When & Where
Nov. 10, 11, 12, 2023 at Jai Yoga Studio in Coquitlam
Fri. Nov. 10 | 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific
Sat. and Sun. Nov. 11 and 12 | 11:30 am to 8:30 pm Pacific
Hybrid: In-person or online
About the Training
Trauma-Informed Yoga Training to Centre BI&PoC Healing is a course designed to help yoga teachers apply a trauma-informed framework that is rooted in anti-racism to support Black, Indigenous, and people of colour yoga students.
A trauma-informed framework is not just applicable in restorative yoga classes but is a foundational framework no matter what you offer as a yoga teacher. Participants will have the ability to understand how to create a trauma-informed class for common asana styles, pranayama, and meditation practices.
This teacher training prioritizes trauma-informed yoga to serve BI&PoC students, and also decolonizes by bringing in the eastern worldview indigenous to the land yoga originated from. Along with empirical science, this training integrates indigenous sciences and spiritual wisdom for a balanced understanding of yoga and trauma.
Participants will understand how trauma impacts students, and how yoga can be a safe and empowering practice for them. Participants will receive sample trauma-informed classes for various asana styles including vinyasa and yin, as well as pranayama, and meditation. There will be group discussion, partner activity, physical movement, breathework, and reflection.
This 20-hour training is available in-person or online. Continuing Education credits are also available for yoga teachers registered with Yoga Alliance.
Who This Training Is For
About Irene
Why this trauma-informed yoga teacher training and why me?
When I was first started out as a newly certified yoga asana teacher, I quickly found myself asking how I could decolonize my yoga practice. I began to weave in anti-racist and intersectional feminist frameworks based on self-study and teachers in the yoga and social justice spaces that I had the opportunity and privilege to learn from in their courses, workshops, and programs. Trauma-informed yoga was a teaching approach that I naturally gravitated towards due to these ethical interests of mine. At the time, I was developing an intimate affinity for the worldview underpinning yin yoga, and I credit this too in propelling me to seek out teaching frameworks that aligned with my then nascent interest in taking care of the body as a sacred vessel, and as wise animal.
For the past few years, I have been sharing my learnings and my perspective on what decolonizing yoga and wellness looks like, and it led to collaborative opportunities such as teaching a module on trauma-informed yoga for a yoga teacher training. I was invited back several times, and I felt it was the right time to begin to expand my knowledge into a training that could encompass more of what students were asking of me than I could offer in a half day’s workshop.
When I began learning about trauma-informed yoga, I count myself truly blessed that a serendipitous opportunity came up to study with teachers such as Gagan Leeka and Tahia Ahmed. They are women of colour who provided such an impactful foundational course on trauma-informed teaching. And, on the flip side, I have taken trauma-informed yoga teacher trainings led by those that are traditionally in positions of power and privilege, and it ironically only triggered my trauma responses.
One of my main reasons in offering this trauma-informed yoga teacher training is to provide BI&PoC folks and allies with more opportunities to be with BI&PoC folks and to have their voices, bodies, and experiences centred in a yogic space. It is also deeply meaningful for me to serve as a mentor, as a mirror, as an encouraging voice to yoga seekers.
As an experienced yoga teacher with over 1000 teaching hours and over 700 hours of training, I hope that what you learn from this 20-hour trauma-informed yoga teacher training inspires you to intuitively apply this framework in your role as a yoga advocate.