4/30/26 Live Session Recording (Module 13)

I was unable to attend live class on Thursday because our oldest daughter, Tibby, was graduating from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City with a degree from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.  It was an incredibly emotional weekend for our family.  She has had what I have come to call “a bumpy ride,” including spending 18 months in treatment during high school.  There were many moments over the years when the future felt incredibly uncertain, which made this milestone especially meaningful.  We are profoundly proud of her resilience, courage, and perseverance!  Go Tibby!  This recording was difficult to watch at times because so many strong emotions surfaced, and portions of the sharing between cohorts felt quite intense.  I was reminded that every individual enters a space carrying different experiences, survival patterns, sensitivities, and nervous system responses.  And, it is vital to listen in order to understand rather than react. What felt most clear from the lecture and slides was the need to remain present and responsive while facilitating. Some groups/participants may benefit from grounding, slower pacing, repetition, simplicity, and permission to pause, while others may respond better to movement, connection, humor, or lightness as pathways toward regulation and reconnection.  And, rest is always welcome! More than anything, this discussion reinforced that trauma-informed facilitation is about presence, attunement, adaptability, and cultivating an environment where people feel supported, acknowledged, respected, safe, seen and empowered to engage at their own pace.

I really enjoyed how it's broken down into how regulated the group is, that helps me a lot. I wouldn't have thought about how some groups aren't really ready for stillness or laying down. I'm still a little unsure in my ability to create my own sequence so it makes me feel better that there are templates of sequences to follow until I feel more comfortable creating my own. I have the opportunity to practice teaching for a small group of women and I stumbled upon this while getting my hair and makeup done for some headshots for another cohort I just got accepted into. I don't think that happened by accident! Also I've been observing one of the yoga instructors that we've been working with who hasn't gone through this training, and I've noticed a couple of things that could be improved upon that you've brought to my attention with this class, so I'm trying to figure out how to approach it. I'd like to point a few of our instructors towards the foundational training at least! I've really enjoyed this class; it's been sometimes heavy and a lot to absorb but I'm really grateful for the opportunity to learn from you and proud to be a part of this cohort. Hopefully I can keep up and graduate by the 21st!

I'm about a year into facilitating at a transitional women's correctional facility and it's been very interesting to experience how certain days, groups, and seasons just flow differently. Sometimes, all the class wants is meditation and relaxation. Other times, they are active and want to move through everything while laughing. But many times, it takes a lot of attunement to notice that a meditation has been going on too long or the energy needs to be used in different ways. Attunement goes hand in hand with curiosity and flexibility. Having a lot of different offerings has been helpful to combat this. I also tell my class that we will not go over 30 seconds without some kind of talking, which they have said helps them. The group of women I work with are also big fans of a class theme to work within, so that was nice to get more ideas on. 

I really appreciated the considerations for participants that may be on medications or in recovery. In my experience, working as a Social Worker in various correctional settings, knowing how large a number there are of folks on medication as jails are often the only time a lot of individuals have access to mental health service, I am so appreciative that PYP ensures that this is taken into consideration. I love the examples and guidance on setting intentions as well and resonated with sometimes that is "Don't be an asshole to myself or others today," thank you Jen! 

As someone who has this running with a remanded, or unsentenced population, the topic of regulating the room and not a particular person is important. A lot of our clients are in varying degrees of recovery and not singling them out or relieving tension by centering are all good tips. It does also lead to changing groups every week so understanding you could have a "plan" but seeing the group and using your senses to read the room is important too. 

I was unable to make the 4/30 live session due to having to present at work. It was nice to hear the vulnerable talks at the beginning from classmates in my cohort. Such as the talk discussing the gurus of yoga and accusations that were placed on them. To the conversation about the man going to prison for sexual assault and what that will look like for him. As someone who has very little incarcerated friends or family that I know of, it is nice to hear the different perspectives when it comes to the prison day to day life. I was able to teach a class at my job with a teenage population, and it was not as easy as I thought it would be I will just say that. I was able to gauge how regulated the group was by doing some energetic awareness exercises. I do feel like I need more practice, at times it all feels very overwhelming honestly.

I missed all or part of this session so I'm posting in the forum. I found the discussion that Britney brought up during the first half-hour where she read some passages of a translation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra to be really interesting. For me it's always important to understand cultural and social context, and the reality is that yoga, like all spiritual traditions, has changed and adapted based on the people who adopt it or who continue to practice in it, this is partly why I don't vibe with the idea of trying to find a "true" yoga or spirituality. The yoga that was practiced in South Asia many centuries ago is not the same as the yoga practiced in South Asia today, and it's not what is practiced in the yoga mainstream in the U.S. and I think that's not only fine but inevitable.  This is also something to keep in mind when idealising or projecting non-Western and/or "ancient" cultures, which in my experience not only reflects a historically disconnected picture of the society in question but also can tip over into dehumanisation, as if this or that group of people instead of being fellow humans were these mystical perfect angels or something.

I came in 30minutes late to this session, for some reason I had it in my head that it was starting on the half hour.  I was very surprised and confused to come into a full on deep discussion.  Once I realized my mistake I watched the first thirty minutes the next day.  I guess we really are the mercy of prophets and scribes and this was a perfect example.  I'm glad that Britt shared their experience with the yoga sutras and that particular translations.  Most ancient texts have been warped and mistreated.  It was a great discussion and I am glad that it was brought up.  

I had to leave before I could verbally comment about how we aren't always able to "see" trauma or abilities, hearing the stories about hands-on adjustments had me thinking about my first experience with it in my very first yoga studio class. Consent, consent, consent! Just sayin'

This happened to be my first in-person yoga class, I had been using a DVD up until that point. The other students in class were mostly aware of adjustments during savasana, but there was no mention of it from the teacher to anyone new. I was deep into relaxation and eyes closed when my ankles were grabbed and she started swinging my legs side-to-side. I accidently kicked her in the armpit because I was jolted out of my internal world without warning. There were a few more instances that this type of thing would happen. I eventually got tired of my space not being respected so now when I go into a class with a teacher I don't know, I make sure to explain before class that I don't want any kind of hands-on adjustments.

So, it's worth pointing out that it isn't always about someone's trauma, but rather something else folks don't "see" is that I am on the spectrum and I process touch differently. It took years of having these unexpected experiences for me to know it for myself and then, be able to tell a teacher without it feeling like they'd be offended. Absolutely stand up for your own practice as a student, but as the teacher, don't make anyone guess if they'll be approached physically. Especially since 2020! I've had to tune-in to verbally adjusting the whole class when I see something that can be shifted to make it more comfortable or accessible. Students are finding out about their own bodies and boundaries so, asking for consent even with something as simple as a shoulder press like Jen was talking about can save them possible pain or over-extension later on.