Touch can be relational, connecting, healing, and necessary for well-being. But a Trauma informed class needs to be a touch-free zones for several important reasons. 

First, no-touch zones make classes feel safer for some survivors of trauma. 

Not all of our students are trauma survivors. But a high proportion of people in prisons, addiction recovery centres, and domestic violence Transition Houses where we offers programs do come from abusive backgrounds with higher than average adverse childhood experiences. Common adjustments such as guiding hips backward in Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), or turning shoulders to face forward in Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1) can trigger frightening memories.

Having someone in a position of power administer touch while the student is in a practice that makes them feel quite vulnerable can be a real violation. If you are interested in being certified yoga therapist, specializing in helping trauma survivors heal through embodiment practices it is essential to create an environment where folks feel safe and know what to expect.

Even though a teacher’s intention is to support, a simple touch can trigger a memory of harm. Suddenly the student is dysregulated, and yoga can become an unsafe space.

Asking for consent is not enough to mitigate harm.

Some of our students have grown up in situations where it would have been unsafe to say no to touch, so they’ll say yes even when it’s not OK.

In the context of social service facilities, teachers need to know that students’ ability to give informed, enthusiastic consent is impeded by their history. Thus, we advise teachers not to offer hands-on assists at all, so there is no reason to ask for consent when the class is defined as trauma informed or trauma sensitive.

Second, hands-on assists emphasize alignment over sensation.

In social-service settings, the goal of the class is not mastering asana, but learning to use one’s body as a resource for self-regulation. In other contexts, such as studios or community centres, yoga teachers can be clear with students and themselves about the objectives of any physical contact.  

Is the focus of the practice alignment and getting deeper into poses with the assistance of the teacher? Or is the focus on having an experience of feeling safe in your body? Of understanding that one has choice and agency in having an embodied experience? Think about what supports you. When and why do assists feel supportive and/or unsupportive? 

When the focus is on noticing sensation, becoming comfortable in one’s body, and growing confidence in making decisions, it doesn’t make sense to spend time correcting positions. Adjustments only distract the student from noticing their own comfort or discomfort in a particular shape. I find this especially true with children - I only correct children and then it is usually verbally or through demonstration when they are doing something that could harm them or another.

Think about the kind of space that you want to hold and who you are holding it for. 

Third, adjustments reinforce a power dynamic.

A lot of overcoming trauma is reclaiming power – over one’s body and over one’s life. It’s the reason trauma-informed teachers use invitational language instead of being more direct in their instructions. Students should always feel like participating (or not) is their choice. Some may need examples of what it feels like to make a choice based on the bodily sensations that are arising.

If a teacher invites students to stretch their arms out to the sides, but then dashes over to lower a student’s shoulders, they are sending mixed messages. If you choose to add arms, you need to do it in a specific way – my way. Instead you might add the caveat, "What would it feel like to release the shoulders a little and expand from the centre of the chest... How could there be less striving in the pose and more ease ...."

We send the message that we’re in a position of power and we know better than the student how their body should look in this shape if we make adjustments that bring them to a specific alignment. Notice what comes up for you as you watch a student do the pose in their own way. Take a little time after your session to journal about your own responses and need for things to be done a certain way.

Some students will react by complying outwardly, but internally feel resentful or defensive. People really do not want to be told what to do, there can be an internal push-back. Use language that invites self-reflection and awareness of sensations. Invite the breath to be easy in the pose, invite awareness of the space and shape the body is taking, invite and awareness of pulling in or expanding energy.

Other students will feel self-conscious about their physical abilities. When a teacher fusses with their posture, it may confirm fears about not doing it “right.”

Neither of these reactions are ideal for a class supporting survivors of trauma or those who are currently immersed in trauma.

Offering a particular kind of space

There’s no doubt that therapeutic touch can be incredibly beneficial in certain situations. Some yoga practitioners even choose classes based on the teacher’s skill at delivering hands-on assists. But adjustments don’t make sense in the context of a weekly class in a social service setting or a class that is promoted as trauma informed or sensitive.

One of the ways that we express caring for people is through touch. It’s an important part of our health and wellbeing, and it’s also a very important part of healing from traumatic experience. But we also need places where we can go and explore embodiment and know that we don’t have to contend with touch. So, be aware, direct, transparent and educational about which classes there will be assists and adjustments and which classes there will be no contact in.