Episodes
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On today's conversation, previously released on Chat off the Mat, Lara Land speaks with Rose Wippich about the profound impact trauma can have on the nervous system and how yoga can serve as a pathway to recovery. Lara guides us through the differences between trauma-sensitive yoga and traditional yoga classes. We explore how this specialized approach creates a sanctuary for students who have experienced trauma by emphasizing safety, choice, and non-judgemental exploration.
Our discussion covers the spectrum of trauma responses, acknowledging that each student's healing journey is unique. Lara illuminates how trauma-sensitive practices such as gentle asana, breathwork, and tristana can facilitate reconnection with the body and a sense of empowerment.
Lara is a deeply compassionate yoga teacher trainer, author, and trauma-sensitivity coach. She is the Executive Director of Three and a Half Acres Yoga, a nonprofit whose mission is to broaden access to yoga, breathing, and mindfulness techniques focusing on communities who have experienced trauma. Three and a Half Acres Yoga offers trainings for yoga teachers who want to create safer classes for their students. Their next trauma-informed virtual training is being held September 27th-29th. Lara also travels to yoga studios nationwide to train yoga teachers in trauma sensitivity.
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Connect with Lara!
www.laraland.us
Instagram. Facebook. YouTube. Podcast.
The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga
My Bliss Book -
In this in-depth conversation with longtime friend Greg Nardi, we discuss the ability yoga has to facilitate healing at every level. Greg walks us through the ways yoga enhances healthy embodiment and personal power. He then connects how restoring these aspects of self leads to a more just world. Greg details what one can expect from a yoga therapist and from a trauma-informed yoga teacher and where those modalities overlap. He shares recommendations for yoga teachers, practitioners, and trauma survivors who may have an interest in the ancient practice of yoga and yoga philosophy.
Greg Nardi, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500 began his yoga journey in 1996 when a good friend asked him to “try” yoga. From that first class he knew that this was something he was meant to do. Yoga helped him feel healthy after years of childhood illness, anxiety and depression and most importantly yoga gave him a sense of meaning and purpose. He dedicated himself to a yogic lifestyle as part of his healing journey.
Greg took four separate teacher trainings in the United States and Europe between 1997 and 2003. He took a dozen extended trips to Mysore, India between 1999-2016 to learn yoga with a focus in asana, yoga history and philosophy, pranayama, meditation, and chanting. Greg is a graduate of the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy and was formerly authorized level 2 with the KPJAYI in Mysore, India. Since resigning his authorization in 2018 Greg has dedicated himself to educating yoga practitioners about power dynamics and consent-driven, person-centered, and trauma-informed approaches to the teaching and practice of Yoga. Greg has always considered yoga to be both a form of individual healing and social healing justice. He is the South Florida Program Director for Yoga 4 Change, a trauma-informed yoga services non-profit organization, and sits on the Board of Directors for Chainless Change, a community of recovery offering second chances to those negatively impacted by the criminal legal system. Greg believes in the healing power of yoga for all.
IG: @Greg Nardi, FB: Greg Nardi, Yoga 4 Change: www.y4c.org, Chainless Change: www.ccifl.org
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Lara Land is a trauma-informed yoga teacher trainer, author, mindfulness coach. IG Laralandyoga, www.laraland.us, www.threeandahalfacres.org -
Missing episodes?
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In this brave and transparent conversation, Fostering Meditation founder Demetrius Napolitano shares how his experiences in foster care and detention systems caused him trauma and how he was able to foster various seeds of light and hope to heal himself, make meaning, and support others. We discuss:*typical trauma reactions to abandonment*the impact of the environment on healing*race and belonging*spirituality*yoga in schools*Three and a Half Acres Trauma-Informed YTT*trauma-informed considerations for meditation*and so much more...When he was under a year old, Demetrius Napolitano was placed in New York City's foster care system. He was adopted at ten and then put back into foster care three years later before getting adopted a second time at 20. After experiencing 30 different placements, he transitioned from the system when he was 22. During his time in foster care, he was physically, verbally, and sexually abused; placed on psychotropic medications to treat depression, ADHD, and PTSD; and he experienced a short stay inside juvenile detention and a psychiatric hospital before deciding to take charge of his life.After graduating from St. John's University with his associate's in business management, he graduated from New York University with a bachelor's in political science. In 2019, after being introduced to the practice of meditation, he started a GoFundMe, raised over $17,000, and traveled to India to study further how to use Yoga and Meditation to help him heal from the complex trauma he incurred from the foster, criminal and mental institutions. Once Demetrius returned from his healing journey in June 2020, he founded Fostering Meditation (FM) to help young people nurture their mental development through the same tools he would later call "The Five Steps 2 Wellness": Meditation, Yoga, Expressive Writing, Community, & Nutrition. Demetrius envisions brining FM to youth within and without the foster care system nationally, creating more communities of people breathing, meditating, and healing together!Support Demetrius at www.fosteringmeditation.orgInstagram--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lara Land is a trauma-informed yoga teacher trainer, forest therapist, death doula and mindfulness coach. Lara is the founder of Three and a Half Acres Yoga (THAY) nonproft. THAY trains yoga teachers in trauma-sensitive yoga and places them in organizations that serve survivors. Their next training is September 27th- 29th.Connect with Lara at www.laraland.us or on Instagram.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your support is deeply appreciated!Find me, Lara, on my Website / InstagramYou can support this podcast with any level of donation here.Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for AllOpening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify.
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In this connected conversation with Henry Fersko-Weiss, the creator of the first End-of-Life Doula program in the United States, we discuss what it means to be a Death Doula. Rather than focus on the technical services a Death Doula can provide, Henry and I dive into the spiritual and generational support that can come from this uniquely powerful role in the dying person's life. We talk about legacy work, about agency in the dying process, and about why and when you might want to hire a Death Doula. In addition, Henry and I speak at length about the Death Doula training and how going through it has helped me and so many others to live life more meaningfully, gratefully, and expansively.
Henry Fersko-Weiss is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) as well as a death doula. He has worked with hundreds of dying individuals and their loved ones as a hospice social worker, volunteer coordinator, and manager. As a doula he has been at the bedside of a great many people as they journeyed through the dying process. He has also maintained a private practice for 25 years, focused on helping people face death and grieve their losses. In 2003, while working at a large hospice in New York City, Henry created the first end-of-life doula program in the U.S. to serve people in the months before death, through the final days of life, and to guide loved ones into the early days of their grief. The training he developed then was based on what he learned from birth doulas and his experience with the dying. Henry is the author of Finding Peace at the End of Life, A Death Doula’s Guide for Families and Caregivers.
Henry has a number of trainings coming up which can be found on his site.
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Lara Land is a trauma-informed yoga teacher trainer, mindfulness coach, death doula, forest therapist, and crisis counselor. Follow Lara: Website / Instagram. Lara is leading her next trauma-informed yoga teacher training through the nonprofit Three and a Half Acres Yoga virtually from 9/27-9/29.
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Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify. -
In this very special and meaningful episode with Kate Thompson, we discuss the role of journaling in healing wounds and softening the impacts of trauma. Kate shares in such depth, the unique benefits of journaling and recommendations for how to incorporate it into ones health practice. She shares her favorite journal prompts including two beautiful poems. Through her invitation, I share I very personal poem called "Cherry Tomatoes"* that I recently wrote to process a trauma. Kate also advises therapists who would like to include journaling the healing resources they share with clients. We talk about existential and narrative therapy in particular and how journaling supports these theoretical frameworks.Kate Thompson, MA, CJT is a BACP (British Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy) senior accredited Supervisor & amp; Counsellor who trained at The Center for Journal Therapy. Her first degree was in English Literature after which she taught and lectured for several years before re-training. he is a registered psychotherapist in Colorado as well as a journal therapist and writer. Kate is a faculty member at The Therapeutic Writing Institute and The New School of Psychotherapy. Her publications include: Therapeutic Journal Writing: an introduction for professionals, Writing Works: a resource handbook for therapeutic writing workshops and activities, and Writing Routes: a resource handbook of therapeutic writing. She works with adults both online and in person to help them to tell their story and understand their life.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your support is deeply appreciated!Find me, Lara, on my Website / InstagramYou can support this podcast with any level of donation here.Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for AllOpening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*"Cherry Tomatoes", by Lara Land will appear in the summer 2024 issue of Maintenance of the Species, a journal devoted to practices of care. It will be available for purchase online at www.bushelcollective.org
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In this thorough episode with Dr. Sharon Martin, we explore the different types of boundaries people have and how to determine if yours are healthy. Sharon breaks down the questions you should ask yourself in order to decide if the boundaries you are setting are the right ones for you and if they are working or need to be adjusted. We suggest doable ways for reforming your boundaries and what to do before you set new ones in place to ensure success, how to evaluate if your boundaries are working and a process for adjustment. Sharon details boundary considerations within personal relationships, with children, and at the workplace and gives special attention to how to implement these boundaries in a safe and long lasting way.
Sharon Martin, DSW, LCSW is a psychotherapist and author specializing in codependency recovery. For the past 25 years, she’s been helping adult children recover from difficult childhoods, overcome feelings of unworthiness, and learn to set boundaries. Dr. Martin is the author of The CBT Workbook for Perfectionism and The Better Boundaries Workbook. She also writes the popular blog Conquering Codependency for Psychology Today and has been featured in various media outlets including PsychCentral, Web MD, Women’s World, Therapy Chat, and the Adult Child Podcast. For more information, visit her website: LiveWellwithSharonMartin.com.
Instagram. Facebook. YouTube.
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All
Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify. -
In this enlivening episode with Chris Rackliffe, we discuss the four attachment styles with a deeper examination of the anxious style. We discuss how to determine your attachment style and how to become more securely attached. We talk about social media and texting habits and how those play into attachment. We also discuss what your romantic history might be telling you about your attachment style, common triggers for the anxious personality type, and what anxious and avoidant attachment types have in common. We also investigate how anxious and avoidant attachment types can build better relationships, our feelings through this process, and concrete ways to work on and practice better communication. Chris shares the biggest trap with folks when it comes to healing, the one question you should ask yourself to regulate your nervous system right now, and his favorite practices for self-healing.
Chris Rackliffe is a trauma healer, mental health advocate, anxious attachment style coach and author of the self-help book, It's Good to See Me Again; How to Find Your Way When You Feel Lost. Chris has worked with hundreds of people around the world to help them heal their anxious attachment style and grow more secure. With a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Miami- and an honorary Ph. D in the "School of Life".
Chris can be found at https://www.crackliffe.com/ and at @crackliffe on Instagram and TikTok
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All
Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify. -
In this important episode with Adriana Bucci, we discuss narcissistic personality disorder. Adriana walks us through the signs that you are dealing with a narcissist. We detail what the narcissist wants and how they go about getting it. Adriana unpacks the specific cycle the narcissist takes their targets on and the emotional states they put you through to gain control. She explains the layers of this abuse and how it culminates in a trauma response for its targets. We go through the signs that you are suffering from repressed trauma, the connection between chronic pain and previous trauma, learned hopelessness and so much more. Plus, the only three boundaries you can have with a narcissist. And how to start getting away from a narcissist including techniques that you can use immediately to change their behavior towards you.
Adriana is the founder of Let's Get Your Shift Together. After nearly 3 decades of enduring narcissistic abuse and 4 years of dealing with severe chronic pain, she made the choice to embark on her own healing journey. Doing her inner work not only helped her heal from the physical pain, but it also helped her heal from the narcissistic abuse she endured from being raised by a narcissistic mother, other close relationships, and even colleagues/toxic workplaces. She is a certified professional life coach, mind-body fitness coach, stress management coach, and SafeSpace trauma informed practitioner. Her goal is to empower survivors of narcissistic abuse to heal, set boundaries, and live life on their own terms!
Links: https://linktr.ee/letsgetyourshifttogether
Main website: https://www.letsgetyourshifttogether.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsgetyourshifttogether/
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@letsgetyourshifttogether
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/letsgetyourshifttogether
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@LetsGetYourShiftTogether?si=Y0rxxB2QqcYA2N8p
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All
Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify. -
In this riveting episode with Alicia Racine, we go deep into a number of important therapeutic topics. We cover the incredible overlap between developing oneself as an artist and as a therapist. The root of most eating disorders and the kinds of therapeutic interventions that work best for folks with an ED. The crucial element of the therapeutic process that is often missed and how that causes eating disorders to return. The difference between eating disorders and disordered eating. Modalities such as brain spotting, EMDR, DBT, and Exposure Response Prevention. Trauma and policing. Co-occurrence of OCD and trauma and the current therapeutic standards. Going to the places that scare us. And so much more!
Alicia Racine is an accomplished performance artist and therapist, who has worked with several demographics including people diagnosed with schizophrenia, eating disorders and more recently, high profile clients dealing with traumas ensued by the media.
During her time working with eating disorders, she created a group that supported women and their relationship with food called Sexy Delicious Healthy. She hosted a retreat in Bali for those struggling with Eating Disorders and served as a board member for the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (iaedp), Los Angeles chapter. Her private practice began with a focus on ed until the pandemic where she could no longer practice her two-session weekly method of talk therapy and exposure meals. During the pandemic, she created a consulting program that placed hundreds of people in therapy with a clinician that matched them. Her self-imposed criteria included economics, treatment style, expertise in their diagnosis, temperament match, and cultural appropriateness.
As a lifelong performer, Alicia is currently using humor to make mental health more accessible, She creates fun and often irreverent meditations that are aware of their own woo wooness, and is about to launch a mental health podcast where she collaborates with stand-up comedians. She is also insanely passionate about supervising associate clinicians in her group practice. Alicia has a Tedx talk coming out within the next few months created for the Gex z population.
Website - Instagram
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All
Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify. -
In this special second-anniversary episode of Beyond Trauma, Lara is joined by Three and a Half Acres Yoga Trauma Informed Teachers Angela and Yana as we flip the script and take questions from the audience for host, Lara Land. Lara bridges the gap between Ashtanga and Trauma Informed Yoga, discusses her experience teaching kids yoga and her Chloe the Yogi song and app, and shares her insights on yoga retreats, workshops, and festivals.
Make sure to listen all the way through to the second half where we discuss discipline, marriage, self-development, mindfulness, boundaries, and breaking harmful cycles.
Lara Land shares many upcoming and ongoing offerings in this episode including: The Complete Introduction to Ashtanga Yoga, Universal Power Yoga, Omega Institute, Catskill Mountain Yoga Festival, and coaching opportunities, plus her books, My Bliss Book and The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga.
Yana is a certified trauma-informed and Vinyasa yoga instructor, photographer, and artist.
Angela is an intuitive healer, herbalist, philanthropist, and resolute wellness guide. holds certifications in Core Power Yoga, THAY Trauma-Informed Yoga, Core Strength Yoga, Vinyasa Hot Yoga, and is a continued student in life. RYT Yoga Alliance
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All -
For this first anniversary of the publication of my book, The Essential Guide to Trauma-Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All, I'm releasing the Outside the Studio episode I was featured on with Tessa Tovar.
We discuss suggested language for shifting power in group settings, how to create after environments, how to practice to reach yoga in a way that includes all, as well as other topics.
The Essential Guide to Trauma-Sensitive Yoga has received outstanding reviews and remains an important resource for yoga teachers and practitioners as well as an intro for the yoga curious.
"I was so excited to receive this book in the mail. I am an amateur yogi and an aspiring school counselor who believes that trauma-informed ANYTHING is important. I especially love that photos were added to this book for added clarification. I am excited to use this book as a guide for myself and looking forward to eventually sharing this knowledge with others! This book is essential for any instructor who wants to be trauma-informed and very helpful to anyone who practices yoga or wants to start but doesn't know how. I would give this book more stars if I could!" - Melissa Smith
“The Essential Guide for Trauma Sensitive Yoga is a comprehensive resource for teachers to understand the complex nuances of trauma and the subtle and overt ways it can present itself in our students. As teachers, we have a responsibility to serve the whole person and that includes sensitizing ourselves to the various ways that trauma lives uniquely in each body, how it influences the mind and perceptions and can affect one's health and emotional wellness. Lara Land deftly provides the necessary guidance, insights, and best practices so that facilitators can support their students on their journey toward healing with more mindfulness, awareness, and skill. This excellent resource should be required reading in any teacher training course.”—Seane Corn, Yoga Teacher, author of Revolution of the Soul
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Tessa received her degree in Human Communication with honors at the University of Southern Oregon in Ashland. It was at Southern Oregon University that Tessa found and developed her passion for the practice of Yoga. Since 2001 she has been practicing Yoga and in 2015 she acquired her first 200HR RYT. Since then she has accumulated over 500HRS of accredited teaching certifications with a focus on Vinyasa, Nidra, Restorative, Reiki Level I&II, Pranayama, and guided meditation.
Lara Land is a deeply compassionate life coach, consultant, and yoga teacher trainer specializing in trauma sensitivity. Her work is in helping to heal trauma both subtle and significant and train others using trauma-sensitive yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and breathing practices. Lara has spent the last 25 years studying Ashtanga yoga and sharing yoga asana, chanting, meditation, and philosophy directly from her teachers in India.
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Coming UP!
Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher Training, Universal Power Yoga, MA, 5/17-5/19
Forest Therapy Walk, Steady Slope, NY, 6/22
Catskill Mountain Yoga Festival, NY, 7/27
Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher Training, Omega Institute, NY, 8/9-8/11
Virtual Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher Training w/Reggie Hubbard and Jivana Heyman, 9/27-9/29 -
In this pivotal episode featuring Annie Chen, we delve deep into the fundamental concepts of attachment theory and the distinct indicators of each attachment style. Annie illuminates how early life experiences, particularly traumatic events, can shape these attachment styles and influence recurring patterns within our relationships as we mature. We explore strategies to mend negative behavioral cycles and emphasize the paramount importance of prioritizing healthy relationships. Additionally, we dissect the role of the nervous system and stress in our interactions, examining the profound impact of triggers on relationship dynamics. Our conversation extends to the correlation between relationship quality and overall happiness, alongside insights into the neuroscience behind our learning processes.
Annie Chen is an author, therapist, consultant, and coach who holds two master’s degrees in counseling and psychology. With over 17 years dedicated to studying the mind, nervous systems, and relationships, Annie has developed a unique approach to relationships and working with people. Her work integrates research from neuroscience to help clients navigate the complexities of relationships and emotional safety. Annie maintains a practice of seeing individuals and couples in Berkeley, CA, and virtually. Her books, The Attachment Theory Workbook and I Want to Connect, have inspired over 100,000 people to work towards healthy relationships and promote a deeper understanding of the mind-body connection.
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All -
This detailed episode with Dr. Mark Harper, author of breaks down the benefits of cold water swimming for trauma, chronic pain, depression, bipolar disorder, and other illnesses plaguing so many of us these days. Dr. Mark Harper shares the findings of his cold swimming studies and the direction his research is going. We discuss the various reasons you might consider cold water swimming as a priority in your wellness habits and how to start, if, like me, you are terrified of being cold and unable to breathe. Mark explains how cold the water should be to be effective, how long one should stay immersed, and how often to engage in cold water swimming to receive its benefits. He shares the many stories of those whose health has been drastically improved by cold water swimming and many other recommendations for blue therapy, and why this therapy works to reduce stress in all areas of our lives.
Dr. Mark Harper is a consultant anesthetist. His first field of research was investigating the best way to keep patients warm during surgery and thereby reduce the incidence of postoperative complications. The results of these studies have been incorporated into national and international guidelines and Mark was invited to be an expert clinical adviser to NICE, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence. Shortly after taking up his consultant post in Brighton in 2003, he started swimming in the sea throughout the year. Around the same time, whilst working on his PhD, he brought together his clinical research and the physiology of cold-water adaptation to show how outdoor swimming could be employed to reduce surgical complications. Further insights – both from his personal experience and the experimental literature - led him to propose that cold water swimming might be an effective intervention for mental health problems. In collaboration Dr Chris van Tulleken and the Extreme Environments Lab in Portsmouth, he had the opportunity to test this in practice on the BAFTA award-nominated BBC television program “The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs.” Following this success, he set up and ran the first-ever clinical trial using sea swimming as a clinical treatment - for anxiety and depression – the outcomes of which were incredibly positive. In the process, he helped set up Chill UK which now provides outdoor swimming courses for hundreds of people around the UK. His book, ‘Chill – the cold water swim cure’ was published in 2022 and is being translated into three other languages.
Website | Instagram | Book
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All -
In this riveting conversation with cult expert Dr. Steve Eichel, we uncover the common recruitment strategies of some of the most notorious cults. Dr. Eichel shares his personal experience infiltrating a cult and the tactics they used on him and the rest of his cohort. That early encounter with cult culture informed his decades-long work supporting survivors of cult trauma and their families. We cover human psychology and how it impacts politics, signs you might be in a high-demand organization, and the parallels between intimate partner violence (IPV) and cult practices.
Dr. Steve Eichel has been a licensed psychologist since 1982. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania after which he spent many years as a child and family psychologist and as a director of child and family services. Currently, in addition to his private practice, Dr. Eichel serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Delaware. He has a specialty in drug and alcohol counseling and cultic practices, a subject he has written many articles dissecting.
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All -
It was an honor to sit down with April Dinwoodie to learn more about a topic I am admittingly not enough informed on. Until recently, I had not considered how innately traumatic the relinquishing of a child is both for that child and the birth parents. In this episode, we discuss both the personal and political implications of adoption. We talk about what happens when a child is taken away from their family of origin especially if their family of experience (as April likes to call them) is a different race. We interrogate trauma adaptions and how many of those show up later in life to protect against future abandonment. April clarifies how that word sits for her and the difference between processing the initial relinquishment from her mother of origin and her mother of origin's inability to be able to build a relationship with her later in life. We discuss what both individuals and society as a whole can do better in terms of adoption advocacy and April's number one recommendations for families considering adoption. Plus April and I dive into our favorite healing modalities and the layered approach to healing we both subscribe to.
April Dinwoodie is an Adoption Activist, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Consultant, and Parent Coach. Dinwoodie’s podcast Born in June, Raised in April: What Adoption Can Teach the World! helps facilitate an open dialogue about identity, relationships, and differences of race, culture, and class. April is fiercely dedicated to helping individuals, companies, and organizations develop stronger teams, and ultimately find even more purpose in our individual and collective work.
Follow April:
@juneinapril (x, IG, FB)
@April Dinwoodie (LinkedIn/Threads/YouTube)
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All -
In this information-packed conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Guthrie, we discuss the incredible power of herbs in assisting with nervous system regulation. Elizabeth shares ways to work with herbs as a beginner including special herbal considerations for trauma survivors. She describes the benefits of teas versus tinctures and other herbal creations and goes into detail about specific herbs such as Rhodiola, Ashwagandha, Dandelion, and many others. Elizabeth and I explore the importance of nature as part of healing, the power and the dangers of slowing down, polyvagal theory, and the three gunas. We also talk about titration, diet and so much more...
Elizabeth Guthrie is the founder of Herbal Somatics. She is a clinical herbalist, certified aromatherapist, and yoga teacher with a Ph.D. in Natural Medicine with a specialization in Naturopathic Psychology and a Master’s of Public Health in Functional Nutrition. They are also the best-selling author of The Trauma-Informed Herbalist and hold multiple other certifications from conventional and traditional schools. Elizabeth’s personal experiences led them to begin studying trauma and its effects on the body and mind. Now they help others to learn how natural wellness and somatic herbalism practices can be safely implemented as part of a trauma recovery journey.
Check out Elizabeth's work: Website/Instagram/Facebook
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All -
In this very vulnerable and candid conversation with esteemed psychologist Dr. Jessa Navide´, we dive into the truth of about suicidality. Jessa details who is at the highest risk for suicidal attempts, the signs that someone you know might be suicidal, as well as how to approach a loved one you suspect is having suicidal thoughts. Jessa shares deep insights from her own experience as a survivor of multiple suicide attempts and what she wishes someone would have done for her. We discuss ways out of these thoughts including the particular power of trauma-sensitive yoga and the science behind why Ashtanga yoga may be so supportive a practice for suicide attempt survivors.
This episode comes in advance of a longer virtual Suicide Prevention training Jessa is leading for the nonprofit Three and a Half Acres Yoga on February 8th, 6-8 pm Eastern time. This training is designed to have you walk away with core skills for showing up if a loved one in your community is experiencing these thoughts. Jessa recommends Three and a Half Acres Yoga trauma-sensitive classes and trauma-informed yoga teacher training in this episode.
Suicidal thoughts do not have to be dealt with alone. If you, or someone you know needs immediate support, please contact the National Crisis Hotline at 988.
Dr. Jessa Navidé is a licensed clinical psychologist who has a passion for suicide prevention stemming from lived and professional experience. She believes that by teaching skills to engage in compassionate conversations with those experiencing suicidal thoughts, everyone can play a role in suicide prevention. This belief led her to become an ASIST (Applied suicide intervention skills) trainer. Dr. Jessa is a graduate of Three and a Half Acres trauma-sensitive yoga teacher training and has experienced that this form of yoga is a powerful healing resource in suicide prevention work
Find Jessa at https://www.claritytherapynyc.com/nyc-therapist/jessa-navide-psy-d/
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All -
In this detailed and important conversation with Dave Emerson, the man who coined the term trauma-sensitive yoga, we get insights into Dave’s extensive research on the impacts of trauma-informed yoga for survivors including his most recent paper comparing trauma-sensitive yoga and cognitive processing therapy. We explore the difference between Complex Trauma and PTSD and the implications of those differences on survivor validation and services. We discuss the harmful power dynamics that occur within abusive relationships and the importance of healthy interpersonal encounters in yoga spaces which propose to heal trauma adaptations. Dave shares why yoga is one of, if not the strongest embodied practice for healing the impacts of trauma and just how much of this style of practice is needed as well as other deep insights from his work and what he’s learned about research and forming research studies for yoga claims.
Dave Emerson (he/him/his) is the founder of Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) for the Justice Resource Institute in Massachusetts, where he coined the term “trauma-sensitive yoga”. from 2009-2011 he was responsible for curriculum development, supervision, and oversight of the yoga intervention component of the first-of-its-kind, NIH-funded study to assess the utility of yoga for survivors of trauma. Dave has developed, conducted, and supervised TCTSY groups for rape crisis centers, domestic violence programs, residential programs for youth, active duty military personnel, survivors of terrorism, and Veterans Administration centers and clinics, and more. He is the co-author of Overcoming Trauma through Yoga, released in 2011 by North Atlantic Books, and Author of, Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy (Norton, 2015). In 2018, Dave Emerson co-founded the Center for Trauma and Embodiment at JRI.
Instagram: @tctsy & @centerfortraumaandembodiment
Web: https://www.traumasensitiveyoga.com/ & https://www.healwithcfte.org/
Yoga vs Cognitive Processing Therapy for Military Sexual Trauma-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
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In this episode, I share the most impactful moments of 2023 and a preview of guests and topics you can expect in the coming year, including the exceptional first guest of the year! I also share some of my own experiences this year and the modalities I have been using to release stress and heal.
Thank you to all my listeners, especially those of you who have been reaching out with specific comments about episodes. This enlivens me so much. Please keep commenting, reviewing, and sharing the podcast!
Coming up in 2024 I'll be releasing the on-demand training of The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga! Make sure to get your copy and reach out to be on my list for when the course drops!
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All -
I get asked on almost a daily basis for recommendations for yoga teacher training programs. You would think that after 25 years in yoga, I would have some, but the truth is very different. Yoga teacher training programs vary widely, change regularly, and come with a host of problems. On this episode with my friend and colleague, Michelle Lehrman, we discuss some of the biggest issues with YTTs, including forcing participants to make and accept hands-on adjustments, shaming people who hold different opinions or do things differently, and forcing a one-way approach to this ancient, adaptable practice.
Michelle Lehrman is a certified 200-hour and trauma-informed yoga instructor who has been teaching in New York City since 2016. She currently teaches at Crunch (yoga and spin), Sacred Space Astoria, and Lionheart Health, and works with private clients. I met Michelle when she participated in the Three and a Half Acres Yoga Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher Training a 20-hour supplemental training for teachers with a 200 + hour yoga teacher certification. This training hopes to undo some of the damage caused by many YTTs and offer a safer approach to teaching yoga.
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Your support is deeply appreciated!
Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram
You can support this podcast with any level of donation here.
Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All
Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify. - Show more
