Understanding Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY)

 Developed by Dave Emerson and others originally at the Trauma Centre in Brookline, Massachusetts in 2003, linking with the work of Bessel van der Kolk.  Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) is now a program of Centre for Trauma and Embodiment at Justice Resource Institute with Dave Emerson and Jenn Turner as co-directors.

In the USA the TCTSY program is the first of its kind to qualify for inclusion in the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) database published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

If you are interested in further information on the evidence base of TCTSY, the following link will provide access to research and study resources on the topic.

TCTSY is the first yoga-based, empirically validated, clinical intervention for survivors of complex trauma or complex PTSD; war veterans, sexual assault survivors, at-risk youth and survivors of chronic childhood abuse and neglect.

TCTSY has foundations in trauma theory, attachment theory, neuroscience and hatha yoga, with an emphasis on body-based yoga forms and breathing practices.

Although TCTSY employs physical forms and movements, the emphasis is not on the external expression or appearance (i.e. doing it "right"), or receiving the approval. Rather, the focus is on the internal experience of movement. 

This shift, from the external to the internal, is a key attribute of TCTSY as a treatment for complex trauma and PTSD. With this approach, the power resides within the individual, not the TCTSY facilitator (TCTSY-F). Further, by focusing on the felt sense of the body to inform choice-making, TCTSY allows participants to restore their connection of mind and body and cultivate a sense of agency that is often compromised as a result of trauma.

In-person and online sessions  will be guided by the principles of TCTSY to include:

• choice making
• developing a sense of your body
• taking effective action 
• present moment experience

TCTSY facilitators are required to agree and adhere to ethical guidelines, or as we call them, Ways of Being.