Molly Boeder Harris

I realized through my own unique process of navigating trauma and the way in which it pervaded every aspect of my life – that each survivor must create a flexible map of healing that supports their individual experience. The nonlinear and often lifelong process that begets healing can cause many survivors to question their own capacity for resilience in a world that communicates an arbitrary timeline for how long we are allowed to grieve. In my experience, the reality is that the process of healing is an ongoing, lifelong practice that requires intentionality, consistency, endurance, and ongoing sources of support.

Repeatedly, survivors tell me about the disconnect they feel from their body, and ultimately, from themselves on a core level. This can be the result of the imprint of the physiological state of freeze that survivors experience in the acute moment of trauma which can then become a patterned way of responding to threat and overwhelm. There is also the unconscious ways survivors adapt and cope with the intensity of somatic memory by distancing themselves from the body. Our body (and the multidirectional relationship between our brain and body) is integral within trauma healing, as well, re-establishing a relationship with our body is a key resource for the restoration of empowerment. In our conversations about how the body stores trauma, we tend to underestimate how our bodies also archive the nourishing experiences, sensations, emotions, and relationships which can ultimately counterbalance and transform how we experience the pain of trauma.

We live in a culture where we are not encouraged to acknowledge our pain, nor follow where our pain may lead deep within our bodies, our psyches, and our spirits. Many of us miss the resource that honoring own wounds might offer to us, which can include guiding us towards our inherent wisdom around how we survived as well as how we will heal. In attending to our inner landscape, we create the space to remember and reclaim our wholeness as more expansive than the traumatic events, circumstances, or systems enacted upon us. Survivors have already endured the terror of sexual trauma and have the capacity to travel to great depths within themselves where they can examine the residual feeling, emotion, sensation, and stagnation that has been left in trauma’s wake. In this space, they can also witness the wellspring of their internal strength.

Trauma-informed yoga and Somatic Experiencing are accessible ways to engage the body – the primary site of the trauma and all that it holds within – as a powerful resource for transformation. I believe that all survivors have the capacity to heal and thrive in their lives when they can connect with healing modalities that are meaningful to them – whether that is through yoga, acupuncture, massage, dance, art, energy work, equine therapy, or psychotherapy, etc. All of these approaches can support the integration of the physical, psychological, emotional, and energetic aspects of their being and build a greater sense of embodied safety. We can then take the sense of agency, trust, and sovereignty we cultivate within our own bodies and mobilize it in service of creating more healing, safety, belonging, and interconnection in the world around us.

For me, a trauma-informed approach to care is an approach that centers the client's safety. The healing that unfolds through the modality is the result of having taken the time to establish a foundation of embodied and relational safety with my clients.

It takes time to build therapeutic trust. I come from a place of trust building with a client in an ongoing manner. I prioritize embodied and informed consent, choice, agency, and collaboration in my work which serve as a counterbalance to the experiences of trauma. I view my clients as the experts of their own experience and I am explicit about this.

Supporting the client in developing their own somatic vocabulary to observe and describe their experience is an integral part of my practice. This can be an essential tool in beginning to feel more embodied, access grounding resources, notice and attend to activation, and increase their capacity to communicate with me (and others) about the truth of their experience.

In sessions, I am also tracking my own physiology and making micro-adjustments as needed to be in a space of presence and ease with my clients, and outside of sessions, I seek regular consultation from seasoned clinicians to create an extra container of support, integrity, and accountability around my clients and myself.

Woven together, these elements create a framework that allows me to hold a strong and flexible container for my clients.

In yoga, we have the opportunity to link movement with breath through the focused relationship of mind and body. This synthesis offers an inner quieting and release of tension (to any degree) that fosters ease, clarity, and expansion on a physical, psychological, and spiritual level. Yoga creates a unique environment where survivors can explore inside themselves with kindness and curiosity, as well as develop attitudes that allow for compassionate responses to challenges or difficulties they encounter within their bodies and lives.

I draw primarily on 3 of the 8 limbs of the yoga practice - asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breathing techniques) and dhyana (meditation) which can tangibly reduce the symptoms of rape trauma response (RTR), a form of post-traumatic stress. RTR includes symptoms and reactions experienced by most survivors during, immediately following, and for months, years, or decades after the assault. Rape trauma response can involve psychological, physical, behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal disruptions including headaches, anxiety, inability to concentrate/focus, sleeplessness, lethargy, anger, depression, mood irregularity, spiritual disconnection, hopelessness, fear/avoidance of intimacy and sexuality, eating disorders, self-harm, and substance misuse. Survivors may experience flashbacks upon some sort of sensory trigger, in which they feel as if the assault is happening all over again – and the physical and emotional responses can be quite visceral, if not debilitating. Through movement, breath, and meditation, survivors can counterbalance some of the symptoms or reactions that naturally arise as a response to trauma. Yoga gives us a space to learn how to work with our own physiology though waves of activation and settling and cultivate practices to nourish a stress response cycle that is more reliable and increasingly adaptive.

Importantly, the somatic practice of yoga allows survivors to develop healthy coping and grounding techniques that can disrupt triggers and flashbacks and re-establish stability at a body level. Since flashbacks may also happen due to perceived or real threats, this ability to track body sensation, which helps survivors access present reality, is an essential tool for self-care, independence, and personal safety. Given the challenges that individuals must brave after surviving sexual trauma, a comprehensive yoga practice involving organic movement, exploring sensation, intentional breathing, and deep rest can powerfully aid their healing. As there is no one response to being sexually assaulted, there too is no one way in which we heal and therefore the way a survivor engages in their yoga practice may vary dramatically. Some survivors benefit from the rhythmic feeling of a fluid vinyasa practice, or alternately, they may seek out the profound comfort and spaciousness that accompanies a yin yoga practice. They may desire both. The yoga practice can be specifically tailored and adapted to support and enhance a survivor’s needs, their sense of embodiment, integration, and peace.

As a deeply personalized, holistic, and nervous-system centered method of addressing trauma, Somatic Experiencing is ideal for working with the trauma of sexual violence. SE incorporates a blend of working with a variety of channels of experience, including: sensation, imagery, behavior, affect/emotion, and meaning-making (SE refers to this as “SIBAM”). It is important to note that no one “channel” is better or less than another – they all contribute to the whole that makes up our “somatic experience”. SIBAM offers survivors range of entry points into our work, and for some survivors, sensation may be the last channel of experience they can comfortably explore. Survivors are reminded that they can tap into various aspects of their own embodied experience beyond sensation, notice the unique ways in which their being has encoded trauma, and also, to appreciate all the ways their being experiences and interacts with the world. SE values and privileges the organic intelligence within each and every one of us that informs and guides the work between the practitioner and client. The client leads and the practitioner shares SE from a place of invitation, consent, and empowerment. In a guided, contained, and nonjudgmental space, survivors can more safely explore and release beliefs, emotions, and patterns of physical posturing and sensations that may have served in survival, and yet are now inhibiting the flow of their own healing energy. The way their body has supported them thus far is honored, and what the body is choosing next is invited into the space. In time, survivors can transform an adversarial relationship with their body, where the body may become a key ally in their healing.

Both yoga and Somatic Experiencing enable us to recognize that the body can be an amazing teacher, communicating with us through symptoms and calling us into the present moment to notice what within us is needing care. These practices allow survivors to cultivate inner resources that allow them to trust they can tolerate and integrate in meaningful ways what arises in their body and life. Through this work, they can build a sense of embodied justice from within, literally re-building a body, a nervous system, and a spirit that has the capacity to hold their deepest losses alongside their greatest joys.

Essentially, every aspect of our work together is modified to meet the survivor’s specific needs, strengths, and goals. This is a best practice in teaching yoga as well as a best practice in healing trauma. I work slowly and collaboratively with clients so that the practice of healing feels accessible, flexible, and so that they are clear that they are always in control of the experience.

The practice of yoga and SE can be a space to learn how to expand ways of managing sensation - unpleasant and pleasant - and to re-establish a sense of control, which includes ongoing communication between the instructor and the client. We utilize techniques within the yoga practice, whether through the body, the breath, or the mind, as a way to establish a sense of presence within one’s immediate experience of the here and now. Within SE, we use felt experience, images, thoughts, and behaviors to track and nurture what is wanting to move through the nervous system. In both spaces, building the skills to orient to the present moment is part of our work together.

When I teach yoga, I am intentional about communicating up front and continuously, that the practice, the pace, and the postures themselves, are invitations and not directives. If something starts to feel overwhelming during our time together, the student is clear about their many options – choosing other postures, alternate breathing techniques, ways to rest, and also, how to signal to me, verbally and nonverbally, that something in their experience needs attention or modification. Truly, a real sense of options, and ongoing encouragement to explore them in a way that makes sense and feels accessible to the student is essential in any kind of yoga class – whether or not we are knowingly teaching survivors.

When I work one-on-one with a survivor, we can gauge together what is the proper balance of movement, breathing exercises, meditation, and relaxation from one practice to the next. Fluid and dynamic movement can help shift bodily anxiety, while longer held, supported postures can facilitate deep rest and a release of body/mind bracing through a lessening of muscular tension. The balance of effort and rest is unique to each person’s system and is not static. Some students may have a particular interest in movements or poses that can focus the mind, soothe their nervous system when they feel overwhelmed, or strengthen their physical body, whereas others may be more drawn to guided meditation, breathing exercises, or exploring yoga philosophy and foundational yogic texts. There is space for all of this within the practice and I will point students towards places of more specific or advanced yogic study when appropriate.

With the student’s participation, we can assess on an ongoing basis the student’s needs, which may change over time, such as frequency of meeting, space/physical location of where the class takes place, adjustments/hands on assists in the poses, how we prioritize physical movement, breathing exercises, and meditation, etc. I will continually check in with the student within the class session and throughout our time working together to ensure they feel a sense of embodied safety and control within the experience of practicing together.

I am receptive and inviting of client feedback which allows me to adapt my approach. I can provide referrals for other healing modalities that might complement and enhance our work together, modalities that may better serve the survivor’s needs, or other yoga teachers who may be a better match. I truly believe we are our own best teachers and I am attentive in listening and responding to the unique needs of my students – only they can truly know their experience. While I am passionate about yoga and SE as methods for transforming trauma, I also recognize they are not the only methods. I have a strong referral network of other trauma-informed healers (acupuncture, craniosacral therapy, naturopathy, EMDR, equine-assisted therapy, psychotherapy, massage, energy work, etc.) that I often recommend. Importantly, I am dedicated to nourishing my personal yoga and SE practices, and deepening my studies as both a student and practitioner by receiving ongoing mentorship and case consultation from my yoga and SE teachers.

As a trauma renegotiation practice, Somatic Experiencing was designed to meet the specific needs of the individual. SE offers me a variety of ways to work with people – whether through exploration of sensation, imagery, meaning-making, behavior or emotion – with a keen awareness of tracking how the person is experiencing their present time reality through these different channels. Some of us can clearly connect with sensation but have a harder time with imagery. Or perhaps we have done a lot of meaning-making of our experience yet our capacity to sense inside feels foggy. We are working to strengthen and create more balance through those channels of experience. SE can involve co-regulatory touch for the purposes of grounding or stabilizing a person, however, touch is not necessary. When touch is applied, it is a very simple contact that only occurs with the client’s embodied consent and understanding that they can withdraw consent at any time.

Ultimately, SE is a collaborative practice, as I believe all healing should be. I am not directing the experience, rather, I am curious about, tracking, and following the signals of the survivor. I am dedicated to nurturing my own nervous system stability, flexibility, and capacity as it offers a container for the complexities of my clients' bodily biography to emerge. Importantly, I draw awareness to the client’s noticing of their own inbuilt resources, capacity, and wisdom and we spend time truly valorizing the brilliance of their being and recognizing them as the primary healer in the space.

I am accountable to survivors of sexual trauma whether or not they work with me directly, and through my work with The Breathe Network, I am accountable to the practitioners who serve survivors. As a nonclinical practitioner working with trauma survivors, I believe it is essential that I maintain my membership with Somatic Experiencing International and the Yoga Alliance. Both institutions have grievance policies and clearly defined processes for how to address complaints. I share this information with all of my clients in my intake form, so that they understand I am beholden to the expectations of these institutions and if I fail in some way to meet those expectations, there is an action they can take.

Importantly, as a white woman who is is committed to continuously deepening my learning, practice, and embodiment of anti-racist and anti-oppression frameworks, I am intentional about facing, critiquing, and grappling with the ideologies of white supremacy, racism, colonialism through my studies with BIPOC educators and anti-racist white educators. I participated in Resmaa Menakem’s somatic abolitionism course in 2020 and We Are Finding Freedom in 2022.

I have been in the active process of developing a restorative justice council for The Breathe Network community in order to provide more non-carceral pathways to individual and organizational accountability regarding individual and systemic harm. This has been a slow and steady progression of dialogue, mentorship, consulting, and research which remains ongoing.

Personally, I receive monthly supervision from a seasoned Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), as well as continue to receive ongoing personal SE sessions. I also maintain a relationship with my yoga mentor and seek out their counsel from time to time to support my sustainability and integrity in my work with survivors, and beyond.

I maintain a number of sliding-scale spots within my practice for yoga and Somatic Experiencing clients, and when those spots are full, I can refer people to my colleagues who also offer a sliding-scale. Within my trauma-informed yoga trainings and workshops, I reserve full and partial scholarships for BIPOC health and healing practitioners.

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Learn more about Molly’s work with yoga for addressing the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and energetic impacts of sexual trauma in her essay Transcending the Trauma of Sexual Violence with Yoga, as well as her essay Can Yoga Really Help Us Heal Trauma?  which explores the ways in which yoga can be an integral component of learning to re-inhabit one’s body in the wake of trauma. Her essay, Freeze Leads to Survival, provides a more in-depth introduction to Somatic Experiencing theory and why this practice can be of profound benefit for sexual trauma recovery. For a more in-depth exploration as to the physiology of how the body survives and heals after sexual trauma as understood through SE, along with the complexities that survivors are facing during the Covid-19 pandemic, you can read The Imprints of Sexual Trauma: How the Covid-19 Pandemic May Trigger Survivors. In Practicing Embodied Boundaries she describes the challenges and resources survivors encounter in claiming their rights to their own, unique physical, psychological, and energetic space as well as somatic tools for boundary support.