women-only yoga
yoga with moving through trauma
Moving Through Trauma offers solely trauma-informed women-only yoga sessions that are by women, for women. As it is Esther’s aim to be accesible to women of all walks of life, and to bring different women together and create a sense of community, women – including people identifying as a woman or as non-binary – off all backgrounds, ages and sexualities are welcome.
A session with Moving Through Trauma is very different from a ‘regular’ yoga session. It is not about the shapes we put our body in or how still you can sit. Instead, yoga is offered as a path to find a safe place within your body and to (re)connect with it. With a curious and gentle mind, and always with respect for our bodies and for the feelings that arise, we explore our relationship with our bodies. Practising yoga in this way can help you increase your body awareness and appreciation, increase feelings of self-reliance and self-confidence and help with emotion regulation.
These yoga classes can be beneficial for everyone and especially for those who do not feel comfortable in a regular yoga class or those who have a specific need or theme they want to work on. In the group sessions we work with specific theme’s that are relevant to and proven efficient in dealing with issues of mental health, such as rhythmic movement, grounding techniques, mindfulness and gratitude meditations.
There are regular closed-group multiple-week courses and open to all, drop-in sessions that you can choose to follow once or more regularly. It’s also possible to have one-on-one sessions with Esther, where she designs a session or a series of sessions specifically to meet your needs. All sessions can be in either English, Dutch or both, depending on the preferences of the indvidual or the group.
At the moment, most if not all of these sessions will take place online due to the current COVID-19 measures.
For more information, regarding what is on offer, times, dates and prices, please contact Esther or check the Facebook page.
Yoga and mental health
When feeling depressed, anxious, burned-out or overwhelmed, you might feel a disconnection from your body, from others or the world in general. Maybe you feel numbed out and find it hard to sense the body, or perhaps you experience your body as an unpredictable or even frightening part of yourself.
Yoga actively works towards the union of body and mind. Through the combination of movement, breathing and focused attention exercises, it offers a possibility for you to become more aware of the present moment and how you are, feel and move in that moment. We use yoga to start to move (again) and to create a space within our bodies and minds that become feel-able, tolerable, and ultimately safe. Starting with physical sensations, we may find connections with our emotions and thoughts.
Yoga is, however, not just a path for mere exploration. After getting to know our bodies, we work towards befriending our inner sensations, understanding them and being able to act on them. Through the development of a feel-able and reliable self, we work towards self-acceptance and self-love. On the way, you’ll learn how to make decisions that are empowering and supportive of your wellbeing.
Yoga and trauma recovery
Trauma is, sadly, highly prevalent. Most adults will have experienced a traumatic event, either in their childhood or more recently. Maybe somebody crossed your boundaries, you had to deal with neglect and loss or something else that was threatening or overwhelming happened to you.
After a traumatic event, intense sensations might arise in your body: without knowing why maybe your heart starts to pound or you break out in a sweat. At other times, it might be hard to feel anything at all. Because trauma is stored in our bodies, the body often becomes unpredictable. But if your body does not feel safe, it becomes impossible to feel safe and at ease in the world around you. In this way, trauma directly impacts how we relate to our bodies. This, again, impacts our relationship with others and the world in general.
Yoga that is trauma-sensitive supports you to build resilience and strength and to establish self-regulation. In this way, the sensations you feel become manageable and your body becomes a place that you can safely inhibit again. We always work in a safe, structured environment in which respect, choice and agency are central.
Ultimately, trauma-sensitive yoga is designed and proven to be a healing intervention that slowly connects you back to your inner sensations and resources. Yoga sessions with Moving Through Trauma can be an addition to other forms of support and therapy. They are, however, also useful as an intervention on its own.
Safety and grounding
Body-awareness
Tolerating and befriending inner sensations
Gaining a sense of ‘self’, a sense of embodied living and a sense of control in one’s life
Cultivating self-acceptance, self-love and practices of self-care
Skills for self- and emotion regulation