Trauma Informed: Inclusive Teaching for ALL Students

Lisa GreenbaumC-IAYT, E-RYT 500, YACEP Official Music Sponsor

TRIUNE BRAIN • Most important job of our brain is to ensure our survival.

• The brain stem and the hypothalamus or the reptilian braincontrol functions of survival and homeostasis; breathing eating, sleeping, urination, defecation etc.

• The Limbic Brain or Mammalian Brain: The seat of emotions, monitor of danger, pleasure and pain and helps us navigate socially.

• Limbic + Reptilian = Emotional Brain and is the heart of the CNS

• The Neocortex: 30% of brain; concerned mostly with outside world and how we can get things done.

Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory: the metaphor for safety

Environment + Perceived Threat(outside/inside the body)

SAFETY- Optimally balanced nervous

system- Parasympathetic Nervous

System (Ventral Vagal) - Rest/Digest- Socially Engaged- Pre-Frontal Cortex

DANGER- Sympathetic Nervous

System- Fight or Flight- Limbic Brain- Dissociated: Rage or Panic

What this looks like: leave during class, agitated movements, loud

sighs

LIFE THREAT- Parasympathetic Nervous

System (Dorsal Vagal) - Freeze- Primitive Brain- Dissociated: Collapse

What this looks like: no eye contact, “going through

motions” maybe child’s pose

Teaching a Trauma-Sensitive Class

• Room set-up: doors, windows, outside noises

• Props: use blankets + blocks, avoid straps

• Adjustments: limited or avoid

• Poses focused on grounding

• Provide Options: student in control

• Vagal Toning: ujjayi breathing

• Language: positive + inclusive

YogaFit’s Transformational Language• Inclusive: we, let’s, our

• Positive Affirmative

• Action Oriented: “ing” verbs

• Awareness Oriented: Listening to our body

• Process Oriented: Just for Today

always remember to bring our cues back to the body and the breath

YogaFit: 100hour Warrior Certificate Program

- YogaFit Level 1- YogaFit for Warriors - Healing Physical + Emotional Trauma- Restoring Balance: Training the Parasympathetic Nervous

System

Choose from: - Warrior Kids, Addiction & Recovery or Balancing Moods

Sources + Further ReadingsEmerson, David + Hopper, Elizabeth 2011 Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming your Body Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books

Khalsa, Dharma Singh + Stauth, Cameron 2001 Meditation as Medicine New York, NY: First Fireside Edition, Simon and Schuster

Koch, Liz 2012 Core Awareness Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books

LeVine, Peter 2010 In an Unspoken Voice Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books

Van Der Kolk, Bessel MD 2014 The Body Keeps the Score New York, NY: Viking Press

Weintraub, Amy 2012 Yoga Skills for Therapists New York, NY: W.W.Norton