Feeling confident, safe, and empowered in the body is a unique journey for trauma survivors…
If you’ve experienced trauma (which might include rape, sexual assault, or physical abuse) you might be feeling this:
Your body does not feel safe to experience sexual confidence in.
Your body no longer feels like it's yours.
With this sort of trauma, your boundaries and safety are violated therefore feeling balanced and safe in your body requires time and patience.
For trauma survivors, the nervous system may be hyper-sensitive and easily agitated.
When the nervous system is hyper-sensitive, daily life can be full of unexpected triggers that further a feeling of disconnect from the body.
I’m Joss and I’m a trauma survivor. If you’re reading this, you are not alone, I work with women from around the world as they gently explore healing and reconnecting to their bodies. What I discovered is that women’s abuse and trauma stories go hidden far too often and the healing process can feel confusing and daunting.
When I explored trauma-informed practices rooted in Yoga Therapy, this is when I finally started to feel better.
I can affirm from my own personal experience that you can feel this random fight or flight activation. Especially in the years following my trauma, literally everything set me off. My body was always on edge.
Unpredictable sounds or movements triggered instant body tension and increased my heart rate. Any interactions that triggered feelings of betrayal made me re-live my trauma because sexual trauma is betrayal, violation, and a loss of safety in one’s own body.
In particular, sexual trauma is a betrayal, violation, and loss of safety in one’s own body.
I lived in this state for over a decade. Unconsciously re-living my trauma on an endless loop. I never connected the dots. Even more conflicting was how I felt in wellness spaces such as yoga studios and reiki sessions. I was feeling triggered, unsafe, and confused in spaces that were meant to make me feel peaceful and calm because they were not trauma informed.
During my healing journey, I discovered that my body demanded trauma-informed wellness spaces.
Here are some examples of non-trauma informed actions in yoga studios that felt uncomfortable to me as a trauma survivor:
Having the lights turned off in savasana (pitch black room with no windows)
Teachers pushing me to the edge in certain asanas
Teachers touching my body without consent (furthering my disconnect from my body)
Poses where my legs were wide open
These things finally ignited my healing journey and helped me feel more confident in my sexuality:
Gentle trauma-informed shadow work exercises (this allowed me to face my feelings of guilt, shame, and fear)
Gathering with like-minded women (community is a major aspect to healing)
Trauma-informed womb yoga (this gave me a chance to gently reconnect to the parts of my body that had been violated)
These combined modalities had 1 thing in common: They allowed me to slowly reconnect to my body in a way that I decided felt safe.
So many women guilt themselves because they don’t feel confident in their sexuality. They rely on self-help books, podcasts, and yoga to build self-acceptance and sexual passion. If this is you, it’s not your fault.
No matter what you’ve been through, it’s never too late to awaken your confidence and feminine energy
…but it does take time, patience, and like-minded community.
There’s a lot of promising research behind yoga as a powerful tool to promote your trauma recovery
Yoga may enhance your recovery because it provides a safe space to explore self-regulation of the nervous system and body connection. But the yoga you practice must be trauma-informed and offer practices to connect you with your sacred feminine anatomy.
What style of yoga should women practice if they want to explore healing from trauma and awaken more confidence and connection to their body?
Womb Yoga (trauma-informed)
Yoga Nidra (trauma-informed)
The above must be from a teacher who’s completed trauma-informed training.
Next Steps
If you’re ready to explore private online Yoga Therapy, click below. Find out if somatic healing is a perfect fit for your needs.
Sending you so much love and support,
Joss | Yoga Therapist C-IAYT
Joss Frank
Hi! I’m Joss Frank, founder of Wild Womb. I understand how womb and body healing ignites when you look within for guidance because I self-healed from my painful periods, depression, anxiety, sexual assault, emotional and physical abuse… after years of failed efforts to feel better about myself. My failed efforts led to a revelation that true healing comes from within and it requires loving community.
Today, as a Yoga Therapist in my practicum, I help people with womb and body healing so they can reclaim their feminine power, LOVE their sacred feminine bodies, and feel more confident.
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