Colleen Caul (InspireMovement, LLC) is an experienced yoga teacher with a specialization in trauma-informed yoga, a style of yoga that empowers participants to listen to their intuition and move in a way that most supports their needs in any moment. Colleen leads the JJMF’s monthly virtual trauma-informed yoga series featuring gentle, restorative yoga for all bodies and all levels, weaving themes, philosophy and affirmations throughout the movement and breath practice. In her guest blog post, Colleen gives an insider look at trauma-informed yoga and how she curates each class. 

We welcome you to join an upcoming JJMF yoga session for parents and caregivers of medically complex children. You may find out more and sign up on our website.

Trauma lives in the body and affects individuals on a cellular level, which can leave them feeling disconnected and out of touch with what is going on in their bodies. For those who have experienced trauma, it may feel like energy is stuck in their bodies, and they may have a difficult time verbalizing their experiences or connecting with their true selves.

Trauma-Informed Yoga is a practice that can create more space in the body and calm in the mind. Trauma-Informed Yoga can help release that blocked energy that the imprint of trauma creates. When individuals experience this release, they can feel so much more open and connected to their inner wisdom.

For each class, I like to introduce a theme and weave relevant quotes throughout the practice. When participants are truly in the present moment and deeply connected with their bodies and breath, the theme and quotes can be incredibly healing. The comforting, supportive words can help ease their minds and quiet their thoughts. The theme and quotes help integrate the healing of the mind, body and spirit. My hope is that the theme, quotes, and guided trauma-informed yoga practice can empower participants to feel connected to their embodied experience and inner world, allowing self-expression to become possible once again.

This time of year can be challenging for folks, just coming out of the holidays and beginning a new year. The surge of the pandemic and winter setting can also magnify grief and loss. I’ve been thinking a lot about the theme of Honoring Grief & Loss, and I decided to choose this as the theme for the JJMF’s January session. The quotes below are the ones I selected to offer throughout the class. I hope that they resonate with you and empower you to hold space to honor all of your parts, including the parts that are holding grief and loss.

 

“In the words of the Kotzker Rebbe, ‘The only whole heart is a broken one.’ No awake spirit can move through this world without enduring a broken heart. There is nothing real that makes life painless. Accepting the pain of living, knowing one’s heart will — and should — be broken, is the beginning of wisdom.”— David Wolpe

“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”― Haruki Murakami

“Grief is like the wind. When it’s blowing hard, you adjust your sails and run before it. If it blows too hard, you stay in the harbor, close the hatches and don’t take calls. When it’s gentle, you go sailing, have a picnic, take a swim.”— Barbara Lazear Ascher

“Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.”― Arthur Schopenhauer

“Grief is a sign that we loved something more than ourselves. . . . Grief makes us worthy to suffer with the rest of the world.”— Joan Chittister

“Life is full of grief, to exactly the degree we allow ourselves to love other people.” -Orson Scott Card

“Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you.”― John Green