Member Monday: Stacy TenHouten

It is Member Monday and time to introduce you to another member of our community: Stacey TenHouten. She is a trauma-informed yoga instructor and writer. 

Can you share your background story with us: how did you become yoga instructor, what motivates you, and what is your ambition with it? 

In my young adult life, I spent many years in therapy to try and heal the wounds from an extremely difficult childhood.  Even though I had benefitted from these traditional approaches to healing trauma, it was not until I was introduced to, and began practicing yoga in my daily life, that I began to have s sense of healing as a whole.  For the first time I felt connected to my body, my relationships, and to life.  I completed a teacher training at Santa Monica Yoga, where  I was studying with Kyra Haglund.  It was through Kyra that I was introduced to Trauma-Informed Yoga.  I went on to take her Trauma-Informed Yoga training that was co-lead by Hala Khouri.  It was at this training that I was given reasons and language for experiences I had been having in my body for my entire life and the tools and resources to navigate them.  I knew immediately that I wanted to be a teacher that helped heal trauma through yoga and creative expression. My priority was to help get yoga to communities that were being severely impacted by systemic trauma and have little or no access to wellness resources.  It is my belief that the most empowering and impactful way to do this is to build a relationship with them, and teach smaller groups of individuals a simple breath-centered practice that they can then share with their families, churches, and communities.

Who inspires you the most in terms of social change or creative expression / innovation?

As for those who have inspired me, I would say that the work of Dr. Peter Levine has been profoundly inspiring to me in terms of how to approach healing.  Kyra Haglund is the person that has influenced me the most on how to implement and offer yoga in a way that is real, sensitive, compassionate, empowering, and resourceful. In terms of creative expression, the biggest inspiration has been my friend and collaborator, Mercedes Gertz. Mercedes is an artist and depth psychologist who uses the symbolic language of dreams to launch into a creative process as a means of healing trauma. Her influence and support have been a powerful source of my personal healing and transformation.

If you could create a society from scratch, what would this look like?

I could not create a society from scratch alone, I believe it takes a collective voice to create a society that is actually a community. A community where resources are shared, where everyone has access to basic needs of food, shelter, and wellness. Where people do not need to sacrifice their passions, creativity, and time with family and friends to make a living. Where it is understood that when we nurture and take care of community as a whole, we are nurturing and taking care of ourselves as individuals.