Our Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TSY) Program supports those who have survived trauma and are seeking yoga practices as an adjunctive to clinical or therapeutic treatment. Our TSY Program is delivered by facilitators who are trained in the empirically-validated Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) method.
Where is the program?
Reid Room, 75 Reid, 75 Reid Street, Fitzroy North / Naarm.
What dates and times?
This 8 week program commences on Tuesday April 16th 2024 and concludes on Tuesday June 4th 2024.
The weekly sessions run from 6pm - 7pm.
Can I use my NDIS Plan?
Yes, depending on your plan. Get in touch with us directly to discuss, or have a chat with your case manager or allied health support worker to confirm.
What is Trauma-Sensitive Yoga?
Trauma-Sensitive Yoga looks and feels quite different to regular yoga. This is because it is grounded in five key principles:
Choice - participants have the autonomy to choose how they move their bodies and engage with the practices.
Interoception - sessions are characterised by an emphasis on function over form; i.e. noticing sensations in our bodies and being guided by what we notice (as opposed to adhering to strict and/or generalist yoga alignment cues).
Shared authentic experience - the facilitator practices along with participants to create a safe enough space for movement, breath and exploration. We are all learning together.
Non-coercion - the facilitator acknowledges that each participant is the expert of their own experience. Our facilitators use invitational language, practice cultural humility, acknowledge and work towards minimising any teacher/student power dynamics, and focus on the accessibility of the practice.
Present-moment experience - throughout the session, there are opportunities to practice being present with our bodies, sensations, emotions and breath. If this becomes too much at any point, we return to anchors and resources that stabilise and contain.
About your Facilitator
Anu Fox (they/them) is a Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator and trauma informed yoga facilitator. Their sessions aim to be adaptable and accessible for people with mobility requirements and other access needs. They approach yoga from a decolonial framework and aim to honour its rich history as an extension of their personal process of decolonising their ways of thought and being.
They guide participants through their sessions with choices and options that offer the potential experiences of grounding and centring, some movement, breath work, and the options to work towards relaxation and meditation, where perhaps these moments of pause and stillness create opportunities for reflection and self inquiry.
Anu invites participants to approach the session in ways that best suit their present moment experience, with an understanding of the often long, and non-linear journey back to the body after trauma. Their main training includes a 1000 hour diploma of yoga teacher training and the 300 hour Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitation training. Anu has facilitated, and has a special interest in activist wellbeing, as well as facilitating yoga with the Queer and Trans communities, older adults, carers, and refugee and migrant communities.
Anu facilitates with Collective Being because their core values align. They live as an uninvited guest on the sacred and unceded land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung People of the Kulin Nation, in so-called Melbourne. They acknowledge their white body and non-disabled privileges and commit to doing the work of questioning all their privileges and position within the many systems of oppression that they would love to see dismantled.
Our Approach to TSY
Our approach to program design and facilitation is strengths-based, trauma-informed, mental health aware and gender and culture responsive. The structure and content of our programs is informed by research and education regarding the intersection between these frameworks and somatic, mindfulness and yoga-based practices. We are a proudly LGBTQIA+ affirming organisation and our sessions are inclusive of all bodies and all needs.
Participants in our program receive additional support through pre-recorded video content and a digital handbook of yoga and somatic resources to use at home.
FAQs and Screening
Once receiving your Registration Form (below), we will be in touch to answer any questions and provide details for payment. You are welcome to fill in as much or as little as you would like. The Registration Form is part of our screening process and can be a useful tool in determining how we can best support you throughout the course. If you prefer to answer the questions over the phone, please contact our Programs Coordinator, Alexia, at alexia@collectivebeing.org to arrange a phone call instead.
To read through some common FAQs regarding our in-person Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Program, please click here.
Participant Investment:
Tier 1: $395 (for those who are financially secure)
Tier 2: $325 (for those who are financially resourced)
Tier 3: $255 (for those on low incomes and/or with caring responsibilities)
Payment plans are available and further subsidised places may be available for those experiencing significant financial hardship.
All Collective Being public offerings are free for First Nations people and communities. Please reach out directly to our Programs Coordinator, Alexia to arrange your place (alexia@collectivebeing.org)
Please note:
This program is now full. We will be running another Trauma-Sensitive Yoga program starting in July. For more information or to register for this program contact our team at hello@collectivebeing.org