Yoga For Healing Trauma: The Fawn Response

The word trauma has Greek origins meaning “wound”. Trauma is the detritus, wound, or scar, that is left imprinted on the nervous system after a painful event. Trauma is not only what happened to us, it is also, and perhaps more importantly, the psychosomatic memory that remains in us.

Most of us are familiar with the trauma responses of fight, flight, and freeze. Yet there is a fourth trauma response called fawning, coined and pioneered by psychotherapist and complex trauma expert Pete Walker. The fawn response is a hybrid response, meaning it has two mechanisms. First, our body braces or constricts in response to something or someone that feels threatening. The second mechanism of fawning is performance. When we feel unsafe to express our full truth, a part of us will perform the yes in order to stay safe. Ultimately, fawning is the act of pleasing and appeasing people in order to avoid conflict. This occurs because somewhere along our life path we learned that it wasn’t safe to express our truth, ask questions, or disagree. Understanding fawning is a key component to understanding systemic injustice as it affects marginalized populations.

The life-affirming practices shared here are grounded in Patanjali yoga and contemporary trauma theory, research, and practice. My intention is to support you in embodying an understanding of how the trauma response of fawning impacts your health, vitality, and authenticity. I hope you will benefit from the teachings shared here and that they will serve as useful tools in your day-to-day life.

Lección 1: Establishing Witness Awareness

In our first lesson, Establishing Witness Awareness, we will familiarize ourselves with Patanjali's definition of yoga in yoga sutras 1.2 and 1.3. From there, we will practice embodying witness consciousness through traditional yogic techniques; establishing an anchor point in the heart that becomes a safe place for us to return to as we move through the rest of the course.

Lección 2: The Art of Attunement

In our second lesson together The Art of Attunement, we will build upon the previous practice of establishing witness awareness by exploring the importance of what we give our attention to. Our most precious and vital resources are our time and attention. When it comes to understanding and healing trauma, especially fawning and people pleasing, it is critical to reclaim agency over our attention.

Lección 3: Bracing & Expanding

In our third lesson Bracing & Expanding, we will co-create an embodied memory to help us understand the physiology of a trauma response. Utilizing non-dual awareness and somatic methodologies, we will build upon the skills already introduced in this course and deepen our understanding of what is happening in our bodies when we are triggered.

Lección 4: Who Am I?

In our fourth lesson Who Am I? we will reflect on the subject of identity through the teachings of the five Pancha Kleshas, the primary causes of suffering in Patanjali Yoga. From there, we will practice Atma Vichara or Self-Knowledge meditation to clarify what it is we truly want and how we are going to align our actions with our desires.

Lección 5: Uncoupling Samskaras

In this lesson, Uncoupling Samskaras, we will deepen our understanding of how stress and trauma impact our behavioral loops. We will learn about the theory of Couplings as developed by Peter Levine and how it relates to the philosophy of Samskara in Patanjali Yoga. From there, we will integrate our understanding of these ideas through a short Yoga Nidra practice.

Lección 6: Channeling Grief & Rage

In this lesson on Channeling Grief & Rage, we will reflect on the intelligence of difficult emotions. What are they here to teach us? How do grief and rage specifically, help us to reclaim our boundaries and agency in the world? We will then work with a visualization to help us somatically process these challenging albeit liberating emotions.

Lección 7: Your True Nature is Courageous

In our final lesson together, we will weave together everything we have learned in Your True Nature is Courageous. This session is designed to leave you feeling an embodied connection to your courage, authenticity, and agency as you move forward in your life and relationships.

Reviews

I loved the way everything was broken down into manageable bites. Blending ancient yogic principles and modern neuroscience resonated with me. Thank you! I will return to this course in the future to absorb your deep wisdom for sure.