approach

Trauma-sensitive yoga therapy

Movement with choice, pace, and dignity

When you have lived through overwhelm, chronic stress, or experiences that made your body feel less safe to live in, “just do yoga” can land like a misunderstanding. You may want movement that helps, but you do not want to be pushed, adjusted, corrected, or watched like you are performing wellness.

Trauma-sensitive yoga therapy is a Vancouver-based offering provided online across Canada. It supports you in building a different relationship with your body through choice-led movement, steady pacing, and respect for your boundaries. This is therapy-informed care, not a fitness class, and not a space where you have to get it right in order to belong.

Book a free 15-minute consult

Gentle movement in soft light, reflecting trauma-sensitive yoga therapy rooted in choice, pace, and care

Understanding

When movement has felt complicated

Many adults arrive here with a complicated history of “body practices.” Maybe you have tried yoga classes that felt too fast, too exposed, too intense, or too focused on form. Maybe you have lived through trauma, chronic stress, illness, injury, or caregiving roles that changed how you inhabit your body. Or maybe you simply notice that when you slow down, your system does not soften—it escalates, collapses, goes numb, or goes away. That can make even well-intended mindfulness or movement practices feel out of reach.

Trauma-sensitive yoga therapy starts from a different assumption: the goal is not flexibility, performance, or pushing through discomfort. The goal is to restore choice, agency, and a sense of “I can stay with myself” in small, workable moments. That might look like noticing what happens when you turn your head, shift your weight, or choose not to do a movement at all. It might look like building tolerance for sensation one breath at a time, without asking your body to tell a story before it is ready.

This approach is especially supportive when you are tired of overriding your body. It makes room for protective responses without treating them as problems to fix. Instead, the work helps you relate differently to what shows up in your body, so movement becomes a place where steadiness can grow, not a place where you have to prove anything.

support

What this can shift

More choice in the moment

You practise noticing options again, including the option to pause, to stop, to modify, or to not do something at all.

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More trust in your body’s signals

Instead of guessing what you “should” feel, you learn to listen for what is actually true for you, even when the signal is subtle or mixed.

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Less bracing, less forcing

When the focus is internal experience rather than appearance, the system often finds more room to soften without being pushed.

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More steadiness during activation or shutdown

You learn how to stay oriented when emotion spikes, when numbness arrives, or when the impulse is to disappear, freeze, or override.

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A different relationship to “getting it right”

The work supports relief from self-monitoring, perfectionism, and the pressure to perform healing.

Trauma-sensitive yoga therapy can support a more grounded relationship with your body, built through agency, pacing, and respectful repetition over time.

in session

How we work

Sessions are slow, invitational, and choice-led. We begin by orienting to what you need today, including what would make movement feel more manageable. We move in a way that respects your boundaries and protects your dignity, with ongoing permission to pause, change your mind, or step back. The emphasis is on your internal experience, not on form, flexibility, or “progress.”

This work is offered by Laura Hoge, RSW, who is a certified trauma center trauma-sensitive yoga (TCTSY) facilitator. That matters because the method is designed to support agency and embodiment without hands-on adjustments, pressure, or performance language. We are both long-time yoga teachers, and we approach this as therapy-informed care: practical, relational, and grounded in what helps you stay present, not what looks good from the outside.

You might notice and explore:

How it feels to choose a movement instead of pushing through a movement
The difference between sensation, emotion, and story, and what happens when you stay with sensation briefly
Moments when your system escalates, freezes, or goes numb, and what helps you orient back
Boundaries in real time, including practising “no,” “not today,” and “this much is enough”
Ways to build agency through small, repeatable choices rather than big breakthroughs
How you want to transition out of session so you return to your day with steadiness

This work is not a performance-based yoga class, and it is not about being corrected, adjusted, or pushed past your edge. We prioritize choice, pacing, and respectful support so your system can stay with the process.

Online therapy

How we offer trauma-sensitive yoga therapy online

Trauma-sensitive yoga therapy adapts well to online sessions because the work is not about hands-on correction or external “doing it right.” It is about your relationship to choice, sensation, and agency, which can be practised in your own space with more privacy and control. Many people find it easier to stay present at home, where the nervous system does not have to manage travel, waiting rooms, unfamiliar settings, or the social pressure that can come with public movement spaces.

Online sessions also allow us to work with real-life context. The chair you use every day, the corner of the room where you feel safest, the option to turn your camera off for a moment, the ability to reach for a blanket or a steady surface—these are not distractions. They are part of how agency becomes practical and embodied. We keep pacing clear so the session ends with orientation, not disruption.

What supports this work online

Clear choice-based language so you stay in charge of your body
Options for seated, standing, or minimal movement depending on capacity
No hands-on adjustments, no pressure, no focus on appearance
Support for pacing, transitions, and returning to daily life after session
Room to use your own space as a regulation support (chair, wall, floor, light, comfort objects)
We offer Vancouver-based care and support adults in BC and across Canada.

Finding the right fit

This approach is for adults who want body-based support that is steady, consent-led, and respectful of trauma history, chronic stress, or a complicated relationship with movement. You do not need yoga experience. You do not need flexibility. You only need willingness to explore choice and pacing with support.

This may resonate if:

Movement has felt unsafe, overwhelming, or performative, and you want a different pace
You notice bracing, shutdown, numbness, or hypervigilance in your body and want steadier support
You want body-based care that centres agency, choice, and consent
You are tired of “pushing through” and want an approach that respects your limits
You want a therapy-informed practice that supports nervous system steadiness over time

It may not be the right fit if:

You are looking for a fitness-oriented yoga class focused on performance or physical achievement
You want hands-on adjustments or a teacher-led model where someone corrects your body
You want fast-paced intensity or a strongly directive movement program

See whether we’re a fit

in context

Part of our broader practice

Trauma-sensitive yoga therapy is part of our broader commitment to relational, experiential, and body-aware care. We hold a non-pathologizing view of survival strategies, including bracing, collapse, numbness, and hypervigilance, and we aim to work in ways that restore agency rather than repeating dynamics of pressure or control. This approach also fits naturally alongside the rest of our work because it offers a practical way to build steadiness without requiring you to explain everything in words first.

When you want to explore the wider framework beneath our approach to therapy, we invite you to visit our trauma-informed therapist in Vancouver, BC, Canada page.

begin

A calm first step

You do not need to be “good at yoga” to begin. You can arrive unsure, guarded, tired, or skeptical. The first step is simply getting oriented to what you need, what your body is currently carrying, and what kind of pacing would feel workable. We will stay grounded, practical, and respectful.

Share what you are hoping for and what has made movement feel complicated
Ask questions about pacing, choice, and what sessions actually look like
Leave with a clear next step that supports steadiness, not pressure

Begin with a free consult

Frequently Asked Questions

What is trauma-sensitive yoga therapy, and how is it different from regular yoga?

Trauma-sensitive yoga therapy centres choice, agency, and internal experience rather than performance or form. There are no hands-on adjustments, and the focus is on what you notice and choose in your body, not what it looks like.

Do I need yoga experience or flexibility to start?

No. This work is designed to be accessible and paced. We can work seated, standing, or with minimal movement depending on capacity and comfort.

What if I dissociate, shut down, or feel overwhelmed during movement?

That is welcomed as information, not failure. We move slowly, track pacing, and prioritize orientation so you have options when your system shifts.

Is this offered as therapy or as a yoga class?

This is therapy-informed care provided within our practice. It is not a drop-in class and it is not about performance or physical achievement.

Can trauma-sensitive yoga therapy be meaningful online?

Yes. Because the work is choice-led and does not rely on hands-on adjustments, online sessions can support privacy, pacing, and continuity, especially when being in public movement spaces feels stressful.