This has been a long time coming, several months in fact. I started the course at the beginning of the first lockdown in March. I thought, ‘eh it’ll be easy and I’ll get it done in a couple of months’.

I did not.

Indeed, to date this course, The Trauma-Informed Professional certified by ChildBirth International and accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, has been by far the hardest to finish of any I’ve taken for in my yoga journey over the past years.

Why? Because during the course I had to work through my own underlying traumas, things I thought that no longer affected me… boy was I wrong. They did. And it was a struggle to work through the material, to read the case studies. Not to mention the onset and development of the pandemic in which we are currently living.

The course took me a lot longer because I had to stop for awhile and reflect on my own past and work through it. In many ways, I’m grateful to the course just for that, for really helping me identify and name some of the things I’ve been struggling with over the years. To really understand, accept and to forgive—forgive myself. All of which is important to do before I can truly help the people who come to me.

The course focused on trauma and how it relates to pregnancy and childbirth. I chose to do the course, because I know how difficult trauma and mental health can be without having gone through birth and having children dependant on you. I know that birth itself can be difficult for many people who have little to no mental health issues. And as a pregnancy yoga instructor, prenatal and postnatal, I want to be able to support as best I can the pregnant people and their partners who come to me during this life-changing time.

But the truth is, while focused on trauma as it relates to pregnancy, the course opened my eyes to how important a trauma-informed space is for everyone. We all have things in our life that affects us traumatically, and perhaps even more when our world is in a pandemic. Any past traumas can easily be exacerbated through the pressure of our current state of affairs.

Mental health in general is struggling right now on a global scale. It is important that the spaces we enter to help us through these hard times (like yoga classes) make us feel safe and supported. Spaces that truly allow us to shed our stress, fears, anxieties, traumas, at our own pace, little layer by little layer, without feeling pressure to be or do something we aren’t or perhaps aren’t ready for.

I am more conscious in my teaching and holding space for the people who join the sessions I hold and myself. And while I have always tried to do this, this course has truly helped me understand how important it is and to give me the tools to do it better.

That being said, I know I still have lots to learn and it will be a continual journey of learning, as with everything.