Moving Towards Wellness: Using Trauma-Informed Yoga and Somatic Movement to Grow Vagal Tone and Increase Self-Regulation -Kyra Haglund, LCSW, SEP, E-RYT

The vagus nerve runs from brain to gut like a root system throughout the body. The parasympathetic pathway shares information between our viscera, helps settle and calm our overactive hearts, and gently releases us into connection with the parts of life that bring us joy, passion, health, love, and a felt sense of safety. The vagus nerve is an integral part of biological and social self-regulation. Good, or high, vagal tone indicates health – strong immunological functioning, healthy boundaries, ability to self-regulate, stronger relationships, and flexibility. Somatic movement practices like Trauma-Informed Yoga (TIY) that integrate principles of Somatic Experiencing can help increase vagal tone and develop a steady sense of self. TIY cultivates interoceptive awareness and restores rhythmicity to a system. The practice offers room to play with the possibilities of felt sense in the present moment and provides a scaffolded way of building and connecting to resources. Woven into the fabric of trauma informed yoga is also the co-regulatory piece necessary to strengthen the social engagement system that centers interconnectedness, curiosity, and compassion. This workshop, like all good social engagement experiences, will be interactive and, hopefully, fun! We will explore simple Trauma-Informed Yoga & somatic movement techniques to easily integrate into individual and group SE or therapeutic sessions to support greater self-regulation. Learning objectives include: 1. Understanding heart rate variability (HRV) and its role in supporting vagal tone, 2. How and when to integrate movement and breath awareness into sessions, 3. 5 Simple practices to help client’s connect to their own steadiness, center, & belonging, 4. Providing containment while allowing for spontaneity and Play! 5. Understanding Trauma-Informed Yoga as a practice of social & racial justice that positions wellness of all bodies, not just a few, as valuable (and why that’s important for everyone in the fields of mental health and trauma healing). This webinar is appropriate for all levels of Somatic Experiencing students and practitioners, therapists, yoga teachers, and community members interested in somatic regulation skills. You do NOT need to be a yoga practitioner or even identify as a ‘mover’ to attend.

This webinar is 1 hour and 32 minutes long.