Kali is the Hindu goddess of death, represented by fire and the sword; the fire burns away falsity and the misdeeds of the past and the sword is the cutting edge of truth. She is associated with sexuality and violence; she also embodies the Great Mother holding the powers of destruction and creation.
This spirit of Kali is very much alive in times of the ‘Me Too’ campaign and a rise of naming abuse in many of our institutions. Kali trusts her fiery intuition, names the shadow, and knows no regulation but her own.
Kali meets Kali
Maddy and I met over five years ago on one of Jenny Beeken’s teachers’ week ‘The Transforming Power of Yoga’ at Over the Rainbow. We immediately recognised the angry vibrations of two feminists! During that week, she encouraged me to bring out my art materials and dressing up clothes, we playfully became goddesses as part of the transformation process.
We had much in common, working professionally in the areas of violence against women, women’s mental health and our training as Arts Therapists (I trained as a Dramatherapist and Maddy as an Arts Psychotherapist). We have been integrating both our therapy training and yoga practices for ourselves and those that we work with; trauma informed approaches have been the heart of this path.
Why has this Trauma Awareness Training come about now?
Maddy: “Yoga has been a really massive part of working with my own trauma history, helping me to manage trauma symptoms. From my first experience as a young person doing yoga at a time when I was living with severe PTSD symptoms. The relief that I experienced from practicing yoga left such a deep impression. I’ve been fortunate in the last few years to do various specialist trainings. I am passionate about this being accessible to trauma survivors who might not have access to mental health support or who might not be able to access mainstream yoga classes (such as in psychiatric services). I feel like this is my life’s work.”
Rose: “Yoga has been a lifeline for over half of my life, helping me to find inner calm. In the last few years I have realised how activated my own nervous system has been, from traumatic experiences growing up. I ‘fell’ into being a yoga teacher by wanting to deepen my understanding and through this I have learned more about myself. Turning 50 has been a process of integrating all the strands that have kept me alive in body, mind and spirit; through my working life as a dramatherapist, playback theatre practitioner and ever-evolving yoga student. Meeting Maddy at this time has been a wonderful opportunity as two women survivors to co-create and focus our mutual passions so that we can all, as a community of yoga practitioners, better support survivors of trauma.”
The Trauma Awareness for Yoga Teachers course runs over the following dates:
- Wed 1 - Sun 5 May
- Wed 10 - Sun 14 July
- Wed 11 - Sun 15 September
and is being held at Over the Rainbow, Wales.
For more information visit: inneryoga.org.uk
The deadline for applications is Friday, 15 March 2019. Please email both teachers: yogatherapyforrecovery@gmail.com and rosethorn.email@gmail.com
