Sexual trauma leaves survivors with many symptoms, and feeling unsafe in your body is one of them. The good news is you can include gentle yoga tips that honor your trauma, ease your symptoms, and give you gentle inner peace to feel safe after sexual trauma.
Why Focus On Safety?
Safety is the root of your body and of any yoga practice. The first chakra you balance is your muladhara chakra, your root chakra. Without a sense of safety, it’s difficult to balance any other chakra or parts of your body.
After sexual trauma, you may feel like your body is an unsafe place to be present in. You can gently return to yourself with the support of a trauma-informed yoga practice and the unique techniques it offers.
7 Yoga Tips To Feel Safe After Sexual Trauma
Before we begin, I invite you to use these tips as an additional holistic resource for your care plan. You are always worthy of support and you can explore options here.
1. Include A Blanket In Your Practice
A blanket is an accessible prop you most likely have around your house. This can give you plenty of options to explore, like:
- Wrap yourself to provide a container and extra comfort
- Use in poses that you enjoy but may want extra covering (cat/cow, puppy pose, or any other pose.)
- Include in trauma-informed savasana for an extra layer of protection and comfort
2. Explore Yoga Practices That Focus On Your Root Chakra
As I mentioned in the beginning, your root chakra is the birthplace of safety. Here are a few ways to work with chakras in your practice:
- Breathwork
- Yoga Poses
- Meditations
- Mantras
Many sexual trauma survivors have an imbalanced root chakra, and I invite you to take all the time you need on this chakra.
If you’re looking for how sexual trauma affects all of your chakras (and how to find balance), I invite you to read this blog post.
3. Location Matters
What you practice is just as important as where you practice. If you feel tense and uncomfortable in studios, it’ll be much more difficult to explore techniques that bring you safety.
Here are some locations you may wish to explore:
- Studio
- Online with live calls
- Online with prerecorded video
- Outdoors (I invite you to learn how outdoor yoga can benefit your trauma healing journey in this blog post.)
There is no right or wrong answer to what brings you a sense of safety. You may also notice you change your preferences overtime as your practice continues to grow.
4. Include Techniques That Bring You Into The Present
Yoga offers many techniques to establish safety and to return to the present. Here are a few examples of different techniques you’ll come across in a trauma-informed yoga practice:
- Meditations
- Somatic Techniques
- Breathwork
- Specific Poses
- Resourcing Exercises
5. It’s Okay To Skip And Adjust Poses
There are some poses that may not be comfortable for you after sexual trauma. These are usually poses that expose your pelvis (like happy baby). There are also poses that may be unique to you that you prefer to skip.
I invite you to know that you don’t need to do a pose just because the teacher offers it. If they strongly suggest that you do the pose, you may need to assert boundaries or find a more trauma-informed teacher. You should never feel pressured in your yoga practice.
When you opt out of poses that you dislike, and instead do the ones that bring you joy, you’ll be able to settle deeper into your practice. You can also take different variations of poses. If you don’t like to raise your arms in high lunge, you don’t need to.
The more you do poses how you like, and the ones that you enjoy, the more progress you’ll make in establishing safety in your body.
6. Take All The Breaks You Need
You can end your practice or take breaks at any time in your trauma-informed yoga practice. You always have full choice in your yoga classes. This is important after sexual trauma because you learn that your choices and decisions matter. Your practice rarely stays on the mat, and soon you’ll notice more agency not just in your yoga practice, but in your life too.
If you’re in a class and the teacher insists you continue with the group, or there is hidden pressure to keep pressing on in your practice, you may feel rushed or even unsafe.
I invite you to allow yourself all the breaks you need.
7. Who You Practice With Matters
I welcome you to imagine this: You’re near a person who is tapping their foot, glancing around the room and breathing quickly. How would you feel around this person? You may feel anxious, because that’s how they’re feeling.
This is called emotional contagion, which this study explores. Basically, you begin to feel what others feel, even if they don’t say anything. Even the most subtle body language can alter your emotional state.
Why is this important for your yoga practice? If you practice with someone, including the teacher, and they display subtle signs of negative emotions, you may feel this way. This is difficult to recognize and why your teacher and the people you practice with are important for creating safety.
I invite you to practice with people who you feel comfortable with-even if that means practicing alone. Some people, myself included, can’t relax around other people while doing yoga. And that’s okay! It’s all your practice.
Overview
Including these tips will give you more opportunity to focus on your practice, and less on just trying to get through the class. You deserve to have an environment that promotes relaxation, comfort, and above all else, safety. Thank you for reading and take good care on your healing journey.
