Trauma-informed teaching seeks to preserve choice and make the class understandable. It is not a healing list of poses or a guarantee against difficult responses. Specialized approaches such as TCTSY require specific training and a defined framework.
Explain What Will Happen
Introduce the class stages, opportunities to pause and planned changes in the environment. Explain where exits are and how to ask for help. Avoid unnecessary surprises without promising everyone the same sense of trust.
Offer Understandable Choices
“You can stay here or try this movement” offers a concrete decision. Invitational language loses meaning if you then correct someone for choosing differently. Keep your words, positioning and response to refusal consistent.
Respect the Limits of Your Role
Prepare teaching that works without physical contact. Do not require someone to disclose trauma to receive an option. If a person is distressed, prioritize their immediate needs and appropriate help without improvising psychotherapy or imposing a breathing technique.
Creasana · Workshop
Try it in your planning
- Explain the outline before starting.
- Prepare two genuinely acceptable choices.
- Check that teaching works without touch.
- Identify appropriate support resources.
Continue reading: Offering Grounding Practices During Stressful Times.
References for further exploration
- TCTSY: choice and invitational language in a specialized approach
- Yoga Alliance: Code of Conduct and consent-based touch
These planning examples should be adapted to your group and training. References provide context for the topics discussed; they do not validate every example sequence.
