Our Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training is a 75-hour  training that provides meditation teachers with a solid understanding of what trauma is, how it affects us, and how to approach trauma within a mindfulness teaching setting. This course offers research-based insights on how trauma impacts our neurology and physiology, how meditation and mindfulness can address the dysregulation created by trauma, and how  teachers can weave this awareness into supportive, trauma-informed mindfulness classes.

The words “Trauma” and “Trauma-Informed Mindfulness” have become popular in Modern Western Meditation & Mindfulness Culture but what do they actually mean? And how can we deliver clinically sensitive mindfulness meditation classes informed by the latest understandings on trauma, neuroscience, and mindfulness?


The training will provide meditation teachers with essential elements to support a trauma-informed class as well as specific modifications to consider when teaching to such diverse traumatized groups as veterans,  POC, LGBTQ, refugee populations and adolescents with histories of chronic abuse. We will also cover the benefits of trauma-informed mindfulness for students who are not necessarily traumatized but who are experiencing more everyday kinds of stress.

This course covers both the fundamental components of recognizing and responding skillfully to trauma, and advanced tools and distinctions that can help you support trauma survivors on their path to recovery in mindfulness practice. Meditation teachers will leave this training not only with an intellectual understanding of trauma and mindful trauma-informed meditation, but with a more deeply embodied awareness of how trauma can show up in mindfulness practices & confidence in how to apply modifications to support practitioners, which is crucial to the delivery of any meditation class.

PLEASE NOTE : This 75hr training is focused on teaching trauma sensitive mindfulness or to learn to bring trauma sensitive modifications to your meditation teachings. This training is not meant to be a comprehernsive meditation teacher training. If you are interested in teaching meditation we suggest our 1000hr 2 year Meditation Teacher Training that you can find HERE.  This TSM training is a part of our 2 year MTT program.

Program Curriculum
The 75-hour Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness Meditation Teacher  Training will provide a solid understanding of what trauma is, how it affects us, and how to approach trauma within a meditation setting. In this training, you will be guided to help people practice mindfulness safely, inside of their window of tolerance—essentially to “do no harm.”

Some of the main topics that we will cover during the TSM Training are :

- The Difference Between Stress and Traumatic Stress

- The history and impact of trauma &  social context in trauma

-The double edged sword of mindfulness in truama

-  The Neuroscience of Trauma

- The body in mindfulness and the power of relationship

- Key themes for trauma sensitive mindfulness classes

- How Mindfulness can increase the healing power of Trauma-Informed meditation

- Creating safety and resilience for your students

- Cultivating choice & agency for your students

- TSM modified Body scans

- Mindful gauges for emotional regulation

- Learning to recognize backdraft and teach your students about it

- Responding to triggered reactions in a meditation  class

- TSM modified Self compassion

- TSM modified RAIN meditation technique

- Creating ‘Belonging’ &  understanding ‘Othering’

Pricing & Policies
Tuition for our TSM training is $850 USD and it includes all  sections of the  training , all digital content as well as your exam and certificate.

Payment / Cancellation/Refund Policy :

A deposit of $400 USD will secure your spot in this  training. The balance $450 is due on the first day of your training, May 15th.

The tuition payment is non-refundable and non-transferable after you have made your final payment and received access to this training’s digital materials. We cannot make any exceptions regardless of the circumstance. We appreciate your understanding.

To save your spot please fill out the application form HERE and submit with your deposit. You can pay the deposit online via PayPal or via a credit card by calling 505-227-7765. You can also pay via a check or in cash by coming into the Yogasaar studio. Please add NM tax 7.85% to your check and credit card payments.


Who is This Training For?
Our Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Meditation  Teacher Training is a 75-hour  training for meditation  teachers as well as yoga teachers, wellness providers, therapists, physicians, healthcare providers, coaches & fitness instructors with mindfulness experience who are interested in learning more about this invaluable curriculum. To fully benefit from this training, we recommend that anyone considering enrollment is actively working with students and clients within a mindfulness meditation or therapeutic setting or considering doing so.

Program Structure
This training is from May 15 - Aug 15th and has 3 different parts to it - Home study, two engagement sessions and a 9hr Immersion classroom session set over a weekend.

Home study : Reading material is sent to you every 3 weeks along with personal & professional reflections, questions to answer and send in, teaching assignments as well as personal meditations designed specifically for TSM settings to practice daily. Each handout summarizes the main points from the module and offers supplemental reading and references.

Engagement sessions : A live one hour online Zoom Q & A session with your teacher & peers to deepen your learning of the material as well as address your particular questions  and concerns.  These sessions are optional to attend. Dates for the 2 engagement sessions are : Sat 6/18 @ 3-4pm MST and Sat 7/16 @ 3-4pm MST.

9hr Immersion Classroom session : A 9 hr Immersion Weekend Sat 8/13 @3-6pm, Sun 8/14 @ 10-1pm & Sun 8/14 @ 3-6pm. The immersion weekend is composed of lectures and Q & A. Directly following the immersion you will be invited to take a 30 min True/False exam to receive your certificate of completion and training hours. The 9hr Immersion will focus primarily on material around social context in trauma & creating inclusivity, equality and diversity in your classes as well as  manifesting a spiritual or secular leadership of integrity that supports a multicultural community.
 

Meet Your Teacher : Aparna Levine

Aparna is a long time seasoned ERYT 500 teacher, a certified TSY teacher and a certified Trauma Informed Mindfulness Meditation teacher. For over 17 years she has worked with trauma impacted populations such as sexual assault survivors, veterans and youth/adolescents with chronic histories of abuse.

Deeply interested in the interplay of yoga , mindfulness meditation and trauma, she has not only regularly taught studio classes, wkshps, trainings and retreats to a general population (since 1997 - current) but has also developed and implemented yoga & mindfulness programs at  facilities for traumatized teens and at organizations serving trauma impacted adults & women.

Frequently Asked Questions