yogaHOPE: Working to Empower Women Through Yoga and Mindfulness

• In Event: Rehabilitation in the Punitive Era: Reducing Recidivism with Dance, Art, Yoga, and Meditation

Abstract

In this presentation, I will discuss my work with the organization yogaHOPE, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing rehabilitative trauma-informed mind-body programming to women across the globe. YogaHOPE strives to lead women toward empowerment and recovery by cultivating mindfulness through yoga, meditation, and non-judgmental self-inquiry. YogaHOPE’s focus is on the implementation of a Trauma Informed Mind Body (TIMBo) program offering a deliverable, research-based curriculum addressing the ways in which mind-body practices allow for long-term traumatic stress recovery. TIMBo was developed specifically for women suffering from chronic trauma, addiction and/or abuse and offers women the tools needed to address the psycho-social, emotional, and physiological root causes, and enabling them to heal from trauma and to improve emotional regulation. The program is evidence-based, trauma-informed, and gender-responsive, utilizing the strengths that already are present in female survivors of trauma. The curriculum has been offered to survivors through a train the trainer model, both in the US and internationally, including implementation in a women’s prison where women were certified and are now facilitating the program.

Author

• Danielle M. Rousseau, Boston University