I would like to make this clear. Kundalini Global is absolutely not a form of yoga therapy.
Within the discussion of the boundaries of the role of a yoga teacher, and at many other points during my teacher training, trainees are made aware that, as a trauma therapist and specialist with 20 years of experience, I do not believe that yoga can heal trauma.
Kundalini Global does not support any claims from its teachers that it can.
Any Kundalini Global teacher who makes claims about the power of yoga therapy, or yoga healing trauma, is doing so against the ethos of what we stand for: to be well informed teachers with good boundaries who know, with certainty, the edges of our role.
Tool For Recovery
This is not to say that yoga cannot be helpful as a tool in trauma recovery. This is, most often, unnecessary to name.
In many ways, trauma informed has become a meaningless, problematic, label in the realms of the health and wellness industry.
It has never been a phrase that Kundalini Global has adopted.
There is no consensus on a universal definition of what trauma informed means in yoga and no governing body that holds properly accountable those who make claims that a yoga practice, or teacher, is so.
Kundalini Global trainees do explore who comes to yoga, why they come, and how to serve those clients with a strong skillset and integrity.
Safe Classes
The concept of trauma comes into the room on our training. In discussion around how to make classes feel safe, kind, accessible etc. we have in-depth discussion on both:
– how to help all clients begin to feel safer in classes, to get the most benefit of the practice and
– how to deal with boundary violations in relation to the likelihood of those who come to yoga having big stories that they’re keen to share and get help with
It is extremely important to me that teachers I train do not step outside the appropriate edges of what they are trained to do: to teach yoga.
Of course, if a teacher happens to be a trained psychotherapist or health professional, they may use some of their learning from Kundalini Global as a adjunct to their existing professional qualifications. This has nothing to do with Kundalini Global.
We Consciously Choose Not To…
Whilst the oft-cited guiding principles of safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness and empowerment (which come into the UK government’s working definition of what a trauma informed practice is) do closely correlate with awareness that underpins our approach, if we are not making claims that yoga can heal trauma, we do not need to use the term trauma informed. To do so would be to actively work to attract those looking to work with their trauma through yoga.
In short, is Kundalini Global trauma informed? By many definitions, yes. Certainly my aim would be that anyone with trauma would feel safe in a Kundalini Global class with an excellent teacher who can hold space.
However, acutely aware of the issues inherent with using such labels in relation to yoga teachers, it is a label that I consciously choose not to use. My perception of the inappropriateness of trauma-related claims about what yoga can do means that it simply does not fit.
Integrity and Respect
Kundalini Global is a form of yoga that works with an awareness of the stress system. I educate teachers on understanding how to work with the physical and psychological impact of stress, anxiety, and overwhelm by understanding how yoga helps. Through this lens, yoga is a tool in recovery from any form of suffering, but it is never a cure.
I aim to train teachers to have a huge amount of respect fo their clients, because they have a huge amount of respect for themselves.
In this process, and in relation to how our teachers become expert on the stress system, Kundalini Global classes are kind and aware of the 21st century human and their likely states of being.
Teachers are trained to be conscious of how they use their voice.
Teachers are taught to be conscious of music, prayer and mantra and how it can trigger, offend, upset.
We explore ideas of how they use language, approach adjustment and alternate postures. They are educated on consent.
Teachers are asked and agree to signpost clients to appropriate experts when anything is asked of them that it outside of what they have been trained to work with.
Teachers are told, explicitly, that Kundalini Global is not, and does not support, yoga therapy.
My Stance is Clear
To close with some clarity on my stance on this:
No Kundalini Global teacher, unless actively certified and accredited as a trauma therapist, has any right to claim they work with trauma. As a certified and accredited trauma therapist I fundamentally do not believe that yoga heals trauma. What it does do is to help you get more comfortable with yourself.
