YogaFit Warriors Program

YogaFit Warriors Trains Trauma-Informed Teachers

Shaye Molendyke, Lt Col USAF, MA, E-RYT-200, 500 RYT, C-IAYT

YogaFit for Warriors is a comprehensive traumainformed yoga program focused on activating the natural neural, chemical, and biological healing mechanisms in the body using yoga postures, breath, and mindfulness.

Exposure to trauma, abuse, or neglect is the number one unaddressed physical and health concern in the world.

We are witnessing an unprecedented worldwide traumatic event affecting human beings at all levels of society. The Pandemic has brought to the forefront for healthcare workers, educators, yoga teachers, and even businesses the importance of understanding how trauma operates and seeing the unconscious mechanisms that impact each person differently.

The common variable of trauma is the feeling of being immobilized in fear with a perceived lack of control. Humans have evolved through cooperation that allowed for both physical and more importantly, emotional safety through a shared collaborative environment. That sense of safety is deeply compromised when we can’t use our senses to defend against a potential lifethreatening event. For example, viruses can’t be seen, touched, tasted, or heard. Our safety is even further exacerbated by being unable to work cooperatively to address that threat.

Isolation is a perceived life-threatening event for humans at the most primitive level. Unconsciously we understand there is something dangerous about not being able to communicate in close proximity to other humans.

The effects of these current events are a complex trauma that is happening uniquely to each person depending on their past traumas and their current resources and resiliency skills.

YogaFit’s trauma-informed yoga programs help us to deeply understand and more importantly witness what’s happening

“behind the scenes.” These programs empower us to address this mental health triage moment in history as a helper--regardless of the uniform we wear.

Thankfully, exciting new neurological and psychological discoveries, including polyvagal theory, allow for a more expansive understanding of the full impact of trauma. We are also starting to understand exactly how and why yoga helps mitigate these impacts.

Somatic processing and treatment methodologies like yoga are being used to help repair and rebuild distressed nervous systems. This in turn helps the brain integrate and “file” distressing memories.

What makes a trauma-informed yoga class?

The primary difference in a trauma-informed yoga practice is the focus on HOW we practice instead of WHAT we practice. While we are certainly moving through postures, it is more the state of 14 YOGAFIT.COM being we are in versus the focus on pure physical form in a pose.

Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) activation is the key to creating a more sustained healing state of being. This is instead of the elevated cortisol-releasing state of being in the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). The SNS has been shown to stay perpetually “on” after a traumatic event or during chronic stress; the SNS is the primary inhibitor of our natural healing mechanisms.

A good trauma-informed yoga practice teaches and empowers individuals to intentionally activate their PNS system. This empowering approach helps establish an enduring personal resiliency after a disempowering traumatic event.

Yoga classes with large or fast movements can actually get in the way of healing due to increased SNS activation. Through our unique methods at YogaFit, students learn to feel when their SNS is activating. They are then better able to regulate their nervous system using breath, gentle movement, trauma-sensitive language, specific meditations, and limbic-center focused guided imagery.

We have found our students are better able to release stuck energy once they feel safe and when they are able to gently acknowledge their bodies instead of disconnecting or disassociating. The part of the brain linked to healing is the limbic center or emotional brain. We intentionally activate this system by grounded and mindful movements. This creates a gradual tolerance of increased sensations that students learn to manage. YogaFit’s Trauma-Informed Program YogaFit for Warriors is a trauma-sensitive and trauma-informed yoga program designed by military veteran and yoga therapist, Shaye Molendyke (C-IAYT) and yoga therapist, Kristy Manuel (C-IAYT).

YogaFit’s Master Trainers who teach the Warriors Program have a depth and breadth of knowledge in yoga as well as in mental and physical health fields. Our trainers maintain the highest certification in the yoga profession as Certified Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT) and they also have decades of experience. They are working at the cutting edge of the latest yoga therapy techniques. The Importance of Slow Mindful Movements YogaFit’s Warriors classes use slow mindful movements to activate the healing limbic system. We believe that the rhythmic vinyasa flow style is critical to restoring the natural processes of the body. These include the cardiovascular, endocrine, and digestive systems as well as the circadian and cranial rhythms that get disrupted after a traumatic event or prolonged stress. We also incorporate unique iliopsoas (psoas) activating and releasing practices. These practices

are vital to reclaiming the internal emotional support structure of the body through the psoas lines of energy that run down through the legs and up through the diaphragm, heart, and jaw areas that mobilize in stressful events for fight, flight, and even bite.

YogaFit approaches yoga from a nonjudgmental noncompetitive viewpoint. We encourage language/cueing that is inclusive and awareness-oriented versus goal-oriented. Awareness-oriented cueing instills a sense of safety and connection creating the potential for healing. These concepts are the foundational cornerstones of our Warriors Programs as well as our 200 and 300 RYT yoga teacher training programs and our IAYT accredited Yoga Therapy Program. This is why YogaFit’s Level One: Foundations is a requirement in the Warriors Program.

YogaFit’s style of teaching is invitational in nature, gently encouraging students throughout their practice as well as offering choice through generous use of modifications. Yoga teachers may inadvertently trigger students by using command-style language, body language, or improper or unwanted physical adjustments. That’s why we focus on how to move students gently in and out of poses while empowering them to make effective choices in their practice. Over time this creates and reinforces a sense of resiliency, self-efficacy, and the ability to emotionally self-regulate. Who Can Take YogaFit for Warriors? The YogaFit for Warriors program is designed for yoga teachers, mental health professionals, and anyone who wants to understand trauma and PTSD at a deeper level. This includes but is not limited to our military and their families, emergency and first responders, and healthcare workers, educators and caregivers of all kinds. This program is also appropriate to help those who suffer from the range of physical and emotional traumas including chronic high levels of stress, anxiety, and other stress or trauma related mental medical and physical conditions.

Note: Military members and spouses may be eligible to attend YogaFit for Warriors workshops through the Post 9/11 GI Bill licensing and certification program. Eligible active duty military spouses may attend using MyCAA benefits.

YogaFit Warriors 100 and 140 hour Programs include the following 2-day workshops. Five workshops are required for 100 hour program. One elective choice can be used to complete the 100 hour program or complete all seven workshops for the 140 hour program.

* Mandatory * Level 1 YogaFit’s foundational yoga teacher training educates trainees how to safely guide students through yoga poses using transformational language and the Essence of YogaFit. The Essence encourages people to let go of judgements, expectations, and competition.

* YogaFit for Warriors (PTSD) Focuses on psoas release exercises, slower movement, breathing exercises, meditation, and specific imagery techniques to address PTSD and other common issues that develop in military settings with returning veterans as well as their families.

* Healing Emotional & Physical Trauma Explores how trauma affects the brain and becomes stored in the body, and explains how yoga is the perfect mind-body modality to release trauma and usher in healing. * Restoring Balance: Training the Parasympathetic Nervous System Heart Rate Variability (HRV) monitors are utilized so students can learn to design the optimal treatment methodologies based on the HRV results. Two Day Electives: Choose 1 for 100 hour or take all 3 for 140 Hr * Warrior Kids This childhood trauma workshop focuses on the unique nervous system and brain response of traumatic events in children as well as chronic emotional and physical abuse to include neglect. We address the somatic healing gaps in current therapies available for children today. * YogaFit for Mood Balancing Highlights the somatic component of anxiety and depression while teaching breathing and meditation practices to facilitate balance.

* Addiction and Recovery Understand addiction in its many forms, including but not limited to drugs, alcohol, smoking, gambling, sex, overeating, shopping, and exercise. Yogafit for Warrior Kids 10 hour Program: Mandatory Workshops* * Warrior Kids This childhood trauma workshop focuses on the unique nervous system and brain response of traumatic events in children as well as chronic emotional and physical abuse to include neglect. We address the somatic healing gaps in current therapies available for children today. * Fit and Focused Kids This workshop focuses on the best mindful movement, breath and guided imagery practices to enhance and support the learning environment. Bringing yoga into the schools can reduce anxiety and stress, enhance focus and self-regulation, and promote compassion in young children and teenagers.

* Yoga for ADD and Autism Learn how to incorporate yoga postures, mindfull breathing techniques, and the latest integrative therapeutic techniques into your work with children and adults who are navigating the challenges of ADD or Autism Spectrum Disorder.

* Healing Emotional & Physical Trauma Explores how trauma affects the brain and becomes stored in the body, and explains how yoga is the perfect mind-body modality to release trauma and usher in healing. Yogafit for Warrior Kids 200 hour One Day Electives: Choose 2 Art of Storytelling: The Therapeutic Narrative Learn the brain science behind storytelling and how it helps to foster greater learning and creativity in both kids and adults.

Caregivers Caregivers spend so much time and loving attention on others that they forget to care for themselves–physically and emotionally. If you work with elderly patients, children with special needs, or foster kids trapped in the system, this one-day workshop can provide the tools necessary to revitalize and reconnect to your center and find the balance you need to serve others.

Shaye Molendyke, Lt Col USAF, MA, Counseling, E-RYT-200, 500 RYT, C-IAYT Yoga for Healthcare and Special Conditions Provider Lieutenant Colonel, Unites States Air Force Yoga Instructor, Master Trainer YogaFit, Director YogaFit For Warriors Program

Look for YogaFit for Warriors at 2021 Mind Body Fitness Conferences and at sites across the country. Visit www.yogafit.com for updates to the schedule and look for Warriors Intensives in Kentucky and Toronto in 2021. Help us bring YogaFit for Warriors to the people who need it most. Connect your communities with YogaFit to host a training.