Somatic & Trauma-Informed Yoga Teaching | CEC

In this theoretical class, we explore what emotions are and why they matter. You will learn about the main functions of emotions, the difference between primary and secondary emotions, and the concept of emotions as energy in motion. We will also clarify the distinctions between emotion, feeling, and mood, creating a clear foundation for understanding emotional experience from a somatic and embodied perspective.

This mindful flow is a simple, accessible vinyasa practice designed to cultivate body awareness and interoception. Through slow, conscious movement and attention to sensations, you will begin to develop the ability to stay present with your inner experience. This practice offers a first step toward bringing awareness inward while emotions arise, laying the foundation for relating to them with more clarity, regulation, and choice.

This theory class explores how different emotions manifest in the body through posture, muscle tone, breath patterns, and movement tendencies. You will learn to recognize key physiological cues that can help you better understand students’ emotional states in a yoga setting. The class also introduces the concept of embodied conditioning, showing how repeated emotional experiences shape the body over time and influence the way we move, feel, and respond.

This practice focuses on working with anger as stored energy in the body. Through dynamic yoga sequences and targeted breathwork, the class supports the release of accumulated tension, excess activation, and holding patterns often associated with anger. Rather than suppressing the emotion, students are guided to feel it safely, discharge it, and transform its intensity into clarity and grounded presence.

This theory class introduces interoception as the ability to sense internal bodily states and its central role in emotional regulation. You will explore how awareness of sensations, breath, and internal signals supports nervous system regulation. The class offers practical tools and frameworks that teachers can use to help students relate to emotions with more stability, choice, and self-awareness.

A slow, nourishing flow designed to meet sadness with softness and embodiment. This practice invites students to slow down, stay present with sensation, and allow the emotion to be felt without resistance or collapse. Through gentle movement, breath, and spacious pauses, sadness is approached as an experience to be embodied and integrated, rather than pushed away.

A guided meditation based on the R.A.I.N. framework (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture). This practice supports students in meeting emotions with mindfulness and compassion, cultivating the capacity to stay present with inner experiences without being overwhelmed. The meditation offers a structured yet gentle approach to emotional awareness and self-regulation.

In this theoretical class you’ll explore the basics of the nervous system, with a focus on the autonomic branches and the concepts of safety and danger. Learn how the body organizes responses to stress and regulation.

A supportive vinyasa practice designed for shutdown or low-energy states. You’ll meet the nervous system where it is, gradually introducing movement, breath, and activation to gently mobilize energy.

This class introduces polyvagal theory and the window of tolerance, offering a practical framework to understand nervous system states, emotional regulation, and capacity for presence in practice and teaching.

A grounding yin practice focused on slowing down and settling the nervous system. Through long-held poses, breath, and stillness, you’ll support parasympathetic activation and deep relaxation.

A practical theory-based class exploring tools for nervous system regulation, including breathwork, grounding, orientation, and movement strategies that can be applied on and off the mat.

A guided meditation designed to cultivate safety, presence, and connection with the body. This practice supports grounding through sensory awareness and nervous system settling.

This theoretical class offers a clear and compassionate introduction to trauma. You’ll explore how overwhelm impacts the nervous system, and why safety is the foundation of healing and practice.

A gentle somatic slow flow designed to support freeze and shutdown responses. Through slow, spacious movements and breath, the practice invites expansion, choice, and a gradual return to sensation and vitality.

This class explores how trauma lives in the body through breath patterns, posture, fascia, and nervous system responses. You’ll learn to recognize fight, flight, freeze, and fawn as embodied survival strategies.

A regulating yoga practice for states of stress and anxiety. Using grounding, rhythm, and somatic practices, this class supports nervous system settling while helping release excess activation in a safe, embodied way.

This theory class introduces trauma-informed principles in yoga. You’ll explore language, pacing, choice, boundaries, and safety, learning how to create classes that support regulation without reactivating students.

A guided meditation introducing titration and pendulation as somatic tools. You’ll gently move between sensations of safety and activation, building capacity to stay present with emotions and bodily experience.

This theory class introduces fascia as a living, intelligent system. You’ll explore its structure, functions, and role in movement, sensation, emotional experience, and nervous system communication.

A guided free movement practice to experience fascia from the inside. Through intuitive movement, rhythm, and exploration, this class supports fluidity, self-expression, and embodied listening.

This theoretical class explores how emotions and trauma shape the fascial system. You’ll learn how chronic stress, protective patterns, and emotional holding influence tension, restriction, and sensation.

A slow Yin practice designed to gently stimulate and release fascia. Long-held, supported postures invite hydration, softness, and deep listening, supporting both physical and emotional release.

This class explores how different yoga styles affect fascia. You’ll learn the distinct impacts of vinyasa and yin on tissue health, regulation, resilience, and embodied awareness.

A guided Yoga Nidra practice focused on body awareness and deep rest. This meditation supports nervous system downregulation while cultivating a subtle, spacious connection with the inner body.

This theory class explores the difference between being a teacher and being a facilitator. You’ll learn trauma-informed space holding, how classes adapt to students (not the other way around), and how to work with different class arcs.

A vinyasa practice built on a yin-to-yang arc, inviting surrender and release of control. Movement, breath, and a personal story support trust, adaptability, and embodied presence.

This practical theory class explores concrete tools that support regulation in a trauma-informed yoga class. You’ll learn how to intentionally use breathwork, somatic exercises, asana, music, quotes, and language to support safety, presence, and nervous system regulation.

A yang-to-yin practice designed to explore the full spectrum of emotional experience. Dynamic movement flows into stillness, supported by a short poem that invites emotional presence and integration.

A clear, practical guide to designing embodied and nervous-system-aware classes. You’ll learn how to structure a class, choose an arc, integrate themes, and weave theory, practice, and intention together.

This practice explores how meeting physical challenge can build emotional resilience. Through uncomfortable postures and conscious breath, supported by a quote, students learn to stay present with difficulty.

A closing meditation to integrate the course experience and mark the beginning of a new chapter in teaching. This practice supports reflection, embodiment, and a grounded sense of direction forward.