Trauma-informed yoga sets itself apart from conventional yoga practices, in that it recognises how the pressure to perform can affect people carrying unresolved trauma: “If someone has lived through (traumatic) experiences and then enters a yoga class where they again feel pressured, forced, or unable to listen to their own body, the practice may reinforce the very patterns they are trying to move beyond,” shares Kothari, adding, “By offering choices – whether to stay, modify, rest, or opt out- we help people reconnect with their own inner sense of authority. Rather than telling them what they should feel or do, we invite them to notice what is happening within themselves. In that sense, choice is not simply a teaching technique. It is a way of helping people rebuild trust in their own experience.”
