A note about care and support

Yoga for Body Connection is a supportive wellness practice, not therapy, mental health treatment, medical care, or a replacement for professional support. Gentle movement, breath, rest, awareness, choice, and connection may support overall well-being, and sometimes slowing down can bring emotions, memories, or sensations into awareness. You are never expected to process those experiences here.

If something needs more care than a yoga practice can provide, please seek support from an appropriate healthcare or mental health professional. Resources and referrals are also available in the Guide & Resources section. Yoga can be one part of a larger circle of care. It doesn't have to hold everything.

Why yoga?

Small choices. New experiences. A different way of being with your body.

Yoga is only one doorway into embodiment. Movement, art, music, gardening, nature, therapy, rest, and relationships can all help us come back into connection with ourselves. Yoga is simply one of the doorways I keep returning to—not because the poses are magical or because our bodies need to accomplish something, but because it gives us a place to practice new experiences: noticing what is happening, making a choice, changing our minds, experiencing a beginning and an ending, and discovering what support or rest might feel like.

Over time, the practice becomes less about Am I doing this right? and more about What am I noticing, and what do I want to do next? We practice being with other people without leaving ourselves, resting without having to earn it, and making small choices that honor what our bodies are communicating. Notice. Choose. Experience. Connect. Rest. And perhaps what we practice here begins to accompany us when we walk back out the door.

This is trauma-informed yoga.

It describes how I teach—not who you need to be.

You do not need to identify with trauma, have a diagnosis, or share your story to come to this class. Yoga for Body Connection is deeply influenced by Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga teachings and other somatic practices, with choice, consent, agency, interoception, predictability, and relationship woven into the structure of the class. There are no hands-on adjustments, no expectation that your body make a particular shape, and no requirement to move, close your eyes, share, chant, or participate in anything that doesn't feel right for you. Your no doesn't disrupt the practice. Your no is part of the practice.

My role is to create opportunities for you to explore your own experience. I'll offer possibilities for movement, noticing, pausing, resting, and changing your mind, while practicing alongside you and making my own choices, too. Trauma-informed doesn't mean everyone needs to become calm or "zen"—anger, grief, restlessness, numbness, joy, uncertainty, and everything in between can belong here. I hold the structure of the room. You remain the expert on your own experience.

Safety, Brave Space & Trauma-Informed Practice

Creating Conditions for Safety Safety is foundational to trauma-informed practice, but I cannot promise another person that a space is safe. Safety is an experience shaped by the nervous system, history, identity, body, relationships, and lived experience—and it is not equally available to every body in our world. Rather than declaring “this is a safe space,” my responsibility is to ask: What conditions can I create that offer more opportunity for safety, agency, dignity, and choice? That means prioritizing consent, transparency, predictability, accessibility, choice, and the freedom to respond to your own experience. This is also why I think of this as a brave space—but brave never means push through. Discomfort might be growth, unfamiliarity, a boundary, an old wound, or a signal that something isn't okay. You get to decide what it means for you. Staying can be brave. Leaving can be brave. Saying no, asking a question, changing your mind, resting, speaking up, or asking for support can all be brave. And when something goes wrong, there should be room for accountability and repair. There is no single correct way to be courageous in your body.

Who is this class for?

Every body deserves somewhere it doesn’t have to earn its belonging.

This practice is open to every body—and I mean that intentionally. Not every body moves through the world with the same experience of safety, belonging, access, or freedom. Our relationships with our bodies are shaped by culture, systems, identities, experiences, and messages about which bodies are considered healthy, capable, beautiful, worthy, or welcome. Yoga and wellness spaces aren't exempt from those systems, and some bodies have been excluded, overlooked, judged, or expected to adapt themselves in order to belong. Yoga for Body Connection is an intentional attempt to practice something different.

This class may especially resonate if traditional yoga spaces haven't felt like home, you want a slower and more supported practice, you're navigating pain, fatigue, grief, stress, changing capacity, or a complicated relationship with your body—or you simply want somewhere to inhabit your body without needing to improve it. You don't need to explain your identity, diagnosis, history, trauma, or why you need what you need. You don't need the “right” body for this practice. Bring your body. We'll make room for it.

We Are Also Practicing in Community

Connected, without having to leave ourselves.

There is something different about slowing down in the presence of other people. You may hear another person's breath, sense movement nearby, or notice the quiet rhythm of bodies settling together. Sometimes we move together; sometimes everyone is doing something different. This is a gentle experience of co-regulation—being in relationship without needing to talk, perform, match, or take responsibility for anyone else's experience. We get to practice something beautifully simple: I can be with you and still be with me. I'm here. You're here. I'm not alone.

Honoring the Roots

These practices did not begin with modern wellness.

There is a beautiful meeting happening between modern psychology, neuroscience, somatic therapies, and practices humans have used for generations to explore breath, movement, attention, ritual, rest, and what it means to live in a body. Yoga is more than a healing technique—it has deep roots in the spiritual, philosophical, and contemplative traditions of India, and modern research can help us understand these practices without becoming the reason they are valuable. I teach as a student, with a responsibility to keep learning, acknowledge the teachers, cultures, histories, and traditions that have shaped what I share, and resist separating practices from the people who carried them. There is room here for evidence and mystery, psychology and philosophy, ancient wisdom and emerging understanding. Reverence is not ownership; it is remembering that we received something—and honoring those who carried it before us.

Learn more about Jen

Hi, I’m Jen. I’m a yoga teacher, somatic practitioner, and lifelong student whose own path through body image struggles, trauma, perfectionism, and disconnection from my body deeply shapes the way I teach. Over the years, yoga and somatic practices have become less about what my body can do and more about learning how to listen, trust, choose, and be in relationship with it.

My teaching brings together trauma-informed and somatic practices, yoga philosophy, nervous-system awareness, and a deep belief in the wisdom of the body. I’m not here to teach you the right way to inhabit your body. I’m here to practice alongside you as you discover more of your own.


For Those Who Want the Science

Why movement, breath, awareness, choice, and rest can matter.

Yoga traditions have explored the relationship between breath, movement, attention, stillness, and human experience for centuries. Today, psychology and neuroscience are studying some of these relationships through the nervous system, interoception, stress physiology, trauma, attachment, and regulation. Body-based approaches offer another direction alongside cognitive work: instead of only asking What happened? or What do I think about this?, we can also ask What am I experiencing now? Can I notice sensation, feel support, move or become still, make a choice, stop, or change my mind? Trauma-informed approaches such as TCTSY place particular emphasis on interoception, choice, noncoercion, and agency. A 2023 randomized clinical trial of 131 women veterans with military-sexual-trauma-related PTSD found significant symptom improvement with both TCTSY and Cognitive Processing Therapy, with TCTSY showing equivalent effectiveness for PTSD symptom reduction in that specific population. This doesn't mean yoga treats all trauma—or that this class is psychotherapy—but it adds to growing research suggesting carefully designed, body-based practices can have a meaningful place within a larger circle of care.


Researchers, clinicians, and teachers including Peter Levine, Resmaa Menakem, and Dr. Gail Parker have helped deepen conversations about the body, trauma, healing, and recovery. Parker's work brings important attention to ethnic and race-based traumatic stress, while Menakem's work explores racialized trauma, embodied experience, and healing beyond the individual. I don't use neuroscience to promise that a breath or yoga pose will magically “reset” your nervous system. What interests me is much more ordinary: notice sensation, experience support, make a choice, take an action, change your mind, rest, connect, begin again. The science is still unfolding. The practice is very old. And your body gets to have its own experience of both.



FAQ

  • What does Yoga for Body Connection actually look like?

    Expect a slow, gentle practice with plenty of time to notice rather than rush. Most movement happens close to the floor, with chair options available. We may explore only a handful of shapes during our hour together. Blankets, bolsters, blocks, chairs, and other supports are available, and you're encouraged to use as much support as you'd like. I'll stay in a consistent place in the room and practice alongside you while offering opportunities for movement, breath, sensation, stillness, and rest. There are no hands-on adjustments and no expectation that your body needs to make a particular shape. You can move. Pause. Change something. Choose something different. Stay still. Rest for the entire class. I'll hold the room. You get to decide what happens inside of it.

  • What are we practicing?

    he yoga shapes give us somewhere to explore, but they're not really the point. We're practicing noticing, choosing, experiencing, connecting, and resting. You might begin asking yourself: Do I like this? Do I want to stay? Would I like more, less, different—or not at all? Would support feel good here? Rather than practicing how well you can follow instructions, we're creating opportunities to listen to your body and respond. Sometimes the practice is movement. Sometimes it's noticing sensation. Sometimes it's changing your mind. Sometimes it's recognizing that you're tired and allowing yourself to rest. There is nothing you need to accomplish.

  • What should I expect at my first class?

    You don't need to prepare for it—and you don't need special yoga gear. Wear whatever feels comfortable to you. Something you can move and rest in is perfect. There is no expectation for yoga clothes, leggings, bare feet, or any particular way of showing up. And you don't need to bring equipment. Yoga mats and all props are available free of charge, including blankets, bolsters, blocks, chairs, and other supports. Of course, you're welcome to bring your own mat or favorite props if you'd prefer. If you'd like, come a few minutes early. You can choose your space, gather whatever supports feel useful, explore the altar or reflection tools, ask me a question, or simply settle in. There is no required introduction or sharing circle. You won't be asked why you're there, and you don't need to tell me your story. You don't need to know yoga terminology. You don't need to be flexible. You don't need to know how to meditate or understand somatic practices. And you certainly don't need to arrive calm. Come in whatever feels comfortable. Use what you need. Bring the body you have and the experience you're having that day. We'll begin there.

  • Is this class offered virtually?

    No. Yoga for Body Connection is intentionally an in-person practice. We understand that virtual offerings can make movement and nervous-system practices more accessible, and there is real value in being able to practice from home. For this particular class, though, we also deeply value privacy, choice, and the boundaries of the space we're creating together. When you enter the studio, the walls of the room become part of the container. What happens within them stays within them. There are no cameras recording or streaming the practice, and no one outside the room is watching or listening. That allows us to be present with one another without wondering who else might have access to the experience. We respect the boundaries of the walls and the people practicing within them. If practicing from home is more accessible for you, Jen offers many free and low-cost virtual practices that you can explore on your own time through Rising Strong Wellness and YouTube. In this room, though, we get to simply be in the room together.

  • Do I need to tell you about my trauma, diagnosis, injury, or disability?

    No. You are always welcome to tell me something you want me to know, especially if there's a way I can help make the space more accessible to you. But you don't owe me your story, diagnosis, medical history, or an explanation for why you're making a particular choice. You don't have to justify needing a chair. You don't have to explain why you're skipping something. You don't have to tell me why closing your eyes doesn't work for you. You can simply choose what supports you.

  • What if I need to leave, take a break, or move during rest?

    Please do. You are not expected to remain in the room, stay still, keep your eyes closed, or wait for me to give you permission to take care of yourself. You can use the restroom, step outside, sit up, change positions, get another prop, open your eyes, or leave class early. You don't need to explain. Choice doesn't stop once class begins.

  • What if I become emotional during class?

    Being in relationship with the body can bring up all kinds of experiences. You might feel peaceful, restless, frustrated, tender, sad, relieved, emotional—or nothing particularly noticeable at all. There isn't a feeling you're supposed to have here. You won't be asked to explain or process your experience with the group. You're welcome to pause, rest, change what you're doing, step out, or simply notice what's happening. This class is not therapy and isn't intended to replace mental-health or medical care. It is a supportive body-based practice where your experience is allowed to be your own.

  • Do I need to register ahead of time?

    No. You can simply show up. If making a reservation ahead of time helps you feel more settled, wonderful. If Sunday arrives and you realize, I think I need this today, come anyway. We will welcome you. That said, registering ahead of time is helpful when you're able. We intentionally limit the number of participants so the room can remain smaller, quieter, and spacious enough for everyone to have the support and choice that are central to this practice. So advance registration helps us prepare the room and protect the intimate feel of the class—but we don't want the registration process itself to become another barrier to being here. Registered ahead? Come in. Decided at the last minute? Come in. Didn't manage to sign up? Come in. There's room for real life here, too.