What Accessible, Trauma Informed Embodiment practices look like
SummaryEmbodiment practices such as yoga and meditation need to be more inclusive. Many of these practices are more focused on the performance rather than the impacts on those attending. These types of practices can be harmful to those who need it the most: the chronically ill and disabled. Yoga teachers and embodiment leaders need to learn how to teach inclusive, trauma informed classes. These classes center on the students and allow them to build agency. Classes taught with the needs of disabled in mind are more effective for all including able bodied folks. [Full Text]My name is Monetta Wilson. I am a disabled, black woman, with multiple chronic illnesses living in the Caribbean. For the past 11 years I have been teaching yoga to mostly sick and disabled people. It’s been pretty lonely because there is not a big yoga community here in St Lucia but I have been doing my best, trusting my training and creating space for people to find wellness. The only thing I had to compare it to was the community I interacted with online. My students were not doing fancy poses, inversions, or twisting into pretzels but across the board were reporting less pain and feeling invigorated. As I speak to more people I realize that the way I teach is different from most yoga teachers. Most yoga teachers focus on fancy poses and pushing their students to perform, progress and become more “advanced”. This style of teaching embraces fitness culture and can leave marginalized people feeling excluded. It can also bring up trauma in a way that is harmful to students. When I teach I focus on how the student feels in their body, give them options and use inclusive and non judgemental language. I guide people to experience embodiment practice in a way that does not trigger their trauma and allows them to truly heal. Embodiment practices use the body as a tool for healing by strengthening the mind body connection. These can range from movement practices such as yoga and tai chi to meditation. They can provide deep and lasting healing but because of the culture around such practices that healing is often inaccessible to those who need it the most. Many of these practices have been co opted and are only welcoming to the svelte, limber former athletes with large disposable income. What I have learned is that by teaching to the most marginalized among us, I create healing for everyone. I had a former cheerleader, who had practiced all over the world, walk into one of my classes full of older patients and chronically ill people. As I taught, I worried that the class might be too slow for her and she might be bored. I kept teaching my gentle classes because I know that this was one of the ways my chronically ill clients found relief from their pain. After class she let me know that this was the best class she had ever been to. Even though she had practiced all over the world with some of the big names in the industry, my little studio in rural St Lucia was the best she’d experienced. Those of us who teach embodiment practices have to examine our intention and what we are trying to accomplish with our teaching. We have to learn to put aside our egos and realize that the practice we invite our students to participate in is not about us. We are merely guides, facilitators. We offer options and allow them to choose. Teaching is not so much about telling people what to do but rather guiding them through the journey of exploring and understanding their own body. We do this by creating and holding space for our students. Whether we do this virtually or in person the space has to be safe, accepting and free from judgment. The choice we make can create a space that is inclusive for people with all types of bodies, brains and backgrounds. Embodiment practices often fail to be inclusive of all body types because it’s easy to ignore marginalized groups. It is even easier to include those groups by making a few simple changes to the way you teach. Many of us focus on what the practice looks like on the outside. What if instead we focused on what the practice feels like on the inside? I like to invite my students to try different variations of the practice, explore how each one feels in their body, then choose the one that feels the best for them in that moment. This leaves the choice up to the students and does not attach value to one variation over the other. Language is one of the most powerful inclusion tools in embodiment work. Many embodiment teachers will say phrases like “if it’s accessible to you” or “the full expression of the pose”; these phrases and so many others imply that there is a right or normal way of doing things and some options are less than. It is important to choose words that are not loaded with value judgment and can be triggering. Instead of issuing commands, I would rather use words that convey invitations and turn my students’ away from their performance to their experience of the embodiment practice. I believe that this is the key to trauma informed embodiment work. Trauma informed is often thrown around haphazardly. I believe that a lot of practitioners claiming to be trauma informed are actually very harmful. They are often informed about one very specific type of trauma and one very specific path to healing. If their method doesn’t actually work for you, such practices can actually be traumatizing in and of themselves. True trauma informed embodiment practices give the students space to find healing in their own bodies at their own pace. True trauma informed practice gives students agency of their own body. It gives them back the control that was violently taken away in their body. It lets go of expectations and outwards results. It allows them to connect and learn to trust themselves again. Embodiment practices need to be more inclusive to achieve their fullest potential as healing practices. Embodiment teachers need to create practices that are inclusive to all bodies, brains and backgrounds and use nonjudgmental language. All practices should be taught from the trauma informed viewpoint in order to provide a space for healing. When we teach embodiment practices with inclusivity by holding space for our students to heal we allow our students to connect to their true self and experience their body in a way that brings pure joy. About Mo: My name is Monetta Wilson. I am a 42 year old disabled, black woman, with multiple chronic illnesses living in the Caribbean. I’m passionate about intersectionality (particularly race, gender and other marginalized identities), liberation, self actualization and empowerment. You can find me writing about social justice on medium (https://monetta.medium.com/) or writing about yoga on my website. (https://monettawilson.com) Support me on Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/monetta |