’s terms.
Healing isn’t about proving strength or simply pushing forward. It’s about reclaiming choice, restoring agency, and finding a sense of safety and belonging within your own body.
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Welcome to Week 1 of our 2025 Sexual Assault Awareness Month Series: Move, Heal, Empower. Join us in bringing healing through trauma-informed yoga to survivors everywhere—donate today.