Hi, I’m Kathy (she/her)

Trauma informed yoga and movement facilitator, trauma informed personal trainer and founder of Every Felt Sense.

I’m so glad you’re here.

I experienced complex trauma from early childhood till my late teens. As a result I live and suffer with complex post-traumatic stress disorder/response. Understandably I overused alcohol for many years to numb pain (I’ve been sober since 5 July 2018). At times I found solace in several types of movement like dance, yoga, power lifting, triathlon, running, boxing. At other times I used movement to mask and avoid what was really going on with me. I’ve also seen and experienced how harmful movement modalities can be for some folks when they are not facilitated using trauma aware/trauma informed frameworks.

Similarly, at times I found solace in the medical model, psychiatric care, counsellors, cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance commitment therapy, internal family systems therapy, trauma psychologists, nervous system regulation practices, mindset, brain training, neuro linguistic programming, somatic experiencing, meditation, emotional freedom technique, breathwork.

I’ve also experienced how harmful, demoralising and isolating these modalities can be when practitioners and clinicians are not trauma informed/trauma trained.

I acknowledge all the modalities I have mentioned (and some I haven’t mentioned) have the potential to support recovery, healing and transformation. At the same time I think ignorance and misunderstanding exist across the so-called health and wellness industries/communities about the role that power dynamics play in either healing or perpetuating trauma, and the ongoing impact of trauma on bodies.

I believe trauma informed care should be the standard in all practices. We should treat ourselves, our colleagues, teams, clients and community members with compassion and dignity. While consciously working to honour the lived experiences of ourselves and others.

In the short term my hope is that Every Felt Sense is a place where you can experiment and choose movement and stillness practices that may be supportive for your body and mind. Over the medium to long term my hope is that Every Felt Sense is a place where practitioners/clinicians and industries learn how to become trauma aware/trauma informed as individuals and in business.

Again, I’m so glad you’re here. Please take what works for you and leave the rest.