Yoga and Resilience. Empowering Practices for Survivors of Sexual Trauma

Part 1 Understanding sexual violence and trauma

• Introduction: Setting the context Danielle Rousseau and Dani Harris
• Understanding trauma Lidia Snyder and Danielle Rousseau
• Understanding sexual trauma Dani Harris and Danielle Rousseau

Part 2 Introduction to best practices

• Best practices for creating a trauma-informed yoga experience Lidia Snyder and Beth Jones
• General best practices for working with survivors of sexual trauma Dani Harris and Amanda Napior

Part 3 Development and sexual trauma

• Pregnancy and postpartum Amanda Napior
• Children and Adolescents Lidia Snyder

Part 4 Identities and intersectional perspectives

• Gender and sexual minorities community Dani Harris
• Men Daniel Hickman
• Disability and elders Beth Jones

Part 5 Contexts of abuse

• Sexual trauma on college and university campuses James Jurgensen
• Military sexual trauma Pamela Stokes Eggleston
• Intimate partner violence Amanda Napior
• Sex Trafficking Amanda Napior
• Incarcerated survivors Amanda Napior
• Abuse in religious, spiritual and intentional communities Amanda Napior

Part 6 Program and relational considerations

• Safety, legal and logistical considerations Nan Herron
• Relational wisdom: Self-care, boundaries, and cultural humility Kimberleigh Weiss-Lewit

Part 7 Conclusion

• Conclusions Danielle Rousseau and Dani Harris

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, ongoing sexual justice activism, and growing empirical evidence supporting the utilization of yoga and mindfulness practices as adjunctive treatment strategies for addressing the many impacts of trauma and stress, Yoga and Resilience addresses sexual trauma and yoga in an integrated and practical way. This text provides tangible tools, rooted in empirical and experiential data, that support those seeking to use yoga and mindfulness practices as a tool to address the physiological and psychological impacts of sexual trauma. This work is a call for both action and activism in addressing sexual trauma and violence.

Yoga and Resilience is part of a larger series put out by the Yoga Service Council in collaboration with the Omega Institute. To date, there have been three texts published: Best Practices for Yoga in Schools, Best Practices for Yoga with Veterans, and Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System. This body of work takes a unique and groundbreaking approach of co-creation, calling on a diverse array of leading experts in the fields of trauma and yoga, to collaborate and distill best practices that will inform the fields of mental health, trauma-informed yoga, yoga service, and yoga more generally. Contributors and authors met during two symposia and engaged in an ongoing collaborative process resulting in the current text.

• Supports a holistic approach to ameliorating the impacts of traumatic stress, and specifically the impacts of sexual trauma.
• Serves as a resource to survivors, yoga teachers and practitioners, yoga service providers, trauma practitioners, and agency administrators among others.
• Presents a foundational understanding of sexual trauma and illuminates current best practices for integrating trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness practices into work with persons and systems impacted by sexual trauma.
• Explores an approach that moves beyond trauma-informed practice to a focus on resilience and universal inclusivity.
• Provides concrete tools to serve survivors better and to ensure that teachers and administrators not only seek to minimize harm but also combat sexual violence and its perpetration within yoga contexts.

Danielle Rousseau is an Assistant Professor at Boston University. Dr. Rousseau’s professional focus has been in trauma services and gender advocacy. She is a social justice researcher and practitioner. Dr. Rousseau worked in the field of forensic mental health as a therapist in correctional facilities, winning multiple awards for her service. She also served communities doing crisis response and victim advocacy. Her research, teaching and practice focus on justice, trauma, gender, mental health, mindfulness and resilience. She is an advocate of integrative, holistic approaches that support embodied self-care. Dr. Rousseau is a licensed therapist and certified yoga teacher. She serves as the Director of Evaluation 4 Change and has experience collaborating with multiple yoga and mindfulness organizations including Yoga 4 Change, yogaHOPE, the Yoga Service Council, Sensory Enhanced Yoga, and the Open Spirit Center. Dr. Rousseau has received multiple grants including a grant from the Florida Blue Foundation to develop, implement and evaluate an opioid specific yoga and mindfulness curriculum. Dr. Rousseau’s work is published in many books and journals including Sensory-Enhanced Yoga for Self-Regulation and Trauma Healing, The Prison Journal, Criminal Justice Policy Review, Gender, Race, and Justice, Law and Society Review, The Annals of the Academy of Political and Social Sciences, and The Journal of Yoga Service. Dr. Rousseau is an author on the Yoga Service Council’s Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System and the editor for Yoga and Resilience: Empowering Practices for Survivors of Sexual Trauma.