Transforming Trauma through Yoga
Yoga can be a safe and accessible way to utilize the body – the primary site of the trauma and all that it holds within – as a powerful vehicle for transformation.
The practice of yoga allows survivors to regain a sense of comfort and ease within their own shape, to non-verbally process feelings that transcend language, and to experientially cultivate gratitude towards the body, which all serve as an embodied reminder of their innate resilience.
Hosting this yoga workshop on a campus or in a community, offers survivors a safe (enough) space to discover their body as a resource for healing, to build self-trust and intuition, to identify community support and belonging, and to gain a variety of tangible tools that can nourish and sustain them throughout their healing process.
Molly teaches from a trauma-informed, non-prescriptive lens that is grounded in empowering her students to listen to and follow their internal teacher.
***
This workshop will provide survivors with:
Practices that gently re-acquaint oneself with the body, mind, and spirit
Tools to ground oneself and soothe nervous system over-activation
Accessible meditation and mindfulness practices
Permission to listen to the language of the body and practice self-direction
Foundations for a yoga home-practice to utilize for ongoing healing and self-care
***
During the class, Molly shares themes that connect yoga philosophy with trauma resilience theory, making philosophy and theory experiential and personalized for each survivor.
The session(s) incorporate light discussion, optional physical movement, breathing exercises, meditation, and journaling.
When taught from a trauma-informed lens, yoga offer survivors a safe space to gain greater awareness around strength, stability, assertiveness, self-acceptance, mindfulness, and their own experience of embodiment.
This workshop can be offered in a variety of formats - whether a single or multi-session, and the length of time can be adjusted to meet participants needs and abilities.
Molly has been studying yoga since 2000 and first began teaching in 2006. After she was sexually assaulted, she spent 3 years practicing privately with seasoned instructors who drew from various yoga methodologies, providing her with a solid foundation for her own healing and an expansive view of yoga that informs her teaching. Yoga asana, meditation, and philosophy, in a variety of manifestations - including vinyasa flow, yin yoga, hot yoga, and restorative yoga - have been an integral component of her ability to navigate the immediate, short-term, and ongoing impacts of surviving sexual trauma. She is honored to share this uniquely personalized practice as an opportunity for more survivors to return to, or discover at last, the fullest expression of themselves.
The Physiology of Resilience
This workshop includes me sharing my testimonial, entitled "The Physiology of Resilience", which is my condensed memoir exploring the physiological processes of survival both during the acute experience of sexual trauma and for a period of time afterwards. It highlights my ongoing work to repair the wounds held within my body, mind and soul through the holistic healing arts as a scaffold for why we must ensure all survivors have access to multiple systems and practices for healing. It is normally followed by a Q + A with participants and may also include a variety of experiential practices.
The Spectrum of Sexual Trauma - Somatic Impacts & Embodied Social Change
In this interactive presentation exploring the wide spectrum of sexual trauma, Molly will clarify key concepts and terms, explain statistics as well as the existing barriers to quantifying the prevalence of sexual trauma and violence in our culture, the impact of sexual trauma on the body, mind and spirit, the shift towards affirmative and enthusiastic consent and how to identify your role in the movement as a survivor or ally. Her approach to this topic is sensitive, inclusive of all identities and ultimately inspires participants to be empowered around the topics of ending violence and creating safe communities.
Participants will learn:
Definitions of acts and behaviors included under the umbrella term of sexual trauma/violence
PTSD & Rape Trauma Response (physical, mental and spiritual impacts of sexual violence)
Statistics about sexual violence within a diverse range of communities
Barriers to accessing healing
Resources for healing
Understanding consent
Introduction to innovative, grassroots, anti-violence movements
Creative activism, advocacy and allyship in the anti-sexual violence movement
..and much more!
As a survivor who has worked as an on-call medical and legal advocate, a former director of a campus-based Women's Center with graduate-level research in Women's & Gender Studies and a yoga instructor for trauma survivors - Molly draws upon a wide range of personal, academic and professional experienced connected to the complex issue of sexual trauma. She is committed to providing safe, pro-intersectional, compassionate and healing spaces where groups can come away with not only a nuanced understanding of sexual violence and trauma, but also feel empowered to take effective action in their lives and communities.
Trauma-Informed Yoga Training
Whether you seek to offer private or community-based classes specifically for trauma survivors, or you simply desire additional education and tools to make appropriate modifications within your public yoga classes, these customizable trainings will provide you with knowledge and confidence in creating a more trauma-informed space.
My training is appropriate for new and seasoned teachers, as well as serious practitioners, and is also delivered in a format that is trauma-informed and attentive to the needs of participants who are also survivors. I welcome healthcare, healing, and advocacy providers across a range of disciplines to join this training.
We examine trauma through a broad lens* and include a variety of forms of trauma as the core of these principals are naturally applicable for many forms of traumatic experiences/systems that create chronic states of nervous system overwhelm.
This training will cover:
Understanding the Spectrum of Trauma (Individual, Systemic, Historical & Generational)
Definitions, statistics, embodied impacts, barriers to care, and resources for healing
Trauma Resilience Theories
Physiological impacts** of trauma and chronic stress, symptoms and responses, somatic healing, complementary care across healing disciplines
Teaching Techniques
Modifications, sequences, breathing and meditation considerations, teacher presence, self-care, and scope of practice
The Parallel Practices of Yoga and Trauma Healing
Connecting theory and body, survivor-centered yoga, teaching philosophy, mentorship, and self-practice
*This entire training can be adapted to be specific to the trauma of sexual violence
**Informed by my training as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP)
College & University Presentations
Molly has over 10 years of professional experience working on and in support of college campuses. She has held 2 different on-campus roles, the first as a Sexual Violence Support Services Coordinator and the second as the director of a Women's Center. While the institutions were quite different, the urgent need to proactively and intentionally address the issues of sexual violence and its impact on the community - comprehensively, holistically and with an emphasis on trauma-informed care - were similar.
Molly firmly believes that empowering the whole community - students, staff, faculty alike, campus efforts to address and end sexual violence will be most effective. During her time on both campuses she worked closely with student groups, survivors, staff, administrators and surrounding community members to design and expand initiatives to collectively and creatively end the silence surrounding sexual violence and open the way for social change.
Molly has extensive experience training, supervising, supporting and presenting for student leaders including; sexual health & wellness clubs, survivor support groups, Fraternity and Sorority members, Resident Assistants and housing staff members, student athletes, student government, and more. She has presented on a range of topics related to sexual violence, consent, rape culture, sexual harassment, holistic healing, yoga for healing, post-traumatic stress and building out trauma-informed response systems for students, staff, faculty and administrators.
She has been a guest lecturer in various academic departments, even prior to her campus employment, including: Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, Criminology & Criminal Justice, University Studies Seminars, Psychology, Religious Studies, International Studies, Peace & Conflict Studies, Nursing Schools, Medical Residents, and more.
As a survivor herself who navigated the various criminal justice and medical systems, and also worked as a Medical and Legal Advocate for children and adult survivors, she has experience training law enforcement and Emergency Room staff and personnel on the impacts of trauma, trauma-informed interviewing techniques, and other tools to create a safer space to access resources.
Molly has also been deeply involved with increasing campus engagement, program planning and organizing related to Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Take Back the Night, One Billion Rising, poetry slams, a cross-disciplinary Ted Talk style academic Feminist Festival, survivor art installations and more.
Past presentations and events she has organized and/or facilitated include:
The Physiology of Resilience - Keynote Survivor Testimonial
The Spectrum of Sexual Violence - Somatic Impacts and Embodied Social Change
It's Not a Compliment, It’s a Threat: Sexual Harassment & Chronic Stress
Domestic Violence Awareness Month & Sexual Assault Awareness Month Programming
Navigating Sexuality and Intimacy After Sexual Violence (all-genders inclusive)
Transforming Trauma through Yoga (all-genders inclusive)
Take Back the Night
Fem Fest - A Celebration of Intersectional Feminisms
and more…
Please contact Molly to learn about a variety of programs, presentations and workshops that might best suit your group's needs. Should you be interested in consulting support to brainstorm and build an innovative program for your campus community, please visit her consulting page.