Three-Step CPD Essentials (Space to Be)

CPD 1: The Neuroscience of the Stress Response and How Yoga Helps, Sunday 2nd March, Laura Wilson

Many people who turn up in a yoga class experience the physical and psychological effects of chronic stress. This is particularly true in community outreach settings where many people experience dis regulation of their nervous system. In this workshop we will take a deep dive into the anatomy of the brain and nervous system, the physiology of the stress response and how yoga can help to establish a healthier nervous system and brain. This is an interactive practical workshop where attendees will take part in practices that support nervous system regulation.

This module will also discuss some of the practicalities, ethics and challenges of working in community settings and demonstrate practical tools to enable teachers to begin to build the skills necessary to offer inclusive, safer spaces.

Learning Outcomes:

• To explore the anatomy of the brain and nervous system
• To explore the physiology of the stress response and the autonomic nervous system in relation to stress
• To consider the impact of chronic stress on mental and physical health and wellbeing
• To demonstrate understanding of how the practice of yoga can help to reduce stress, promote neuroplasticity, support health neuro-transmitter function and help brain structures to adapt and grow to promote wellbeing

CPD 2 Teaching Yoga in Community Settings with Laura, Sunday 9th March

This module will delve into some of the practicalities, ethics and challenges of working in community settings and demonstrate practical tools to enable teachers to begin to build the skills necessary to offer inclusive, safer spaces.

The workshop will touch on aspects of trauma informed practice. Our wish is that you can apply the principles you learn with us to your individual teaching style and have the confidence to reach out to groups of people who might not attend a general yoga class.

Learning Outcomes:

• Accessibility and inclusion
• What yoga might offer in community settings
• Practicalities and challenges of working in community settings
• How to set up a community class - Q&A
• Interactive teaching practice and discussion

CPD 3: Trauma Informed Practice and Power Dynamics, Sunday 16th March, Lorraine Close

In this workshop you will develop an understanding of the basics around what is required for facilitating yoga classes in a trauma informed way. This is important in all yoga settings as we do not know who might turn up in our yoga classes and we know that trauma is an almost ubiquitous human experience. We can consider trauma informed practice to be people informed practice and this is an important part of being a yoga teacher that is not always understood.

Trauma informed language helps to create a practice that is empowering, and that centres the student at the core of the experience, making sure they feel truly in charge of their own experience.

This workshop will also equip teachers with the understanding to recognise and challenge unhealthy power dynamics in yoga settings and to consider how power dynamics can play out between teachers and students. We will examine some of the ways in which yoga culture can sometimes reinforce unhealthy power dynamics that can contribute to overt or more subtle power abuse and toxic culture within yoga settings, working with real life examples to explore some of the recent conversations around power abuse in yoga.

Learning Outcomes:

• Discuss the fact that trauma is ubiquitous in the human experience
• Describe briefly the impact of trauma can have on the brain and body
• Consider how regular yoga spaces can be re-traumatising or triggering for some people
• Develop skills in using language and class delivery that are more trauma informed
• To explore the history of cult dynamics and power abuse in yoga and how that has overtly and subtly contributes to inaccessibility and exclusion for some people
• To understand ways in which yoga teachers intentionally and unintentionally abuse power

This module will also discuss some of the practicalities, ethics and challenges of working in community settings and demonstrate practical tools to enable teachers to begin to build the skills necessary to offer inclusive, safer spaces.

Please note: This workshop is not in depth enough for you to call yourself a trauma informed teacher or therapist. It is designed to help you make your regular yoga classes more trauma informed- not to give you the skills to work specifically with people who have C-PTSD.

Bio:
https://edinburghcommunityyoga.co.uk/our-team/lorraine-close/
https://edinburghcommunityyoga.co.uk/our-team/laura-wilson/