Bo Forbes Yoga

It isnt easy being at home in the body!

CONTINUUM OF EMBODIMENT
Disassociation
Embodied Awareness
Exteroception

Good Movement
Proprioception
Interoception

Total disconnect from

Mindfulness
Awareness
in the of body only in
body. Whats
body. What
relation
is to where it is in
happening outside
of
happening
space.
in myHow
body
I move through
us?
from onespace
moment
without
to knocking into
the next.things.
What is it like
HE BODY to listen and feel into
IS LIKE A WILDERNESS
sensations as they
move.
ALWAYS
CHANGING AND WITH AN

INCREDIBLE SENSE OF VULNERABILITY.

The smartest thing in the room is the intelligence

in the body. The body is the vehicle to
enlightenment.
Bo Forbes

When you change your brain, you change your life. Rick
Hanson, PH.D
Its not just change your mind, change your brain and body. Its
also change your body, change your mind and brain. Bo
Forbes
You have the ingredients within you to turn existence into joy,
mix them. Hafiz

You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you
can steer yourself in any direction you choose. Dr. Seuss
BFY continued

Hot Spots for Disassociation/ also Hot Spots for

Interoception
1. Feet
2. Abdomen
3. Heart/upper Spine
4. Throat/jaw
5. Cervical spine
YOGA PRACTICE LAB
Get a baseline
1. Physical energy level
2. Am I in my body?
3. What is the speed of my mind?
4. How is my nervous system?
5. What is the depth of my breath?
6. Any pain issues?
7. Any emotional issues?
Practice: Occipital Massage (feel the difference)
As we bring people in, we want to anchor awareness, or
build a frame around it.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Turn down the visual cues and go for language.

Cue to feel the difference before and after.
Cue to place hands on body.
Slow down movement.
Novel movement. (heinous lunge, etc)
Attention to transitions. Draw them out.
Use language to move people toward awareness, then
breath, then action.

BFY continued
By 2020 Anxiety and Depression will be the #2 global health
problem according to the World Health Organization.
Top Tools to Balance the Autonomic Nervous System
(turning on the dimmer switch)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Yoga Practice Lab (check in or body scan)

Deeper Breathing
Restorative Yoga
Core work
Tissue work

Easy examples to add into a yoga practice

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Childs pose with head on block (engages the vagus nerve)

Hands on belly/chest, breathe into the space
Use of eye pillow (stimulates vagus nerve)
Use of sand bag or weight (grounding)
Football (rolling foot on a tennis ball) or other rolling work.

Mindful Movement can transform us!

Slow movement
Attention to transition
Losing our momentum
Connective tissue work
(Connective tissue is the doorway to embodiment. It has 10
X more sensory nerve endings than muscle.)
We have been raised with the idea of mastery. That is
the opposite of mindfulness. Bo Forbes

Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD The Body Keeps The Score:

Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.The
leading researcher on Trauma and the brain uses the latest
scientific advance to show how trauma literally reshapes both the
body and the brain. He has proven with the new research how
innovative treatments, such as yoga and meditation engage and
activate the brains natural neuroplasticity.
In yoga you focus your attention on your breathing and on your
sensations moment to moment. You begin to notice the
connection between your emotions and your body. It helps you
stop trying to ignore what is going on inside you. Yoga is an
important step in the overall healing of trauma. Bessel Van Der
Kolk
Lisa Danylchuk, Embodied Healing (Yogaworks, San
Francisco)
Trauma Informed YogaMistakes yoga teachers make:
1. Dont try to make something happen when dealing with an
emotional student. Step back from good intentions and
eagerness. More important that you hold a safe space for
student. Allow them to be with the feelings. Dont be pulled
in to become the fixer.
2. When someone pours their heart out in distress and you feel
as if it is all falling on you, your reaction may be to jump into
the fire. Rather, step back and encourage self supports. Do
you have a friend you can talk to about this. Encourage
them to utilize their resources, building their inner strength
and empowerment, rather than creating a dependence.
3. Dont take anything that happens in class personally.
Someone walks out, or is rude, continue to be respectful.
Having an understanding of human behavior will help you to
realize there are many things going on for everyone in your
class and you are only responsible for doing your best class
and being respectful of all regardless of what is going on

with them. Keeping your perspective and remembering it

isnt all about you!
The Trauma Informed Class provides physical, mental/emotional,
and energetic safety for students. The room is safe, students are
safe with each other, your instruction is safe
As we begin to re-experience a visceral reconnection with the
needs of our bodies, there is a brand new capacity to warmly love
the self. We experience a new quality of authenticity in our caring,
which redirects our attention to our health, our diets, our energy,
our time management. This enhanced care for the self arises
spontaneously and naturally, not as a response to a should. We
are able to experience immediate and intrinsic pleasure in selfcare.
-Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self