Ep. 14- Yoga and Healing with Sariah Hoffman, Yoga Therapist
/Becky and Tiffany sit down with Sariah Hoffman, a yoga therapist and founder of Backpocket Yoga in Lehi, Utah. She has been teaching yoga for fourteen years and practicing as a yoga therapist for six years. She is the creator of an eight-week yoga therapy program that has helped hundreds of people find themselves after betrayal trauma. Sariah is also the author of the book Beyond Breath. Having gone through betrayal trauma herself, Sariah has used the tools found in her program to find love—love for herself, which has then brought love into her life on all levels.
Sariah experienced betrayal trauma during her first marriage. She discovered that she was believing her husband more than she was believing herself. She practiced yoga during this time, but due to the betrayal trauma she was experiencing, Sariah wasn’t emotionally present during her thousand hours of yoga teacher training.
My spirit was dying. My spirit was speaking to me through my body, but I wasn’t listening.
Engaging in talk therapy was a turning point for Sariah, as was learning to say “no.” Taking care of her body, going to the temple, and praying constantly for discernment also helped. Slowly, she started seeing herself. So, when her husband told her she was crazy and making things up, Sariah was able to ground herself. She knew if she could feel the ground and could breathe, her heart would slow down and then she could focus and see things clearly.
After her divorce, Sariah did the thousand hours of yoga therapist training again and then added more hours, as well, to become certified.
Sariah shares that yoga is the cessation of the fluctuation of the mind. It’s the ceasing of the chaos in your mind. Yoga is not just the postures (asanas) and the breath work. It is the way that you live your life.
You are sacred.
Many people think they can’t do yoga because they aren’t flexible, Sariah says. But any type of body can do yoga. It doesn’t have to be a tough workout.
In the first movement week of her eight-week yoga therapy program, Sariah’s students learn: “I have a right to be here.” They focus on learning to be present in their body, so they can let their body soften and then breathe.
If you change your body, you change your breathing, and then you change your life.
Another misconception about yoga is that it’s a religion. But it’s not. Sariah explains that it actually helps anyone become more firm in their religion, whatever it is. Moving with God, walking with God, is called “yama.” Sariah feels that,
“If I can be with myself, I can be with God always.”
Sariah also explains that our breath is not ours, it’s God’s. He’s lending it to us, so we need to take care of it. “Your breath doesn’t lie. It’s the ‘trying’ to breathe, powering through it, that gets us stuck.” Sariah shares that the irony is, we have to let go of our breath to be able to breathe in and let God take over. When this happens, we have more clarity and our words can come from a grounded place.
Sariah shares that yoga is becoming more prevalent in the therapeutic world because the connection to the body is so important.
Your body holds onto everything.
Therapeutic yoga addresses the emotional backpack that we carry around, Sariah says. Anything that we do not feel lives in the fascia of the body. Every unfelt emotion sits in the fascia and it becomes very tight. Sariah explains that that’s why some yoga postures make you cry, because you’re releasing that fascia.
Sariah shares that another aspect of healing from betrayal trauma that is key is learning about boundaries. All too often, we base our recovery on our husband’s recovery. We still want to be in control. However, yoga teaches you how to learn how to change the dance.
Recovery is discovery.
Healthy, strong boundaries tell you that you have to get yourself to safety, Sariah says. You have to be the one to hold that power, you can’t give the power over your safety to others. She shares that when you feel unsafe, it’s your responsibility to get yourself safe, whatever that looks like. It takes time to learn to trust yourself again after you’ve experienced betrayal trauma, shares Sariah. Learning to trust yourself again helps you recognize the signs that you feel unsafe. Setting boundaries and achieving safety for ourselves changes the dance.
When I feel safe, I can make mistakes and it’s okay.
Sariah shares that another crucial aspect of recovery is learning about the triggers we experience in day-to-day life. Triggers occur even when we really are in a place of safety; they’re reminders and they are going to happen. However, Sariah shares, our triggers are not our partner’s job. Even if he’s the one who did these things to cause the pain and the triggers, our triggers are not his.
When we can check in with ourselves, we realize we just need to get ourselves to safety for a minute. Sariah says, “When we leave it up to someone else to not trigger us, it’s as if we have trigger goggles on, and we’re just looking for triggers.”
Sariah shares that the bottom line is, when our partners aren’t in a healthy place, they may be doing things to harm themselves, but they are still sacred. They’re not holding themselves sacred, but they are still sacred.
You don’t have to wait for him to do the work to start holding yourself sacred.
Sariah’s yoga studio, Back Pocket Yoga, provides “emotional fitness.” She feels that talk therapy helped her, but she found herself stuck in the same place over and over again. When she utilized yoga and got in her body, that’s when the big changes happened.
Sariah’s Recovery Resources:
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
Beyond Breath by Sariah C. Bastian (Sariah Hoffman)
Sariah’s Song:
“In Dreams” by Jai-Jagdeesh
