15 Min Trauma Informed Yoga for an Overwhelmed Nervous System

If you always feel exhausted, heavy, irritable, overwhelmed before getting out of bed, your nervous system may be dysregulated. 

For many trauma survivors, exhaustion can feel like an entire mind and body depletion, a feeling that arises when our nervous systems have been over active for too long. 

This practice explores trauma informed yoga for an overwhelmed nervous system to give you a supportive place to rest. This class requires very little effort and offers full permission to rest and simply be. There’s no need to perfect, perform, or do anything in a specific way. Just allowing yourself the time to settle, regulate, relax, and tend to yourself. 

It may feel like classes like this don’t “do much” since we’re resting, but this provides active rest for our bodies which is much more supportive than passive types of rest like scrolling on your phone or watching tv. 

This is why you might still feel stressed if you lounge around most of the day, but more well rested after a guided meditation or relaxing yoga class. It’s focused, distraction free rest, which our nervous systems love.

This class isn’t about trying to fix anything or trying to make yourself feel a type of way. It’s about offering a calm, supportive space to just be. With supported poses and deep rest, we’ll send the gentle message to your body that it’s okay to wind down, soften, and let go (even if it’s just 1% more softness). 

What to Expect in This Practice

This is a slow, grounding, trauma-informed yoga class focused on nervous system support and deep rest. We’ll only explore a few poses so you can find full relaxation in each pose, option to fidget as much as you need. Stillness is never a requirement in trauma informed yoga.

You’re also welcome to adjust this practice however you like, knowing everything I offer is just an offering, not a demand. You’re always in control of your practice, how long you choose to stay, and how you choose to arrive. Anything you wish to change, skip, or adjust is always welcome. 

I welcome you to include a bolster and blanket for this class but I offer options if you choose not to include props. There are no standing postures in this class and this is supportive for all experience levels.

We’ll explore:

• Seated Grounding and Neck and Shoulder Rolls (0:25)
  We’ll begin seated on the edge of a bolster to ground into the practice. This sets aside the rest of our day and to do lists so we can be present for this class. We’ll release commonly held tension in our neck and shoulders so the rest of the poses feel more open and supported.
• Supported Child’s Pose with Blanket (3:15)
  Adding a bolster and blanket to child’s pose allows for deeper rest, grounding, support, and comfort. This pose also supports hip and low back tension release.
• Supported Supine Poses: Bridge and Twist (6:00)
  We allow deep rest in supported bridge, using the bolster to prop our hips higher than our heart which is deeply supportive for nervous system regulation. Twists release tension in your body and the support of the bolster allows for a gentler hold. 
• Savasana (11:30)
  We’ll end with a two minute savasana, option to make this truly your own with any extra props and finding a shape that supports the deepest rest. This allows your nervous system to integrate the practice as well as giving yourself a few moments to be with nothing to do, nowhere to go. 

Who This Class Is For

This practice is supportive if you:

• Feel exhausted, overwhelmed, or emotionally drained
• Have a sensitive or easily overstimulated nervous system
• Wish to rest but find it hard to relax
• Enjoy slow, gentle yoga

15 Min Trauma Informed Yoga for an Overwhelmed Nervous System (Free Class)

If you like, I welcome you to join me for this free trauma informed yoga class to honor exhaustion, overwhelm, and tend to an overactive nervous system. This is a gentle practice where you can simply be and offer a few moments of deep rest. I invite you to join me below!