Solemarch - Yoga For Trauma
A 25 hour in person yoga teacher training
November 8-9, 2025
9am-6pm
Balance Arts Center
151 West 30th Street, 3rd floor
New York, NY
Solemarch - Yoga for Trauma is a 25 hour weekend training, meant to lay the foundation for teaching yoga to people who have experienced trauma.
We live in an incredibly diverse society, with equally diverse life experiences. How anyone responds to any one type of traumatic experience varies from person to person. There is no right or wrong way to respond to any stressful event, but how we treat each other and ourselves sometimes requires more care and consideration.
After more traumatic experiences, such as rape, war, systemic racism, car accidents, losing a loved one or physical, sexual or verbal abuse, to name only a few, most of us would benefit from a type of yoga or meditation practice that is unlike your typical “open” class. For a traumatized individual, those classes can seem intimidating, alienating and simply not comforting. In this training, you will learn some methods and concepts of teaching a class for those who’ve experienced trauma and need something different from conventional offerings of yoga.
We will explore the impact of racial trauma and how important it is to hold space for the lived experiences of people of color. We will explore serving different populations such as communities of color, rape and domestic violence survivors, and veterans and the military community.
This training will include lecture, practicing Yoga for Trauma and practice teaching sessions.
There is some required reading and homework.
Tuition $500
Early bird pricing $425 (ends August 31st)
BIPOC & diversity scholarships are available (full and partial scholarships, submission deadline is August 15th)
*A portion of the proceeds from this training will go to The Practice Coalition.
*You do not need to be a yoga teacher to attend this training. Clinicians and others who work in fields supporting those who have experienced trauma are welcome to attend.
*The 25 hours is made up of 16 hours in person. The rest is required reading, individual study, and homework.
All sessions will be live and in person at Balance Arts Center in midtown Manhattan. Conveniently located near subway lines, Penn Station, and Grand Central Station.
You will learn:
How to plan a Yoga for Trauma class for a particular population
Different types of trauma that people experience
How to pull from your existing knowledge of yoga
How to aim to keep the space and your classes trauma informed
How to teach yoga that is trauma informed for the student(s), while also aiming to respect the roots of yoga
That sanitizing yoga is not the solution for working with vulnerable populations
There is not one way to do this, honor who you are as a yoga teacher
As a group, we will collectively work to keep our learning space respectful of each other.
“Sangeeta’s solemarch - a trauma informed yoga training gave me a greater understanding of how to teach a class with kindness, compassion, and mindfulness.
Sangeeta’s approach creates a safe space that empowers students to learn, practice, make mistakes, and continue to grow. There were many aspects of trauma I did not understand and this training opened my eyes to how influenced we are by different life experiences. With a new understanding of the effects of trauma I feel empowered to offer a safe space for others to explore yoga, reconnect with their bodies, and begin working on their own healing. This training was a life-changing experience for me and I would recommend it to anyone who is hoping to offer yoga as a tool for healing.”
“Lucky for me, I was fortunate enough to take Sangeeta Vallabhan’s first Trauma Yoga Teacher Training in NYC. I have been a student at quite a few Yoga Teacher Trainings, & this is definitely one of the best.
Sangeeta is my favorite type of teacher, in that the importance of what you’re learning is both reinforced & reflected in the qualities of the person who’s teaching the class. She’s a natural educator.
The classes were a healthy balance of being informative, fun, experiential, conversational, & hands on. By the time we got to ‘practice teaching‘, I made it through without falling to pieces like I normally would. In fact, I was shocked to discover how much I enjoyed the process, as well as learned. Sangeeta never ever makes you feel stupid, & is always available to offer honest, as well as caring support. I purposely say it that way because in my experience, very few yoga teacher trainings can genuinely offer the same, sadly. It is rare to find a course this thorough, where one can easily transfer its core to real world settings, whether you teach yoga, or say (sound) meditations, like I do. In short, if you want the real deal (& then some), you’ve found it.”