TCTSY is the first yoga-based, empirically validated clinical intervention for complex trauma or chronic, treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Developed originally at the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts by Dave Emerson and Jenn Turner, in collaboration with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) is now a program of the Center for Trauma and Embodiment, a non-profit organization dedicated to training and educating trauma-informed professionals around the world in innovative interventions for treating trauma.
Even though the treatment of trauma has been historically focused on the mind and behavior alone, it is now widely accepted in the trauma literature that remembering the body amd how trauma impacts all of our being is significantly beneficial (Ogden, Van der Kolk, Levine, Rothschild, Emerson, Haines).
Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) is not talk therapy, and it is not a traditional yoga class.
It is an evidence-based, body-led therapeutic approach that supports healing from trauma by working directly with the nervous system and the body. TCTSY is designed to complement psychotherapy and other healing modalities, offering a profound pathway for embodied trauma resolution when words alone are not enough.
Unlike most yoga practices, TCTSY does not focus on performance, flexibility, alignment, or achieving particular shapes. There are no goals to reach and nothing to “fix.” Instead, the practice centers empowerment through choice, invitation, autonomy, interoceptive awareness, and personal agency. The emphasis is on your relationship with your own body, rather than on external form.
A Body-First Approach to Trauma Healing
TCTSY creates a safe-enough environment to gently explore what may be happening inside your body and nervous system. Through simple, intentional movement and present-moment awareness, participants are invited to notice sensations, make choices, and reclaim voice and agency at their own pace.
This approach supports a gradual shift from chronic survival and protection toward greater capacity, self-trust, and embodied choice. Healing here does not come from pushing or reliving the past, but from creating new experiences of agency and safety in the present moment.
TCTSY is an evidence-based intervention (EBI) for complex trauma (C-PTSD) and PTSD, informed by:
trauma theory
attachment theory
neurobiology and nervous system science
and the philosophy of hatha yoga
It was developed by David Emerson in collaboration with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk at the Trauma Center in Massachusetts, now known as The Center for Trauma and Embodiment (CTE), a global leader in body-first trauma care. The model is supported by over 20 years of clinical research demonstrating its effectiveness in trauma recovery.
A formal trauma diagnosis is not required to participate. Your experience is valid.
TCTSY welcomes people of all backgrounds, abilities, ages, genders, and sexual orientations. It is particularly supportive for those who:
live with the effects of chronic stress, developmental trauma, or complex trauma
feel disconnected from their body or overwhelmed by sensation or emotion
want to integrate the body into cognitive or verbal therapeutic work
are seeking a gentle, non-pathologizing way to rebuild body trust
In TCTSY, trauma symptoms are not viewed as disorders, but as implicit (unconscious) survival memories held in the body, subcortical brain, and autonomic nervous system. The practice meets these adaptations with respect rather than force.
if something inside you is curious...
feel free to reach out.
TCTSY clinical study participant
“With yoga, I reclaimed my body. That is a gift because I so hated my body. Or I claimed it, not reclaimed, because I was so young. I claimed it. It was a long process to consider myself not an outline. … I think yoga helped define me. Just inhabiting my own skin is a major step forward.”
all of you belongs here
TCTSY is now recognised as the third wave of psychotherapies!
Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) is increasingly recognized as part of the “third wave” of psychotherapy, reflecting a broader shift within the mental health field toward body-based, contextual, and mindfulness-informed approaches to healing.
Early cognitive and behavioural therapies focused primarily on how thoughts influence emotions and behaviour. While these models remain valuable, contemporary psychotherapy has expanded to acknowledge the central role of bodily sensations, nervous system processes, and present-moment awareness in psychological wellbeing (Beck, 2021; Hayes & Hofmann, 2021).
Third-wave behavioural therapies bring two critical elements into therapeutic care: context and the body (Öst, 2008). This shift mirrors an evolving understanding of trauma itself. Rather than viewing trauma solely as a single, isolated event, the field now recognizes more pervasive and cumulative forms of trauma, including complex trauma (WHO, 2019), systemic and racialized trauma (Comas-Díaz et al., 2019), and collective trauma (Wu et al., 2024).
This broader lens is especially relevant as we live within overlapping global crises marked by health inequities, racial disparities (Zhou et al., 2022), and climate-related stress and instability (Watson et al., 2020).
where TCTSY fits
Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY; Center for Trauma and Embodiment, 2024) is a body-first therapeutic approach that explicitly considers both the individual and their broader social, historical, and relational context. It brings the body into trauma healing in a way that is structured, evidence-based, and grounded in nervous system science.
TCTSY is part of a growing movement within mental health care to engage the body directly in the treatment of psychological trauma and PTSD, particularly in cases of severe or complex trauma where talk-based therapies alone may be less effective.
Research and Clinical Evidence
In 2021, a landmark randomized controlled trial provided further evidence that Trauma-Sensitive Yoga is as effective as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), a gold-standard trauma treatment, for individuals with complex trauma and PTSD. The study focused on women veterans who experienced military sexual trauma-related PTSD.
The findings were significant:
Participants in the TCTSY group experienced faster symptom relief
Nearly twice as many participants completed the TCTSY protocol, with a 42.6% higher completion rate compared to CPT
Long-term outcomes were maintained equally well over time in both groups
These results highlight not only effectiveness, but also accessibility and tolerability, key factors in trauma treatment where dropout rates are often high.
TCTSY continues to evolve through ongoing research and clinical application. Its effectiveness supports a now widely accepted understanding within trauma science: trauma impacts the body and nervous system, not just the mind. As a result, many contemporary trauma treatments now integrate body-based interventions as essential components of care.
Ethics, Training, and Accountability
All certified TCTSY facilitators engage in ongoing supervision and are required to renew their certification annually under the guidance of David Emerson, the method’s creator. This commitment ensures clinical integrity, ethical accountability, and continuous professional development through mentorship.
TCTSY facilitators also uphold The Ways of Being: Ethical Guidelines, which explicitly recognize that trauma takes many forms, including experiences shaped by:
race and ethnicity
gender, sex, and sexuality
socio-economic class
religion and spirituality
immigration status
physical embodiment and ability
neurodiversity
and interactions with mental health systems
At the heart of this work is a clear ethical stance: to minimize or silence the voice of a trauma survivor is itself a form of trauma.
For this reason, all TCTSY programs commit to centering the survivor’s lived experience, honoring choice, agency, and voice as foundational elements of healing.
TCTSY clinical study participant
“Sometimes when I felt triggered, it was like somebody else used this body and it doesn’t feel good, and I will never feel good. And now I can stretch and feel good. That can be really helpful. If I feel like I am dissociating to be like, okay these are my hands, this is my body, and even that there are things that my body can do. Instead of feeling like my mind and body are aliens to each other, being like, well look, I can stretch and touch my toes now. Who would have thought that possible? I feel like I have more ownership of my body and feel more of a part of it.”
Judith Herman Trauma and Recovery (1992)
if something inside you is curious...
feel free to reach out.
Why the Body Matters in Trauma Healing
Trauma doesn’t only live in memory or thought. Extensive research shows that overwhelming survival stress impacts the brain, autonomic nervous system, and body, shaping how we regulate emotion, respond to stress, relate to others, and experience ourselves in the present moment.
When threat exceeds our capacity to cope, the nervous system shifts into protection. Memory processing can become fragmented. Instead of being stored as a clear narrative with a beginning and an end, traumatic experiences may remain as implicit body memories: sensations, emotions, images, sounds, or impulses that arise without a clear timestamp. This is not a malfunction. It is the nervous system doing its job to keep us alive.
Attachment science further shows that many of our earliest experiences are preverbal and non-cognitive, held as patterns of sensation, movement, and affect in the body. These early imprints shape how safe we feel in ourselves, in relationships, and in the world.
Interoception, our ability to sense ourselves from the inside, is a core survival skill. When caregiving environments are attuned and responsive enough, this capacity develops in a way that supports regulation and trust. When they are not, the nervous system may learn to disconnect, shut down, or remain on high alert. Again, these are protective adaptations, not failures.
As Bessel van der Kolk writes, “For real change to take place, the body needs to learn that the danger has passed and to live in the reality of the present.”
This is why approaches that include the body can be essential, especially when words are not available or sufficient.
Trauma Healing Yoga TCTSY offers a body-first, non-judgemental pathway to gently restore connection, agency, and choice. Through mindful movement, breath, and present-moment awareness, individuals are supported in relating differently to their internal experience and in cultivating a safer, more compassionate relationship with their body and nervous system.
A free initial consultation via Zoom, Google Meet, or phone is required before purchasing a session. This is a space for us to get to know each other, explore your intentions and expectations, and for you to ask any questions you may have, so you can feel into whether this support is the right fit for you.
experience a TCTSY session on YouTube
try this 8 minute session
try this 15 minute session (in polish)
all of you belongs here
What happens during a TCTSY offering?
A TCTSY session offers gentle opportunities to be in your body, notice your breath, move slowly, or pause in stillness, always in the present moment.
There are no physical adjustments or assists. I will not be watching or correcting you. I practice alongside you, seated or on my mat, supporting a sense of shared presence rather than observation.
The practice is guided using invitational language. You will never be told what to do with your body. You are always in charge, and choosing not to do something is just as meaningful as choosing to move.
You’ll be offered choices, with accessible options, and invited to explore what feels supportive for you based on what you notice or feel (or don’t feel) in your body.
Through interoception, you may explore your felt sense: internal sensations, emotions, or shifts in energy while resting, moving, or transitioning between shapes.
The practice creates a safe enough environment to gently notice survival stress or trauma responses that may still be present in the body, without forcing anything to change. This can support insight, agency, and the ability to move from habitual protection toward greater capacity and choice.
There is no sharing, processing, or talking about your past during the session. This can feel relieving, especially if talk-based approaches have not brought the support you’re looking for.
TCTSY is available to individuals experiencing PTSD or complex trauma (C-PTSD), including relational, developmental, systemic, or collective trauma. You do not need a formal diagnosis or prior yoga experience to participate.
The practice is always adapted to your body, abilities, and current well-being.
This is your yoga.
what do I need for an online TCTSY session?
You don’t need anything special, but if you like you could bring a yoga mat,a chair, blanket, or yoga blocks/books. You are welcome to wear anything that you like.
TCTSY in an online format is more and more commonly used and the benefits are the same as when practicing in person. The added bonus is that you can practice fret the safety and comfort of your own space and You don’t have to turn your camera on.
A free initial consultation via Zoom, Google Meet, or phone is required before purchasing a session. This is a space for us to get to know each other, explore your intentions and expectations, and for you to ask any questions you may have, so you can feel into whether this support is the right fit for you.
Pricing & Accessibility
TCTSY sessions are offered online (50 minutes each).
For clients outside of Poland:
• Single session: $100
• Package of 4 sessions: $350
For residents of Poland:
• Single session: $70
• Package of 4 sessions: $260
I believe healing support should be accessible. Sliding scale options may be available depending on your circumstances.
Please feel free to reach out to me directly if cost is a barrier and we can explore options together.
A free initial consultation is required before purchasing a session.
— Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother’s Hands
English 
Polski