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Hello and welcome to my blog. I'm Liz, a trauma-informed yoga educator and passionate advocate for emotional and mental health. In this first episode, I want to take you back to the beginning: my story, my why, and what brought me to this work. Whether you're a yoga teacher, a passionate yoga practitioner, or simply someone interested in nervous system regulation, mental/ emotional well-being, and healing through movement, I hope this story resonates with you.
I didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a yoga teacher, but I always had a calling to do something meaningful and help others.
Like many of you, I came to yoga from a place of need.
My 20s & 30s were spent in a high-pressure corporate environment. I had "success" on paper: a career, great income and a certain lifestyle that comes with it. But I was chronically stressed which eventually led to a corporate burnout. I didn’t have that language at the time, of course. I just knew that something didn’t feel right. I was often anxious, overstimulated, exhausted, disconnected from my body, and emotionally reactive.
Looking back now, I understand that I was in a chronic dysregulated state. Doing all the things, performing, achieving, showing up, but inside, I was numb and constantly exhausted, no matter how much I slept. And underneath that numbness and tiredness was a well of unprocessed emotion and trauma I hadn’t yet dared to face.
My First Experience With Yoga
While I was living in London in 2011, a lovely friend of mine invited me to a yoga class after work. I remember that we entered into a crammed space in the loft of an Asian cash & carry supermarket, where a very traditional hatha yoga class took place with a teacher from India. It was all foreign to me, I didn’t understand half of what has been said and at that time it was just fun and a good workout and stretch. Like for most people, my entry point was the physical aspect of yoga.
Fast forward a few years while I was already living in Germany, I started to take regular yoga classes, exploring all the styles out there, still mostly enjoying the physical side of the practice. During my years of practice in Germany, often while lying in the stillness of savasana, emotions that had been buried for years began to rise to the surface. I didn’t understand the mechanism behind it yet, but I knew something profound had shifted. I had finally slowed down enough to meet myself.
That was the beginning of my healing journey and the unravelling of everything I thought I knew about yoga, health, and myself.
The Shift to Teaching
In 2017 while scrolling on my phone an ad popped up about a 200hr yoga teacher training in India that caught my eye. I always wanted to visit India and I thought great! I have my next holiday destination and I can also complete a yoga course in the meantime. I had zero clue what it really meant. That it’s not going to be a nice chill retreat – but rather a bootcamp waking up at 5am, with hours of movement, breathing, meditation, mantra singing, kriyas, lectures and all. It was kind of a shock to my system but also exhilarating. I loved every minute of it, even the hard ones, but I still considered this as an adventure only, that brings me deeper into yoga for my own health benefit. I didn’t plan to actually teach.
Then it all changed and I remember the exact moment of that shift. It was our final teaching exam. I was sitting in front of the class of my fellow students ready to teach my first yoga class. That moment I was fully there. Fully in my body, fully in my power and had the realisation, and absolute clarity that I was born to do this! In that moment I felt that this could be the path through which I will be able to support others while doing something I’m passionate about. I want to share this with others.
After this life changing and transformational month in India, it didn’t feel quite right to return to my office job, but financial anxiety took the best of me and I returned to my old routines. At least I kept up with my practice and started to teach a few classes in local studios and parks beside my full-time job.
I kept an eye out for more trainings and used my annual holidays to travel to SE Asia for more yoga education. And somehow, I kept on returning to a tiny precious island in Thailand called Koh Phangan.
I completed my yin yoga and Chinese meridians teacher training and my trauma informed ttc in Thailand. Both courses brought me clarity on the direction I wanted to go within yoga. Especially the trauma awareness training was a huge eye opener.
In 2018 during one of my trainings I got hospitalised for 10 days with a bad case of dengue fever. Floating between life and death in kind of a limbo made me question again: if I survive this, do I really want to return to the life I have been living? Life is too short, why am I spending most of it by doing things that do not bring me joy?
I was desperate for a way out at this point, so I started to plan my possible exit from the corporate life, however, taking it slow and reducing my office working hours, increasing my teaching activity.
It did not do the trick. Teaching yoga, workshops, plus a demanding daytime job on top, resulted in overwhelm. I ignored the signals of my body for a while, I was always a go-getter and thought that I can juggle it all. I could not. I burned myself out completely and developed physical and mental issues, all the results of chronic stress.
I finally listened to the loud screams of my body and made the step into the unknown. I left my corporate job and became a freelance yoga teacher in early 2019. Letting go of my regular pay check and the security that comes with it was scary as hell. But I did it anyway and never regretted it!
In 2021 I moved to Koh Phangan, as this island already had a special place in my heart.
Why Trauma Informed Approach?
The yoga world often focuses on alignment and achievement. But I started to see behind the surface: the tears that came in savasana, the students who couldn’t be still, the ones who dissociated through movement or shut down during physical touch.
Why would I even touch students, if I myself am not comfortable with touch from strangers?
I realized: I need a different approach.
Not just "more yoga," but safer, slower, more intentional yoga. Yoga that acknowledges trauma. That honours emotional expression. That supports the nervous system. That understands consent, presence, boundaries, and space holding.
And so, my trauma-informed Yin Yoga approach was born.
Why Yin Yoga?
Yin Yoga is, in many ways, the perfect container for trauma-informed work. Its slow pace, emphasis on reasonable stillness and sensation, connection to the emotional aspects of meridians, targeting the deep connective tissue layers of the body makes it a deeply somatic practice. But only if it’s offered with care.
Yin can easily become unsafe and a minefield of triggers if we push through resistance, bypass emotional responses, or ignore our edges. That’s why understanding trauma, emotional regulation, and the subtle art of holding space is crucial.
I now facilitate my own 100hr trauma informed yin yoga & CN meridians teacher training, educating teachers and practitioners from all over the world. My students come from different backgrounds, but they share a deep desire to heal and to help others feel safe in their bodies again.
This is why I do what I do.
My Mission
My mission is simple: to help create safer, more emotionally attuned yoga spaces, where boundaries are respected.
Spaces where both teachers and students feel empowered, grounded, and deeply supported.
Spaces where we remember that yoga isn’t about flexibility or aesthetics, but about connection, presence, and healing.
What You Can Expect from This Blog
In my series of blogposts, youtube videos and podcasts I’ll be sharing:
- Educational deep dives into trauma-informed teaching
- Insights on Chinese meridians and emotions
- Nervous system regulation practices
- Ethical and practical guidance for yoga teachers and yoga practitioners
And much more.
And most importantly, I’ll be sharing honest conversations about what it means to be a teacher in today’s world. The challenges, the joys, the doubts, the growth.
Whether you're here to deepen your personal practice or to share this work with others, you are welcome here.
If this resonates and you feel called to this work, I invite you take the first gentle steps:
Download my free eBook: Meridians & Emotions in Yin Yoga
Watch my free Trauma Awareness Webinar: Trauma Informed Yoga Foundations
Join my next live 100HR Trauma Informed Yin Yoga & Chinese Meridians Teacher Training in Thailand:
14-23 Dec 2025
20-29 Jan 2026
2-11 Mar 2026
Join the waitlist of my online self-paced 100HR Trauma Informed Yin Yoga & Chinese Meridians Teacher Training launching in December 2025
Join my live 30HR Art of Trauma-Informed Space Holding course in Thailand:
4-8 Oct 2025
Check out what my previous graduates share about their experience:
Teacher Training Demo Video:
Work with me 1-1 for private mentoring
Subscribe to my channels, so you don’t miss future episodes:
Youtube
Podcast
Thank you for being here, I’m honoured to walk this path alongside you.
Until next time, take care and take it slow.
With love,
Liz