Survivor of Marital Abuse Finds Healing and Strength Through Yoga

When Leaving Is Only the Beginning

She packed what she could, took her son by the hand, and walked out the door. For survivors of marital abuse, that act of leaving is monumental. But it is rarely the end of the story. The body keeps score long after the relationship is over: hypervigilance in quiet rooms, dissociation during ordinary moments, a nervous system that has learned, through years of threat, to stay permanently braced. Across the United States, more than 12 million people experience domestic violence in a single year, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and survivors are three times as likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD as those who have not experienced intimate partner violence. For one woman who endured years of marital abuse before fleeing with her son, the journey back to herself would unfold not through words alone, but through movement, breath, and a very specific kind of yoga class.

What "Trauma-Informed" Actually Means

Not all yoga is healing for survivors, and that distinction matters enormously. Trauma-informed yoga (TIY) is a compassionate framework that restructures every element of a standard class around one central commitment: safety, choice, and empowerment. Unlike traditional yoga, trauma-informed yoga avoids physical adjustments, offers modifications and props, uses inclusive and non-directive language, and emphasizes predictability and consent.

The practice was built upon the pioneering work of figures like David Emerson, who developed Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TSY), a specific, evidence-based modality used as an adjunctive treatment for complex trauma and PTSD. The Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute in Boston developed the TSY protocol specifically as an adjunct treatment for survivors of complex trauma, incorporating postures and breathing that aim to strengthen connection to one's self after it has been systematically eroded.

Trauma-sensitive yoga adapts the environment in which the yoga is delivered in order to fit the needs of the client population, such as removing strongly suggestive language, deemphasizing posture intensity, emphasizing feeling, and eliminating hands-on assists from the teacher.

The Practices That Support Recovery

Choice-based cueing. The language a teacher uses is not incidental; it is clinical. In a traditional class, instructors issue directives: "Raise your arms. Hold the pose." In trauma-informed classes, every cue is invitational. Phrases like "You might explore..." or "If it feels right for your body today..." return authority to the person on the mat. In a TIY class, the goal is to empower choice over correction, and over right versus wrong ways to be. Safety is cued in postures, but touch is not mandatory to guidance. This matters profoundly for someone whose sense of bodily autonomy was taken from them. Every small decision, where to place a hand, whether to stay in a pose or come out of it, rebuilds the neural architecture of self-determination.

**Breathwork, done carefully.** Breath is among the most powerful tools in trauma recovery, and one of the most delicate. Trauma-informed breathwork is choice-based, meaning participants are continually reminded that they are in control of their pace, depth, and level of engagement. Nothing is forced. Breath can be linked to triggers associated with trauma, including holding the breath, accelerated heart rate, constricted breathing, and shortness of breath. As a result, there are no constricted breathing cues in trauma-informed yoga classes. Teachers instead guide students toward breathing patterns that feel expansive and safe, allowing the exhale to become a genuine signal of release rather than a performance of it.

Community as medicine. Group trauma-informed yoga carries a particular kind of power. Data analysis suggests that practicing yoga in a group setting that is sensitive to the issues of trauma survivors increases participants' self-compassion. These classes provide a safe and supportive environment where survivors can connect with others who have similar experiences, and this sense of community can be profoundly healing, reducing feelings of isolation and shame. For a woman rebuilding her life as a single mother, that shared presence, unspoken but felt, can be as therapeutic as any individual session.

Reconnecting to the body. Abuse severs the relationship between a survivor and her own physical self. TIY treats that reconnection as primary. Trauma-informed yoga can help survivors gently tend to embodied trauma imprints with care and bring them to the surface. With greater awareness, time, and patience, survivors often feel empowered with new tools to name and address their symptoms and survival responses. Programs like SOLACE, an eight-week layered curriculum designed specifically for female survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, build these skills progressively, establishing stability before inviting deeper exploration.

What Studios Must Stop Doing

Good intentions are not sufficient. A mainstream yoga studio, however welcoming, can inadvertently retraumatize a survivor. The following are not stylistic preferences; they are evidence-based necessities for any teacher working with this population.

• No hands-on assists, period. In a typical yoga class, teachers will ask students if they are comfortable with hands-on adjustment. In TIY classes, consent is not enough to mitigate the harm and experience a survivor may experience. The power dynamic between student and teacher mirrors dynamics survivors have already navigated under coercion. Even a well-meaning touch can collapse the emotional safety a survivor took weeks to build.

• No command language. Instructors should retire phrases that leave no room for individual response. "Do this," "hold here," and "push deeper" belong in a performance context, not a healing one.

• No mirrors or harsh lighting. Trauma-informed spaces often avoid mirrors and use soft lighting, redirecting attention from external appearance toward internal sensation, exactly where recovery lives.

• No constricted breathing instructions. Breath retention exercises or forceful exhalation techniques, popular in many mainstream styles, can trigger panic responses in survivors whose trauma involved suffocation, strangulation, or physical restraint.

How Studios Can Create Safer Spaces

Organizations like Exhale to Inhale (ETI) have made this work scalable. Over the past decade, ETI has prioritized creating programs and building partnerships that remove barriers to care for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, connecting with survivors and organizations globally. Their model, which includes 36 weeks of in-person and on-demand classes across ten New York City campuses and free virtual sessions open to all, demonstrates that institutional commitment, not just individual goodwill, is what makes trauma-informed yoga accessible.

Trauma-informed yoga instructors use verbal cues to guide participants into yoga poses, chosen over physical assists to respect the autonomy and personal space of each individual. Studios seeking to genuinely serve survivors should pursue TIY-specific teacher training, partner with local domestic violence organizations, and structure intake processes that allow students to communicate their needs without having to disclose their history.

The practice encourages self-compassion and self-love, fostering a sense of self-worth that may have been eroded during the abusive relationship, and yoga's emphasis on self-empowerment and self-care enables survivors to develop a strong sense of autonomy and agency. Research also confirms that yoga has been shown to ease depression and anxiety, improve body image and emotion-regulation skills, increase resilience and self-esteem, and reduce PTSD symptoms in high-risk populations.

Resource Box: Support for Survivors

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, these organizations offer immediate and ongoing help.

• National Domestic Violence Hotline: Call or text 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE), available 24/7 in multiple languages. Chat support is also available at thehotline.org.

• Exhale to Inhale: Free weekly virtual trauma-informed yoga classes open to all survivors, no prior yoga experience required. Visit exhaletoinhale.org.

• Transcending Trauma Through Yoga (Zabie Yamasaki): A program and book resource dedicated to empowering survivors through trauma-informed, culturally affirming practice.

• SOLACE Programme: An eight-week structured yoga and wellness curriculum designed specifically for female survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 for free, confidential support via text message.

For yoga teachers and studio owners, pursuing accredited trauma-informed yoga training and establishing formal partnerships with local shelters and advocacy organizations is the most concrete step toward making your space genuinely safe for the people who need it most.