Yoga For Sexual Assault Victims

I'm not feeling up to writing about this topic personally, but I do want to share some of the online articles I've found lately. It's important.

Transcending the Trauma of Sexual Violence With Yoga from Breathe Network
"At some core level we are all survivors of trauma, whether the shock and grief that comes from being assaulted, the terror of an accident, or the loss of a loved one. We carry with us the stories, sensations and scars – both visible and invisible – of the complex and most trying experiences of life. Some of those scars are still quite tender, yet our internal systems continue to repair these injuries both consciously and unconsciously. We learn how to remember that when our pain surfaces again, which it will, and we start to question our own resilience: there is no timeline for healing and our breakdowns are as much a part of the healing process as are our breakthroughs. The insights we gain in attending to our oldest wounds, can ultimately serve to enliven new and beautiful journeys in our relationships and within the fabric of our lives. As we each trek along our unique path of recovery and growth, let us offer gratitude for the exquisite opportunity to discover our own sense of embodiment, breathing into and through the sensations held within our shape, tapping the innate resource of our own presence on this planet – the preciously simple and simultaneously profound offering that the practice of yoga returns to us."

In the Aftermath of Sexual Assault, Yoga Provides Healing by Michelle Woo
An article about how yoga can help heal the trauma and information about instructor Zabie Yamasaki who offers trainings on trauma informed yoga.

Reclaiming Your Innocence by Shabad Kaur Khalsa, M.A., L.M.F.T.
Kundalini Yoga as a method of using our energy system to heal sexual trauma and how rape impacts our subtle body.

WOAR - Philadelphia's Rape Crisis Center
24 hour help hotline, counseling services, community outreach, etc

Teaching Public Yoga Classes Through a Trauma Informed Lens at Yoga Home in Conshohocken
Saturday April 16, 2016 1-5PM
A workshop led by Melissa Lucchesi of Voices, Inc and Gwen Soffer, RYT to teach instructors how to be more universally trauma-informed when teaching public classes.

Thank you, Lady Gaga, for using your position as a platform to bring awareness to sexual assault, especially on college campuses. If you haven't yet watched the video for "Til it Happens to You" from the documentary The Hunting Ground, please do. It's not just a music video.

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