Yoga for trauma survivors
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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for taking the time to consider my gofundme.
It's taken me a long time to create this page because I have a really hard time asking for money! However, the time has come for me to spread my wings and make this my full time job, which requires asking for help.
My name is Dana Marion and I run a very small non-profit organization (so small it's just me at the moment!) called New Roots Yoga. Our mission is to bring free yoga classes to trauma survivors, either living in treatment facilities, transitional living shelters or making use of outpatient mental health treatment.
I am a certified yoga teacher, with additional certification to teach Veterans with PTSD. I have a Master's degree in community development and nonprofit management and had been working in the field of anti-human trafficking both in the US and in Europe in Albania.
I was certified to teach yoga in April 2015 and established the non-profit mobile yoga studio, New Roots Yoga, in June 2015. Shortly after, I began to teach classes at a local shelter for women who are survivors of sex trafficking. I began teaching at another shelter for women recovering from drug addiction, many of whom are trauma survivors, a few months after that. These classes are an integral part of their rehabilitation process. It provides a safe, stable place for them to connect with themselves. In yoga, we subtly tackle several issues that these women deal with on a daily basis such as: finding a healthy balance, self care, self esteem, respecting boundaries and limits, making and reaching goals, feeling safe, and many more. Many of my students have started class a very different person than the one who leaves. I have proudly watched one of my students graduate from the shelter and move back home with her parents. I have proudly watched several of my students blossom from angry or timid or apathetic women to confident, motivated and engaged women.
Yoga is a beautiful and special compliment to those suffering from trauma or addiction recovery because it provides a predictable, and safe space for the student to come every week. The only expectation is that you show up to class and breath, and this allows students the freedom to listen to what their bodies need each week. Yoga also allows that student to come to class and discover a piece of themself. It is an amazing thing to watch a student's mentality transform from viewing their bodies as something weak and ugly that's been used or that they are ashamed of to something they now view as beautiful and powerful and strong. This is the ultimate gift to give to these women: the ability to reclaim their bodies as their own.
A few weeks ago, I just completed a training with Veterans Yoga Project, to teach yoga to Vets with PTSD. I am really looking forward to taking yoga into the vet centers, like the VFW, and offering classes to Vets. For Vets yoga has shown to be extremely beneficial in the management of PTSD because of the calming benefits to the nervous system. Many VAs are already implementing yoga as a part of their therapy programs because of the positive effects Vets have reported after taking yoga classes, like reduced anxiety, anxiety management, and improved sleep to name a few. I am so excited and humbled to begin working with this population.
Now that I have been teaching for over a year, I am ready to finally take a leap of faith and transition into pursuing this full time. Your generous donation would go 100% to providing classes to these women or to the Vets. I offer 100% free classes to all of the shelters I work with and would like to continue this for the community based Vet centers. If you cannot make a donation, I would be thrilled and so appreciative if you could just share this on social media.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read all of this. I have provided a few links on the benefits of yoga for trauma survivors and those in addiction recovery, if
You're interested in some additional reading. Thanks again!!
Namaste,
Dana
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SBekDJn-6Jc
http://commonhealth.legacy.wbur.org/2010/12/harvard-brigham-medical-study-yoga-veterans-ptsd
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/yoga-for/yoga-for-veterans/5-ways-yoga-helps-treat-ptsd/
http://layoga.com/practice/yoga-therapy/healing-the-trauma-of-modern-day-slavery/
It's taken me a long time to create this page because I have a really hard time asking for money! However, the time has come for me to spread my wings and make this my full time job, which requires asking for help.
My name is Dana Marion and I run a very small non-profit organization (so small it's just me at the moment!) called New Roots Yoga. Our mission is to bring free yoga classes to trauma survivors, either living in treatment facilities, transitional living shelters or making use of outpatient mental health treatment.
I am a certified yoga teacher, with additional certification to teach Veterans with PTSD. I have a Master's degree in community development and nonprofit management and had been working in the field of anti-human trafficking both in the US and in Europe in Albania.
I was certified to teach yoga in April 2015 and established the non-profit mobile yoga studio, New Roots Yoga, in June 2015. Shortly after, I began to teach classes at a local shelter for women who are survivors of sex trafficking. I began teaching at another shelter for women recovering from drug addiction, many of whom are trauma survivors, a few months after that. These classes are an integral part of their rehabilitation process. It provides a safe, stable place for them to connect with themselves. In yoga, we subtly tackle several issues that these women deal with on a daily basis such as: finding a healthy balance, self care, self esteem, respecting boundaries and limits, making and reaching goals, feeling safe, and many more. Many of my students have started class a very different person than the one who leaves. I have proudly watched one of my students graduate from the shelter and move back home with her parents. I have proudly watched several of my students blossom from angry or timid or apathetic women to confident, motivated and engaged women.
Yoga is a beautiful and special compliment to those suffering from trauma or addiction recovery because it provides a predictable, and safe space for the student to come every week. The only expectation is that you show up to class and breath, and this allows students the freedom to listen to what their bodies need each week. Yoga also allows that student to come to class and discover a piece of themself. It is an amazing thing to watch a student's mentality transform from viewing their bodies as something weak and ugly that's been used or that they are ashamed of to something they now view as beautiful and powerful and strong. This is the ultimate gift to give to these women: the ability to reclaim their bodies as their own.
A few weeks ago, I just completed a training with Veterans Yoga Project, to teach yoga to Vets with PTSD. I am really looking forward to taking yoga into the vet centers, like the VFW, and offering classes to Vets. For Vets yoga has shown to be extremely beneficial in the management of PTSD because of the calming benefits to the nervous system. Many VAs are already implementing yoga as a part of their therapy programs because of the positive effects Vets have reported after taking yoga classes, like reduced anxiety, anxiety management, and improved sleep to name a few. I am so excited and humbled to begin working with this population.
Now that I have been teaching for over a year, I am ready to finally take a leap of faith and transition into pursuing this full time. Your generous donation would go 100% to providing classes to these women or to the Vets. I offer 100% free classes to all of the shelters I work with and would like to continue this for the community based Vet centers. If you cannot make a donation, I would be thrilled and so appreciative if you could just share this on social media.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read all of this. I have provided a few links on the benefits of yoga for trauma survivors and those in addiction recovery, if
You're interested in some additional reading. Thanks again!!
Namaste,
Dana
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SBekDJn-6Jc
http://commonhealth.legacy.wbur.org/2010/12/harvard-brigham-medical-study-yoga-veterans-ptsd
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/yoga-for/yoga-for-veterans/5-ways-yoga-helps-treat-ptsd/
http://layoga.com/practice/yoga-therapy/healing-the-trauma-of-modern-day-slavery/
Organizer
Dana Marion
Organizer
Easton, PA
