One-to-One Trauma-Sensitive Yoga & Somatic Therapy,
Online
HELD
For when you understand your trauma, but you're only just coping
Knowing why isn't the same as feeling safe
Perhaps you've been in talk therapy for years, or perhaps you've only just started. You've connected the dots, seen the patterns, had the lightbulb moments. And yet your jaw still aches from clenching. Rest still feels like something you have to earn. Calm is something you perform rather than feel. Knowing why hasn't switched anything off. That's usually when people find their way here.
What is Trauma?
Trauma isn't defined only by what happened to you. It's defined by what your nervous system had to do in order to survive.
Trauma can come from sudden events, but it can also build slowly, through ongoing stress, emotional neglect, relational harm, or living for long stretches without enough safety or support. When an experience is overwhelming, your body adapts. It learns to brace, numb, disconnect, please, push or stay on alert. Each of these is an intelligent response to threat.
Over time, these adaptations can harden into patterns that remain long after the danger has passed. This is why trauma often shows up not as memory, but as anxiety, shutdown, chronic tension, exhaustion, or feeling disconnected from yourself and others.
Healing trauma isn't about reliving the past. It's about helping your nervous system learn that the present is safer than what came before, and that learning happens through your body.
Want to explore this more deeply? Read my blog on trauma and the body
“Trauma is not what happens to you. Trauma is what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you.”
Who HELD is for
HELD is one-to-one online support for people living with the effects of trauma, overwhelm or long-term nervous system stress, including PTSD and complex PTSD (CPTSD).
You might feel disconnected from your body, stuck in your head, or caught in patterns of pushing, pleasing, freezing or shutting down. You may look as though you're coping well, while inside everything feels tight, flat or exhausted. Perhaps you sense that something in your body is asking for attention, but you don't know how to listen to it safely on your own.
HELD is especially supportive if you're navigating dissociation, chronic stress, burnout or the long echo of complex trauma, and you're looking for body-led support that moves slowly and with care. It is open to people of all genders.
When HELD may not be the right fit
HELD may not be right for you if you're looking for fast fixes, performance-based yoga or a purely cognitive approach to healing.
My training and approach
I have trained with Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY), a clinically researched approach developed as an adjunctive treatment for complex trauma (CPTSD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). That extensive training shapes how I work: through invitation, choice and noticing what's happening in your body, rather than instruction.
My work draws on trauma theory, attachment theory, neuroscience and hatha yoga, alongside my own lived experience of childhood trauma. For the past fourteen years, I've used somatics to help my own body accept stronger sensations and tolerate a wider emotional range. But at its heart, the work is simple: an invitation to listen to your body, choose what feels safe, and slowly rebuild trust and sovereignty in yourself.
You can read more about my story and full training background on my About page.
“What I love most about working with Soraya is that everything she teaches comes from her own healing journey. Her knowledge of the nervous system and somatic healing, and her ability to translate this into relatable tools and actions, is very powerful. I feel more empowered in expressing myself and showing up more fully in my life.”
Dawn
In their words….
No two people move through this work in the same way, and change rarely runs in a straight line. These three stories are shared with permission, as glimpses of what can unfold when people bring their bodies into their healing.
Kirsty’s story - Learning to Swim Again
“Having CPTSD has felt like drowning every day — but our sessions have been a space where I get to resurface, to come up for air, and learn to swim again.”
For me, living with CPTSD has been like watching everyone else know how to swim while I drown. But in our sessions, I have found a space each week to resurface — not to be rescued, but to be reminded that my body knows what to do, that I already carry what I need to swim again.
Your compassion, gentleness, wisdom, and intuition have allowed me to feel safe, held, and never pushed beyond what I can cope with. In this space, I don’t need to have the answers. I can follow the process and trust that I won’t be taken past my limits.
Through this, I’ve learned to trust myself — my choices, my instincts. I’m not “there yet,” but I’m learning to be. There is no shame or guilt here, only a tender holding of wherever I am and a reminder that it’s okay to need support.
Since working with you, I’ve matured emotionally in ways others around me have noticed. I’m allowing myself to feel emotions without fear they’ll destroy me. I’m learning that what happens on the mat translates into life: knowing my limits, pausing before choices, asking for help. I’ve been able to release trauma without being overwhelmed, and even my flashbacks have eased — something I never thought possible. And I never had to talk about the trauma itself.
What sets you apart is hard to name. It’s your intuition, yes, but also your presence. You are fully present, in the room and beyond, in ways I can’t explain. You make me feel fully seen and embraced, often without saying a word.
If someone is considering working with you, I would tell them: do it. And if you have a strong inner cynic like I do, keep turning up past the first week — because the cynic will go quiet. You are entering the safest hands I have ever known.
— Kirsty H
Carolyn’s story - From Numbness to Inner Confidence
“Movement released so much more for me than sitting in a counselling room.”
After a traumatic experience, I carried on the way I was brought up — be brave, be strong, put others first. For years, I hid my emotions, swallowing them down, too scared to feel them by myself. I felt numb — rarely letting go in the good times or the bad — unable to understand or express what I needed.
When I began working with Soraya, using trauma-sensitive yoga to explore the trauma, I started to become aware of my body and the tension within it — and also more aware of my mind, my reactions, and the choices I was making. I was shocked at how emotional the sessions were. I could go in feeling perfectly fine, but certain poses unleashed waves of emotion.
Soraya has a unique presence that makes this possible. She creates a safe space where I felt able to trust both her and the process. She notices the subtle impacts of each movement, and she offers choices that help you explore your own boundaries — physically and emotionally — without ever feeling pushed.
The main impact for me has been an awareness of my automatic way of being — how my subconscious was guiding me in ways that weren’t always helpful. Now, I can start to feel the pain rather than push it away. I feel less like a coiled spring, calmer, more aware of what I truly feel.
I’m still learning how to express my emotions at times, but I carry a much greater sense of ‘me’ — with a growing inner confidence.
— Carolyn
PH’s story - Finding Choice Again
“I was in a situation where I did not feel I had any choices — but by Soraya facilitating this practice, I realised I did.”
This year I had a childhood trauma confirmed as a consequence of an ongoing medical issue, and my marriage ended. As you can imagine, I struggled to come to terms with the pain I was feeling. My thoughts became intrusive, and I couldn’t see a way out.
Thankfully, I accessed support — and one of the most important resources I put in place was exploring trauma-sensitive yoga with Soraya. I cannot stress how much this has helped me. Soraya has a way about her that is not judgmental, not rushed, and so intuitive that you feel safe and empowered by the options she offers in each practice.
My confidence has soared. I am now comfortable being uncomfortable. I manage my thoughts, my physical symptoms, and my emotions. My relationships with my children have improved, I’ve taken on new challenges, and I’m living more fully than I thought possible. Of course, there are blips — but with grounding and choice, recovery is now much more manageable.
I am deeply grateful for meeting Soraya and for the way she shares her practice and her beautiful readings. I cannot recommend her and trauma-sensitive yoga highly enough — not only for healing trauma, but for any time you feel powerless or without choice in your life.
— PH, Coaching Psychologist
Each of these experiences is personal, and there's no right way for this work to unfold.
Every story begins at a threshold
A gentle twenty minute, first conversation, to ask your questions, get a feel for the work, and see whether HELD is the right next step for you.
What to expect in a trauma-sensitive yoga session
Sessions take place online over Zoom and last 60 minutes. You can join from anywhere you feel reasonably at ease, with a little floor space or a chair. No yoga experience is needed, and there's nothing to prepare.
We begin by arriving: a few minutes to talk, if you'd like to, about how you're feeling and what you'd like from the session. I then offer gentle movements and shapes, always as invitations. You choose whether to try them, how far to go, and when to stop. Your camera can stay off whenever you need it to.
You won't be asked to talk about your trauma or relive past events, and there's no need to explain or justify what you feel. We finish with a few minutes to land and notice what, if anything, has shifted.
Why trauma-sensitive yoga helps
Trauma-sensitive yoga rests on a simple idea: safety comes first, and feeling safe includes having a say. So rather than following instructions, you explore sensation at your own pace, in a space where you set the terms.
Through movement and attention, you practise noticing what's happening in your body and making small choices in response: whether to move, how far, whether to stop. Those choices matter more than they look. They're how a sense of agency is rebuilt, one decision at a time.
There's no shape to get right and nothing to achieve. The aim is relationship: with your body, your breath and yourself. Over time, this can widen what you're able to feel without being overwhelmed, and make the present moment a more habitable place.
In one-to-one sessions, the practise adapts moment by moment, led by what's happening in your body rather than a set sequence or outcome.
Why does your body matter in healing trauma?
For a long time, trauma recovery focused on the mind: understanding what happened and making sense of the story. That work matters, but our nervous systems are shaped by experience long before we have words for it, and much of what keeps us on guard happens below the level of thought.
That's why healing can't only work from the top down. We can't think our way out of trauma, though many of us have given it a very good go. Recovery also needs to come from the bottom up, through sensation, breath and felt experience.
Trauma tends to show up in our bodies: in held breath, braced muscles, the way we sit or stand, and sometimes in numbness or silence. When our bodies are left out, we can know our story inside out and still feel exactly the same.
Five Principles of Trauma Sensitive Yoga
These five principles are what make Trauma-Sensitive Yoga different from a regular yoga class. They’re the foundations that create safety, agency, and the possibility of healing.
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You will always be invited to participate in every step of the practice. It is your choice whether you’d like to accept any invitation or not. As a facilitator, I only use language that is simple, specific, objective, and non-metaphorical. Phrases such as "if you wish to... support your choices and ability to take agency of your body.
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You have complete control over what you do and do not do. I am here to offer safe, professional guidance that helps you focus on the experiences of moving, breathing, and resting. This helps develop agency and empowerment, and to learn to make choices that feel comfortable in your body. There are no "right" or "wrong" ways to experience a shape, you may be making a different choice to me.
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During the session no shapes are better than other shapes and I as a facilitator, strive to shift the power dynamics to honour your choices.
You‘ll never be asked to share your story, and you aren’t required to go into the history of your experience of trauma. However, you may need to be engaged in a talking relationship/therapy outside of the sessions (therapist, counsellor, GP, pastor/priest or social worker).
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We both practice at the same time. You have a body and I have a body and we are sharing a practice of making individual choices and experiencing what it is like to be in our individual body. This becomes authentic as it is experienced in the present moment.
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As we practice together, I notice felt body sensations and offer these as a choice for you to notice. They may include; temperature, pressure, muscles engaging/stretching, tingling or breath moving.
Benefits of Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Online
Practise from home, or wherever you are, in a space you already know
Notice what's happening inside you without being swept away by it
Make choices about your own body, and have them respected
Spend more time in the present, and less braced against the past
Build a steadier, kinder relationship with your body
No travel, no studio, and no one eyeing you from the next mat
Frequently Asked Questions
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HELD is one-to-one trauma-sensitive yoga and somatic work, held online. Sessions are slow, body-led and shaped around you, for people living with PTSD, complex trauma, dissociation or long-term nervous system stress. The aim isn't to fix anything, but to help you feel safer and more at home in your own body.
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No. HELD is a body-based practice, not psychotherapy, and I'm not a psychotherapist. We don't work through your trauma story or relive past events. Many people find HELD works well alongside talk therapy, reaching the places conversation often can't. If you have a therapist, you're welcome to let them know you're doing this work.
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A typical class is led by instruction: the teacher tells you what to do, and you try to get it right. Trauma-sensitive yoga turns that around. Every movement is an invitation, the focus is on what you notice inside rather than how a shape looks. You will also be offered choices to explore. It is a shared practice, meaning we both do the shapes together, but we may make different choices. You're always the one in charge of your body.
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Therapy often helps you understand your trauma, but understanding doesn't always change how your body responds. HELD works from the other direction, through sensation, breath and movement, so your nervous system can experience safety rather than simply know about it. We also work with choice making, which can bring about a sense of autonomy. For many people, this is where years of insight finally start to land.
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Yes. HELD was shaped with complex and developmental trauma in mind, and its slow, choice-led approach suits nervous systems that learned early on that the world wasn't safe. We go at your pace, never faster. If you're in crisis or feeling very unsteady at the moment, it's best to have a therapist's support alongside our sessions.
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That's very common, and it isn't a barrier. Numbness and disconnection are often how a nervous system protected you. We start wherever you are, sometimes with something as small as noticing your feet on the floor or the weight of your hands. There's no right amount to feel, and no pressure to feel more than is comfortable.
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You can slow down, change what you're doing or stop entirely, at any point. I'll check in with you throughout, and we'll stay within what feels manageable. Discovering that you can step back when something is too much is part of the work.
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There's no set number. Some people come for a handful of sessions; others work with me over several months. Most people begin with a block of 4 sessions, but you can also book individual sessions. We'll talk about what might suit you in your first conversation.
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Book a free 20 minute, no obligation call, you can ask questions and see whether HELD and I as the facilitator, feels right for you. We can also discuss pricing and packages available.
HELD is not a crisis service. If you're in immediate danger or need urgent support, please contact your local emergency services.
What to do next
If you’re curious about working together, the first step is simple.
You’re welcome to arrange a free 20-minute chat — a gentle space to meet, ask questions, and see if this feels like a good fit.
Sessions
Sessions are 60 minutes, including around 45 minutes of somatic practice and 15 minutes for orientation or sharing, as feels supportive.
Location
All sessions take place online via Zoom, so you can join from anywhere in the world — from the safety and comfort of your own space.
Price
60 min session £85
Block of 4 sessions £300 (£75 per session), for deeper continuity and support.
These can be taken whenever you want, within a one year period. Payment plan of 2 instalments available