February 13, 2024
Trauma-Informed Yoga at Carrara Treatment
Trauma-Informed Yoga (TIY) at Carrara offers a calm, private way to reconnect with your body during recovery. The practice is built on choice, consent, and gentle pacing, so you move only in ways that feel safe and supportive. Simple breath and movement options help the nervous system settle and restore a sense of ease.
Instructors use clear, invitational cues and provide seated, standing, and lying-down variations. You can keep your eyes open, pause at any time, or skip poses that do not feel right. This flexible approach reduces overwhelm, builds body trust, and supports steady regulation after periods of stress or disconnection.
TIY is coordinated with counseling, medications, and rest so it strengthens clinical work rather than competing with it. Over time, skills like slow breathing, grounding, and mindful awareness carry into groups, family sessions, and daily routines, reinforcing resilience across your week.
Benefits of Trauma-Informed Yoga for Recovery
Trauma-Informed Yoga supports clinical treatment by calming the nervous system, rebuilding body trust, and teaching simple skills that reduce overwhelm. In a private, choice-based setting, clients learn repeatable tools that improve focus, sleep, and emotional steadiness. These gains make therapy, groups, and daily routines feel more manageable across the week.
1. Restoration of Trust
Gentle, choice-driven movement helps you relearn that your body can feel safe and responsive. Instructors offer options and clear consent at every step, so you decide how far to move and when to pause. This steady control rebuilds confidence in your signals and creates a reliable path back to ease during stressful moments in recovery.
2. Stress and Tension Release
Slow breath cues and simple shapes soften tight areas in the neck, shoulders, and low back while quieting racing thoughts. Short holds and calm exits prevent overwhelm and keep sessions comfortable. As the body lets go of tension, many clients notice clearer attention, steadier mood, and more patience for therapy and daily tasks.
3. Emotional Regulation
Linking breath with movement teaches you to notice feelings early and respond before they spike. Naming sensations, counting exhales, and taking optional rests build tolerance for discomfort without shutting down. Over time, these skills reduce reactivity to triggers, improve communication, and support healthier choices during conflict.
4. Mind–Body Connection
TIY builds awareness of posture, breath rhythm, and muscle tone so you can read what your body needs in real time. Small adjustments, like widening a stance or slowing an inhale, become practical tools you can use anywhere. This clear feedback loop supports safer movement, better pacing, and fewer spikes in stress across the day.
5. Self-Awareness and Mindfulness
Invitational cues encourage curious attention rather than self-criticism. You practice noticing thoughts and sensations, then returning to an anchor like breath or contact with the mat. This simple repetition strengthens focus, makes rumination shorter, and turns brief practice sessions into a steady anchor for calm in recovery.
6. Physical Health
Regular practice improves mobility, balance, and gentle strength without pushing past limits. Options for seated, standing, or lying-down work keep sessions accessible during all phases of care. Better range of motion and core stability support comfort in groups, smoother sleep routines, and more confidence in daily movement.
What Is the Direct Impact on Patients?
Trauma-Informed Yoga at Carrara gives you simple, repeatable tools to feel calmer, more in control, and better prepared for clinical work. Sessions are private, choice based, and paced to your energy so gains carry into therapy, groups, and daily routines.
- Safer Body Awareness: You learn to notice early signals of tension or overwhelm and choose adjustments that keep you steady.
- Lower Baseline Stress: Slow breath and gentle shapes help the nervous system settle, improving patience and focus in sessions.
- Better Response to Triggers: Grounding, pausing, and optional rests shorten the spike and help you return to balance faster.
- Smoother Sleep and Recovery: Light evening practice supports wind down, which leads to clearer energy the next day.
- Private, Coordinated Care: Instructors align with your therapist and medical team so practice supports medications, counseling, and rest.
How Does Trauma-Informed Yoga Support Holistic Recovery?
Trauma-Informed Yoga strengthens the mind body connection with calm movement, steady breath, and clear choices. At Carrara, practice is coordinated with counseling, medications, fitness, sleep, and nutrition as part of our integrated Wellness Programs. The aim is simple: add regulation and comfort without taking time or energy from core clinical work.
What You Can Expect
- Private Intake and Consent: A brief one on one review of goals, triggers, medical considerations, and preferred boundaries. You control pace and participation at every step.
- Choice Based Pacing: Options to sit, stand, or lie down. You can pause, skip a pose, or end early. Instructors check in and adjust to your energy level.
- Invitational Language: Clear, non directive cues with simple options for hands, gaze, and breath so you stay oriented and comfortable.
- Grounding and Regulation Tools: Techniques like counted exhale, contact points with the mat, and short body scans you can use in groups, therapy, or at bedtime.
- Safe Room Setup: Quiet lighting, clear exits, and predictable sequencing to reduce surprise and support a steady nervous system.
- Props and Accessibility: Chairs, bolsters, and straps make shapes gentle and stable. Clothing and footwear are your choice.
- Integrated Scheduling: Session times are planned around counseling, medications, meals, and rest so practice supports your day rather than competing with it.
- Progress Checks: Short reviews to adjust intensity, pacing, and goals based on feedback and comfort.
- Simple At Home Practice: Two to five minute micro routines for mornings, pre group, and evening wind down to keep gains steady between sessions.
Ready to Begin Your Renewal Journey?
At Carrara Treatment, Trauma Informed Yoga is part of your rehab plan. Sessions are private, choice based, and timed around therapy and medications so you can calm the body, steady the mind, and stay focused on treatment. Take the first step to add TIY to your program.
- Who it is for: Clients in detox, residential rehab, or step down care who want gentle tools to lower stress, handle triggers, and sleep better.
- Why it helps rehab: Slow breath, simple shapes, and clear choices reduce overwhelm and improve focus for CBT, EMDR, groups, and family sessions.
- What to expect: Options for seated, standing, or lying down practice; you can pause or skip any pose. Instructors coordinate with your therapist and medical team.
- Pair TIY with: Private Breath Work, Sound Bath Therapy, Reiki, Private Fitness Training, and Nutrition Consultation & Coaching for whole person support.
- Amenities and privacy: Private ensuite rooms, chef prepared meals, modern fitness, spa services, pools, Jacuzzis, saunas, and quiet outdoor spaces in a confidential setting.
Explore our residences: The LA Carrara House, The Hollywood Hills Carrara House, and The Malibu Beach House.
Take the first step to schedule a private, confidential consultation and begin your recovery journey with Carrara Treatment.
Britney Elyse has over 15 years experience in mental health and addiction treatment. Britney completed her undergraduate work at San Francisco State University and her M.A. in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University. Britney worked in the music industry for several years prior to discovering her calling as a therapist. Britney’s background in music management, gave her first hand experience working with musicians impacted by addiction. Britney specializes in treating trauma using Somatic Experiencing and evidence based practices. Britney’s work begins with forming a strong therapeutic alliance to gain trust and promote change. Britney has given many presentations on somatic therapy in the treatment setting to increase awareness and decrease the stigma of mental health issues. A few years ago, Britney moved into the role of Clinical Director and found her passion in supervising the clinical team. Britney’s unique approach to client care, allows us to access and heal, our most severe cases with compassion and love. Prior to join the Carrara team, Britney was the Clinical Director of a premier luxury treatment facility with 6 residential houses and an outpatient program
