Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY)
TCTSY sets the standard for yoga as evidence-based, adjunctive treatment for complex trauma and complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. A program of the Center for Trauma and Embodiment at JRI, TCTSY was developed in the United States and is utilized with children, youth, and adults around the world. TCTSY is open to all people regardless of age, gender identity, race, ethnicity, body type, and physical ability.
TCTSY offers an approach that seeks to reduce triggers related to the yoga practice while safely building awareness and empowering choice. TCTSY is the first dedicated yoga program that is an evidence-based, adjunctive treatment for complex trauma and complex PTSD. People participating in TCTSY classes are encouraged to have a support person or network independent of TCTSY with clinical therapy being their primary treatment source.
why it's different...
TCTSY is grounded in Trauma Theory, Attachment Theory, and Neuroscience. Understanding from these three fields of study guide every aspect of a TCTSY practice. Within the dynamics of complex trauma, a person's power to make independent choices based on their own needs is taken away. Classes counter trauma by offering participants an opportunity to experience safety while they practice making effective choices for themselves.
TCTSY is an adjunctive treatment, not talk therapy. Working with a primary clinical treatment professional gives you a space to discuss new awareness that may arise in a TCTSY class.
how it’s taught...
Classes center around empowering participants, who are trusted to discover the most appropriate choices for themselves. This is facilitated through making choices within yoga forms, breath awareness, and at times, awareness of interoception, the ability to feel sensation within one's body.
In every class, participants are free to make the practice their own. There's no expectation to look or feel a certain way. To support to this, I practice on my own mat for the entire class. My mat is my space. Your mat is your space. Yoga practice is only guided verbally, never through hands-on or manipulative assists.
There's no touch during a TCTSY or any Thriving Tree yoga class.
further inquiry...
The TCTSY methodology is nuanced and specific. If you have questions not addressed in this general overview, you can email kate@thrivingtreeyoga.com or you can view complex trauma references under the resources tab above.