Re-Growing Our Wings: A Yoga Workshop for People Healing from Trauma
Trauma is an injury, in relation to an event or life situation, that overwhelms the nervous system, altering the way we relate to ourselves, and the world. It is not a story that simply happened in the past; it creates an imprint of fear held in the body, creating a chronic and ongoing set of adaptive responses that continue to tax our entire systems. This imprint can show up in many ways, and may appear to be only in the mind. However, research shows us that trauma is a physical experience and is held in the body, directly affecting a person’s thinking and how they show up in the world. For healing to occur, reconnecting to our bodies, their instincts, and their resources of feeling and wisdom can be crucial.
Yoga can be a wonderful tool in the healing process. The practice of yoga can allow us to create a safe space within ourselves to reconnect the parts of us that may feel severed or lost. As this reconnection occurs, yoga can teach us to calm our nervous systems with breath, physical poses, and meditation; and to gradually undo the chronic tension, pain, and emotional and physical responses resulting from the trauma’s imprint. Yoga also teaches us that we are already whole, and that our identity is not the experiences we go through, but the self that can touch on peace, self-understanding, and joy regardless of our circumstances.
In this workshop, Jennifer Kollasch, MA, LMHC, DDMHS, will provide education about what is happening in our nervous systems, how it affects our thinking and relating to the world, and create the space for internal and interpersonal dialogue that will allow us to safely explore the practices of yoga as tools of healing. Veteran yoga teacher, Deborah King, leads yoga practices in these monthly workshops.
This workshop offers a safe place for people to learn how trauma affects the neurobiology of the body and practice daily coping resources for triggers. In order to honor the safe space we do not request, but offer the opportunity for anyone to share their story or the story of someone they know in a confidential setting. All levels of practice, and all bodies are welcome. Please bring a notebook and a pen, and a yoga mat if you have one.
When: 06 / 30 / 19. 10:30 am -12:30 pm
Where: 5416 California Ave. SW Seattle, WA 98136
Cost: $60 *Please ask about reduced fee if needed.
To register: go through my contact page here: https://deborah-king-bx62.squarespace.com/config/pages or: https://www.jenniferkollaschcounseling.com
Photo Credit: Norman King
FREEDOM FLOW
Freedom Flow
with Deborah King
July 4, 9:30-11:00 am
Donation-based class benefitting The Wounded Warrior Project
Donation-based class. Please bring cash or check made out to The Wounded Warrior Project.
Kick off your Independence Day with a special 90 minute all-levels Hatha Flow!
This donation-based class is suitable for all levels and will feature mindful movement and breath work in a fun and creative flowing sequence of postures. There will be plenty of warm-up and cool-down.
This practice will be active but can, as with all practices of yoga, be varied for all bodies. Thematically, we will focus on deep awareness of our own process while moving through asana playfully and mindfully. By honoring our own resilience, we honor that of our veterans, as well as those who experience the injustice of racial and sexual violence and other traumas of oppression.
In this way, we make the space to change the ways our country has hurt those we should be honoring, and learn to hold our own centers in the midst of change.
There is no registration fee for this class, but we will be collecting cash donations at the studio for the Wounded Warrior Project, a military and veterans charity service organization empowering injured veterans and their families. You can learn more at
https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
Re-Growing our Wings: A Yoga Class for Teens
Focused on Healing When Someone Has Hurt You
In the movie Maleficent, Maleficent has her wings severed when she is betrayed by someone she loves and trusts. Later in the movie, she regrows her wings in an act of protecting a child she loves.
This image speaks of the gift of our resilience: that part of us that can always heal as an act of love towards the most vulnerable parts of ourselves.
The practices of yoga help us to teach ourselves about our wholeness. By using physical poses, movement, breath, and simple grounding techniques, we can unfold a dialogue with our nervous systems that allows the body to release chronic patterns of stress, anxiety, and depression that can arise when we are hurt.
Yoga helps us connect to the wholeness which holds our resilience, regardless of our experiences or our circumstances.
I am so happy to be offering this free class in partnership with The Dove Project!
