Openview Yoga
With Keri Sawyer
Keri Sawyer E-RYT 500 Licensed Trainer and Faciliatator
Openview Yoga with Keri Sawyer
Openview Yoga with Keri Sawyer
Keri Sawyer is a licensed Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) trainer and facilitator with the Center for Trauma and Embodiment in Boston, MA, and is a registered E-RYT 500-hour Yoga teacher. Her main focus is to provide TCTSY to trauma survivors of all ages, train yoga teachers and healthcare workers, and provide research-based information and trauma-informed treatment practices to the therapeutic world. She oversees the implementation of TCTSY into therapeutic models in clinical and residential treatment programs across the country along with agency training and regular consultation for therapists and yoga teachers. Keri facilitates TCTSY for adults, adolescents, and pre-teen populations in different settings. Her passion is to provide an opportunity for survivors of trauma to have an authentic experience with a safe and predictable felt sense of their body along with spreading awareness of trauma-informed practices.
Check out Keri's Blog!​
What is Trauma Center ​Trauma Sensitive Yoga?
Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga or TCYSY is an intervention based on sound research from the Trauma Center and The Center for Trauma and Embodiment. TCTSY is an evidence based adjunct treatment for complex trauma (sometimes called chronic or treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder) and is the only yoga-based practice accepted by SAMSHA and NREPP (Accepted 2017). The modality is a modified hatha yoga practice for survivors of trauma with foundations in Trauma Theory, Attachment Theory, and Neuroscience. Based in movement and breath practices, TCTSY was developed to help facilitate the healing process of complex or developmental trauma.
TCTSY is based on the hatha style of yoga, where participants engage in a series of physical forms, movements, and breath practices. Components of standard hatha yoga are modified to maximize empowerment and cultivate a positive relationship with one's body. For instance, TCTSY does not use physical hands-on adjustments to influence a participant's physical form. Instead, the modality presents opportunities for participants to be in charge of themselves based on a felt sense within their own bodies.
The emphasis of TCTSY is not on the external appearance of yoga forms and instead focuses is on the internal experience or felt sense of the participant. Empowerment of the participant is a key component of TCTSY. By focusing on the felt sense of the body to inform choice-making, TCTSY allows participants to restore their connection of mind and body and cultivate a sense of agency that is often compromised as a result of trauma.
