Somatic Experience and Yoga Therapy: The Resiliency of Sarit Rogers
In this Yoga Liberty podcast episode, host Angelica interviews Sarit Rogers, a former professional photographer who turned to yoga after escaping an abusive marriage. Sarit recounts her early exposure to yoga, her decision to pursue teacher training in 2013, and the evolution of her practice toward trauma‑informed, accessible yoga. She describes her training lineage—including work with Hala Khouri, Paula, Street Yoga, and the Accessible Yoga program founded by Jeevana Heyman—highlighting the importance of moving beyond performance‑oriented yoga to a practice rooted in presence, embodiment, and the five koshas. Sarit explains somatic experiencing, a bottom‑up trauma‑healing approach developed by Peter Levine, and connects it to polyvagal theory (Stephen Porges). She shares concrete classroom techniques: inviting students to adjust their seating, normalizing boundary‑seeking behaviors, and titrating activation through breath awareness. The conversation expands to her work with marginalized groups—unhoused populations, prisons, schools—and her reflections on equity, age, body diversity, antisemitism, and white privilege within the yoga community. Sarit also discusses how yoga informs her photography and vice‑versa, and outlines her upcoming trauma‑informed accessible yoga teacher training, which will be offered both online and in‑person to accommodate bed‑bound and diverse bodies. Contact information (Instagram @sarittherogers, website sarittherogers.com) and her availability for somatic experiencing sessions are provided at the end.
Chapters
Welcome to the Yogalebrity Podcast. Each week I bring you the story of a different yoga teacher, their origins, what it was like before they taught yoga, how they got certified, and what it's like now. My hope is that through listening to this podcast or watching it, if you're on YouTube or Spotify, you will gain what you need to feel very confident to to practice yoga or maybe even become certified. Everyone has a story to share. Some people's story might be like yours, others might not. Take the time to enjoy the diversity that is teaching yoga. If you would like to become a certified yoga teacher, I invite you to check out my private one-on-one instruction online 200-hour and 300-hour yoga teacher trainings. If you're listening to this before January of 2024, I'm also offering a trip to Costa Rica as part of your online certification. Either way, I would love to connect with you. Let's get to the podcast.
Welcome to the Yoga Liberty Podcast. I'm Angelica, also known as Yoga Liberty on social media, and I'm super excited to be sharing my guest with you today. Sarit Rogers is an incredible person who is sharing her love of yoga with people who have experienced trauma, and she's helping to transform this planet. I'm so glad that she's here today. Welcome to the podcast, Sarit.
Hi, thanks for having me.
I'm so glad that you're here. Well, let's just dive right into it. Tell us what What was your life like before you were a yoga teacher?
Oh, that's a big question. Let's see, I became a yoga teacher in 2013. And prior to that, I'll— what was I doing? Well, I'm a professional photographer and I was shooting. I was mostly predominantly photographing people. Music actually was my love and what I spent a lot of time photographing. I had left an abusive marriage that I had been married for over, I think, 10 years and had a child, and got us out of that pretty horrific situation. And, um, in that process, put myself through photography school.
Oh, wow.
And photography was sort of like— it started out with this kind of said to a friend of mine, I'm like, let's take this beginning photography class. And it just sparked this deeper memory of when I was little and my dad had a darkroom in the house. So there's a long history and a deep love of photography for me.
That's real photography, too. That's not just on your iPhone. That's real photography.
That is real. Thank you. And when I went to photography school, we were doing all darkroom work, and digital was like— digital was the thing that was happening. And the teachers were going, well, it's not really going to happen. And we were like, save film. It kind of reminded me of when LPs went out.
Yeah, right.
And it was like, save the LP. And then of course, here we are with, you know, we don't even have CDs anymore. So, right. But LPs are coming back. But that's another conversation. You know, there was something about photography that has this, uh, beautiful emergence of light and shadow, and it really felt like poetry. And if you really study some of the photographers like Ruth Bernhardt, who's my favorite, she paints with light and shadow. And so that was really meaningful to me. And, um, I was also taking classes at Santa Monica College, and at the time I was taking this, um, women's studies class And it was like, I needed, I was like knocking out requirements. I take the studies, the women's studies class, and I end up becoming friends with Melanie Klein, who's the teacher. Um, she just did a cool, uh, TEDx talk actually.
Oh, cool.
Yeah, it was awesome. And, um, we ended up becoming friends and I started photographing her and her little one. And then there was a book. That she was working on called 21st Century Yoga. And they were looking for a cover photographer. And she was really wanting a photographer who wasn't focused on promoting the yoga, the yoga body through a male lens, through this like Americanized skinny white girl. And there's nothing wrong with the skinny white girl, but that's not yoga. That doesn't identify yoga. And so, um, I started sending in images and ended up doing the COVID for that book. And the first chapter of that book was written by Julian Walker. And at the time, I was— I had practiced yoga through my pregnancy. I had stopped practicing yoga because my ex-husband was predatory while I was practicing and would make really gross, suggestive, like, yeah, he was my husband, but it was just like, you know, I'm in down dog. I don't need to hear salacious nonsense. And it started to feel unsafe, right? And, um, so I had this like kind of weird relationship with yoga at that point. It felt tainted with me. And then Yet I was photographing yogis. And so that— and trying to, like, shift the lens, shift the yoga lens, because everything I was seeing also didn't look like me either.
What juxtaposition in your life.
Yeah, it was like total juxtaposition. And so I said to Julian, I'm like, should I take a yoga training? He's like, yeah, why not? I'm like— and at the time I was like, well, maybe it'll just make me a better photographer. But yoga wasn't unfamiliar to me. Like, I, my mom would take me down to Venice Beach, to actually Santa Monica, to Station 26, and we would do sun salutations when I was a little kid, like 7 years old. So it was like, it was familiar to me and also not familiar to me in a way, you know what I mean? Um, and, and going to classes always felt, I just didn't want to do that because everybody was, it was that, that narrative you always hear, they were bendy or they were super this or they were super that.
Right. And having owned a studio, I know that that's actually not accurate at all.
It is super not accurate. But what was being demonstrated in media was like, and here I am.
Well, can't trust the media for anything. No, it's a lie.
And as a photographer, I'm going, well, photography is a big fat lie. Like, I know that. And part of my stuff was that I wasn't going to make it a lie. I was going to tell you the truth in my photography. I was going to show exactly what I was seeing, which is actually a beautiful human being who might have a bump or a ridge or not perfect skin, and yet they're beautiful and embodied and alive, you know? And so that sort of started that, that for me, like coming, like making that decision. Started the yoga class and I was like, I was studying with, um, Julian Walker and Hala Khouri and, and the name of the class was—
Oh, I've taken Hala's, uh, trauma class.
Yeah, that it eventually ended up there and then now I'm leading my own and, and so it's, um, I realized like sitting there I was like, oh yeah, I have no interest in teaching in a studio. I do like teaching And it was about finding my voice and being able to bring it elsewhere. So that's sort of what led me back into taking yoga. And it was a weird— not yoga, but a yoga teacher training. And really just wanting to check it out. And, you know, who knows what I'm going to be able to teach. Right. But anyway, I ended up teaching and I love teaching.
I found that, you know, having certified thousands of people now, that oftentimes it's the people who come in to training who don't want to teach or aren't sure if they want to teach that end up coming out being the best teachers. And the people who went in who have really strong practice and they can do all the crazy things and, you know, they're in handstand scorpion and stuff, that they actually don't enjoy teaching as much because the majority of students, by and far, the vast majority of people who are going to come to your yoga classes are the librarian or the nurse or the schoolteacher or the administrator or the lawyer or the barista or the retail worker who just want to have a chill moment and they are not dedicated to their practice in that way. And so people who can do all the fancy poses sometimes feel very frustrated when they try to teach classes because no one can do the things that they can do and they don't have— people don't have that kind of commitment to the physical side. They want the real benefits of yoga, which is the mental side, right? And which people like myself who are not as naturally flexible or have to work really, really hard for flexibility. And if I like, if I run for 5 seconds, all of a sudden it's too tight. I can't do a backbend. Or, you know, like, I've struggled with weight my whole life, you know, just, it's just part of just being a human that for me, like, I have thrived at teaching because I understand what my students are going through. I want— I understand how hard it is to touch your toes.
Yeah, sure. Yeah, sure. I mean, to me, it was about teaching to human beings.
Right, right.
And, and taking the performative nature out of yoga.
Right.
And that the pseudo-spirituality, like actually tapping in and the other, you know, paying attention to, are we actually practicing ahimsa in a practice?
Yeah.
Right. Are we, are we really a nicer person in a handstand than the person who's, who can only do a low lunge? Right? No, I, it's not true. Like, I think that we're beautiful human beings having a very human experience.
It's interesting to me how many people do not practice the yamas and the niyamas. Mm-hmm. You know, that they, they just practice the third limb. That's it. We're gonna practice asana. That's it. You know, they might throw a little bit, a little bit of meditation in there, you know. And I think it's getting in some ways better and in some ways worse with the advent of Instagram and TikTok. And there certainly are leaders who look very different, but still, by and large, still by and large, I know because I make my full-time living off of social media, the people that I reach on social media, and by and large, I'm competing against younger, thinner, more flexible, way more beautiful women than— there's not a lot of people that look like me, which also is a good thing for me, right? Because I think, yeah, I'm like 40. I'm in the 45 to 65 range of people and they're loving my stuff, which is great.
But well, I mean, yeah, you look at, you know, the world that we live in is so paranoid and scared of aging. And, you know, I'm 51 and I was like, I literally was like, I don't have any makeup on today. I'm moisturized. That's all I got for you today.
You know, your skin looks great. It doesn't matter though. Like, it's like I'm 48 and I'll have people come on the podcast and they'll say like, because, you know, this is on YouTube as well as on the podcast. You can't see us on the podcast, but You can see us on YouTube. But I'll have people say to me like, oh, I, I don't, you know, they don't want to talk about their age or they skirt around it. And you know, my mom died when she was 61, you know, like, it is a blessing to be 48. I'm blessed to be here. I don't care. I have wisdom now, you know, like, when I was young, I got around really easy on my looks, and now I have wisdom and something to actually share with people that benefits people's lives that isn't just about me. Right. So I would— I'm cool with every phase that I've been through. You know, like, it was great to be young and beautiful and go out to the clubs and live in Vegas and do all the things. And now, you know, like, it's great to be older and to be sharing wisdom with people and to work with— sometimes, you know, a lot of the people in my 200-hour teacher training are younger. It's younger women who have never had anyone say, You did a great job. What you're doing is going to change the world. You're helping people. You have a light within you. You know, that was it. That was excellent work. You know, like I'm, for some, for some people, the very first person that's ever said, you're enough. You're good.
That's a huge, huge thing to hear.
Yeah. And I, I'm cool with that. Like, and if that means I gotta be 48, then I guess I do.
Nothing wrong with being 48. 48 is awesome.
48 is awesome. Yeah. So, uh, you, you take this yoga teacher training and you're working with all these trauma-informed teachers. Where did you take your first training and what was your first training about?
Well, that was my first training with Julian and Hala.
Okay, okay. So it was Vinyasa mostly.
It was a, it was a hot dog vinyasa, right? And then I went from there and took all of, um, Paula's trauma-informed classes and then like trainings. And then I did, um, Street Yoga, which is no longer, um, in action anymore, which is really a bummer. But, um, they, they sort of retired their stuff. Um, Uprising Yoga.
I started with I started with Yoga Gangsters, which is not around anymore because that was like a name that it was like, no, we don't use that. I think they're calling it something different now. But yeah, similar kind of situation. Yeah.
Yeah. Street yoga was doing good stuff. They were working with a lot of unhoused people and they had, you know, Mark Lilly, who founded it, had a lot of really beautiful insights. And so I was sort of moving in that direction. And then Did a Beyond Duality class, did, um, and then went to Yin and then to Restorative, but not in that order. And then accept, and I got, then I got really involved in the accessible yoga.
Yeah, tell me about that. I saw that in your, um, in your bio. Tell me about the accessible yoga because there's a real, anytime I make any kind of chair yoga or adaptive yoga for YouTube, the video does really well. So I know that there's like a real need for that. So tell me about your training and, and what you've done with that.
You know, that was a really beautiful training, and it was founded by, uh, Jeevana Heyman and, um, the Accessible Yoga. It's accessibleyoga.org, and you can find out a bunch of information about them, but they're amazing. And at the time, I think it was the first Accessible Yoga conference when I met Shivana, and I was doing a photo booth. And, um, I was there as a photographer. So I'm doing the photo booth and, uh, I was with Melanie Klein. I think Yoga and Body Image Coalition was doing a presentation. And so, um, it was a YBIC photo booth and it was kind of fantastic and, um, photographing lots of people. In my, in my homemade booth. And, and then we ended up taking a training. And at the time, the accessible yoga trainings were 60 hours. They were 2 4-day weekends. They were big trainings. And it was pretty fantastic. And now I think that they're doing them a lot smaller. They're doing like it's 1 weekend, it's Friday through Sunday, which is enough to give you the idea. But these were very parsed out at the time.
Yeah, I like the longer trainings too.
And I will say that I feel like I got really— I was really blessed to be in the earlier training in the sense that, you know, it's like we really did make dummy beds and practice, you know, in that way. Or, you know, we had a lot of wheelchair-bound people in the room and it was like you could work with, you know, different bodies and with different abilities and, um, It was fantastic learning to work in that way.
And, um, did you get to meet Matthew Sanford at all?
I did meet Matthew, although I haven't taken his training and I don't know him particularly well.
Um, he has an incredible story. He has an incredible story.
He does. And he, he was at that conference as well. And, uh, lots of people were there. It was great. It was a, it was a nice piece to be a part of at that, at that conference. Who else was there teaching? Diane Bondi taught a class. I think Ryan, who's lovely, he taught a class. Lots of, lots of different people teaching. And it was just, you could see that, oh, you know, there was a real depth to the practice.
It wasn't about performance.
It wasn't about— it is— it isn't about, um, getting into a pretzel. It was about like, how can we be present? How can we be grounded? How can we be actually in tune with all 5 layers of ourselves, right? Like, can we bring the koshas into the work? And we bring, um, awareness of the gunas into the work. You know, it's beautiful. You know, and I think I love, you know, it's like Jivana said, if you can breathe, you can do yoga. Like, yeah.
All right.
And, um, that, that's been really cool. I mean, when he did the Accessible Yoga book, I did all the photographs for that. So it's been nice to be there as a teacher and also doing this other piece. And my experience is that my yoga has informed my photography and, and, and how I shoot and how I function. And same with my somatic work.
It's also— explain to the listeners what somatic experience is, because I think a lot of people have no idea what that means.
Yeah. Um, somatic experiencing is really freaking cool. It is a bottom-up approach to healing trauma and stress-related disorders. It used to be viewed as a very shock trauma focused. The more we know, the more we realize that it's also very akin to working with developmental trauma and medical trauma, things of that nature. It was created by Dr. Peter Levine. And, um, you know, this has been his life's work to, to really understand the nervous system. And it, you know, he was studying, uh, animals in the wild and why are animals that are hunted or hunting, um, not cruising around the Sahara or the rainforest with PTSD.
Mm.
You don't see the lion, you know, in a state, a trauma state. They're just kind of, they do their thing. And then there's what are they doing that we're not doing? And, um, through polyvagal theory, which was created by, uh, Dr. Stephen Porges and, um, you know, Peter sort of looking at the brain and where we sort of are in alignment with our animal friends and where human beings are different. And, um, that, that's really interesting. It's like you look at our domestic animals, right? And people will say, oh, my dog is so anxious. Well, that's because we do that, right? Something happens and they go like this and they start to flee, and we go, no, no, it's okay, and we pet them. We don't— we actually interrupt their ability to shake it out and orient and do all the things. And so through Peter's work in tracking the threat response that he sees in animals that have the mammalian brain like we do and the reptilian brain like we do, the hindbrain, Um, going, oh, this is happening for human beings, but we have this funky and cool prefrontal cortex that comes in and goes, you're fine. And we override it. And so what we then have is what, you know, he'll call, um, all this, you know, survival energy that's all dressed up with nowhere to go. And you'll see it in a yoga class. Someone comes in and they're like, they're calm. They can't close their eyes. They can't sit still. They're, there's, you know, they have to sit by the door. They've got, they can't get organized in their own nervous systems. Right.
And make me think of somebody that came to my class with a whole bunch of stuff. He would just come and just like put it just a tent of stuff around him. Right.
Which actually is this management strategy of creating some kind of a boundary. Right.
Yeah.
And we function and move through the world in a way that we're not always aware of our activation patterns. And so then we're labeling, oh, I have ADD. Not that people don't have ADD.
Right.
But I have this, I have that, I'm this, I'm that. And we start to sort of almost embody these labels that we've thrust on ourselves or have been thrust on us by others, particularly family of origin. It's a long way that that can happen. Um, and so then here we are, dysregulated humans, you know, and so through looking at it like that, um, getting a sense that, that we can actually slow things down. Our nervous system is on average like 6 times slower than the, than the character structure. And so, and that's, you know, if we're in like a freeze state or collapse, then it's even slower, like 100 times slower. Um, but from this, you know, if you think about it that way, the mind's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the body's like, yo, hey, hold on. And I often will use the example like you're getting ready to go out and your mind is already in the car and your playlist is ready to go and that you've got the temperature setting and you're like, dude, come on. And the body's like, hold your horses. I have to go pee. I got to get my shoes on. Like, you're— there's all this other stuff. And then Right? And so it's like, how do we bridge that so that the mind can go, oh yeah, let's actually take our time, which is why yoga, I think, is a good friend.
So what would that look like? And take us through, like, how you would, um, teach that in a class. What would that look like for someone who is coming to a class? And how's that integrated?
One of the first things I do when I'm teaching is invite people to look around, which is not something that is typical, right? And I'll say, you know, let's give our systems an opportunity to make any necessary changes we have to make. Maybe you need— you're like, I don't want to sit right here. I feel really open, like too vulnerable, right? You'll notice some people will sit Very intentionally by a wall. And, and they're not using the wall as the prop. They're using the wall as like a boundary.
Mm-hmm.
Right. And normalizing this behavior because there's not, as soon as we say like, it's normal to need to know where the door is, it's normal to wanna have the back. It's, it, these are nor— this is your nervous system letting you know what it needs to feel relatively safe.
Yeah. I, when I was in that training with Paula, something that she said really changed my whole life. She said, you had a normal reaction to an abnormal situation.
Exactly.
And I remember just being like, wow. Yes. Finally, somebody that gets me. Like I went through all this stuff in my, you know, growing up. And to understand that I wasn't abnormal. There's nothing wrong with me. I did the right thing based on what was going on in my life. And I think a lot of people don't realize that.
Right. And what's available, right? When I hear someone say, oh, I would have kicked his ass. I would have got up and fought back. It's like, you don't know.
You don't know.
That's all happening automatically.
I had somebody break into my house. Yeah, I had someone break into my house while I was in the house, and my roommate was at her, um, boyfriend's house. And so I was there by myself here in Las Vegas. This was years ago. And I have one of those rods that like you can shove under your door to like block yourself in. So I'm blocked in under my door, hiding out in my room. And I remember like thinking ahead of time, like before this ever happened, like if someone ever broke into my house, I would get my bat and I would show them. And I grew up on arm, and they're not— and here I am, like, barricaded in my room on the phone with 911, like, yeah, like, freaking out. But then I'm looking out my back window, and we— um, the most PTSD I've ever had in my whole life. We had bed bugs one time. Oh, it was the most awful thing. My roommate— and at the time, her and I still talk about it. Like, just, it was the most— we lost like 75% of our stuff trying to get rid of it. Like, we just had to throw things away, and it was, it was a long time, and it was very expensive. And, um, anyhow, we had all this stuff in the backyard because we had had bed bugs, and we had had the house fumigated. So we had all these things in these plastic bags that were airproof, you know, like taped up with duct tape and stuff. And then inside of a plastic bin sitting out in the sun to try and kill the bedbugs. Right. And I had all my camping gear back there in the backyard like this. And I look out in the backyard and the guy is in the backyard and he starts to open the bin to get to my camping gear. That's like really expensive stuff. And all of a sudden I knocked on the window.
I was like, hey.
And it's just funny that that was the moment that I was like, oh, now I can tell him barricaded in my room.
Right, but that's what needed to happen, right? Like, your system just doesn't know. I'll tell you, like, my, um, that sounds like such a scary experience.
Some crazy things happen.
No, seriously, did— was there a resolution? Did the cops get there?
The police came, um, and it was just a— it was just a meth guy who broke into our backyard and got into the house. It just Like, you know, anytime you live in a big city, you're gonna, you're gonna have the potential for that kind of stuff. And if you live, you know, I just feel more comfortable with my people. So I've always lived in neighborhoods on the edge, you know, like even when I started to make more money. Um, I just, this is where I've always lived and I just like to live in those You know, like, I just feel more comfortable here than, say, like Summerlin or something, you know, like in the suburbs. I feel a lot happier close to the Las Vegas Strip. And because of that, there's a different element, you know. And to be more aware, which I am, you know, but it, it just— there was a time, like around that time, about 10 years ago, when a lot of people before, um There's just, there's been a lot of change. Um, I wouldn't say that it's really gotten better in Las Vegas because after marijuana was legalized, homelessness increased 16%, and then after the closures in 2020, it's absolutely off the charts now. Um, it's, I hear that it's more crime and, you know, it's just part of it. It's just part of being on this planet, I guess, really.
It is, but there's also a sort of a nationwide epidemic of houseless, you know, the unhoused, this deep poverty, the wage gap. Um, it's, it's pretty alarming. I think people are walking around in more shaken nervous systems.
Oh, it's like the last two, the last like two and a half years have just been collectively some of the hardest times for us. And I feel like— are you a fan of Brené Brown?
I am.
I like her a lot. Yeah. So she talks about how we've just been through collective trauma after collective trauma after collective trauma, and we're all just like the walking wounded. And we really, I think, in the last 2 and a half years, The campaign to separate and divide us through acting like we're very different has been very successful, and to control us all that way, because we are not different. The Yoga Sutras say that we are all one. We are all part of this planet. And while we have differences of culture, differences of, uh, experience, differences of the veil that we see the world through, like Miguel Ruiz talks about in The Four Agreements, ultimately we're all human beings. We're all in this together. And the ultimate answer in my mind is love, but we haven't really been generating that.
And so I think we're traumatized, right? And we're traumatized because on, I think on one hand there's the humanness that we all carry.
Yeah.
And then on the other hand, there's there's a deep vilification of difference.
Mm-hmm.
Right. So I move through the world in a Jewish body with invisible disability, and I get comments on a regular basis, like more now than I have in a long time. And when I was a kid, I experienced a ton of antisemitism. Where it's like, what are you?
Right?
Oh, you'll be fine. You know, Jews have a lot of money. Things like that. And I go, oh.
I tell that to my ex.
I'm like, that's really interesting. I didn't know that. I'll check my bank account. You know? And right. And so, and that's me who also carries this sort of white skin privilege and can move with more ease than some of my friends that cannot, right? So there is— I think that we need to be really looking at equity and how are we lifting up, you know, those who don't have as much or those who have been vilified.
Well, if we look at every person, like the Yoga Sutras says, if we look at every person as just a reflection of us, so when I'm unkind to you, I'm truly being unkind to me. Right. And then that, and that's where I think the oneness comes from and the separateness dissipates. But acknowledging that the separateness matters makes, yeah, makes it easier to acknowledge that we're the same. If that's, I mean, I know that sounds really weird, but no, but it does.
It, right. Like if, if, if you can see those who have been otherized. Right, and begin to humanize, then we can see our separateness and our togetherness at the same time. It makes a lot of sense. It's that, you know, holding these two truths, right? I love, I love this. Um, there's a, a, I think it's, I think it's in the Talmud, or it might be a Kabbalistic, uh, saying from the rabbis, but, um, that there's 72 faces of God. And if we look at if we don't know who they are? This feels very yogic to me, right? And so if we walk through the world and we treat everybody like they're the divine, we're good.
Mm-hmm.
And it's like, how do we move through the world treating people with kindness, with love, with value, with, you know, um, lifting each other up?
I don't find that When we, you know how it used to be, our parents would always tell us, treat others as you would like to be treated. I don't find that. I find that I try to treat others as they would like to be treated.
Yeah.
So some people don't like my vision of how life should be or what I think should be the setup. Really doesn't matter when I am engaging with another person and want to be respectful to them, what I feel they have an expectation of and how they view the world as good, right, wrong, bad, whatever, what their needs are, particularly as a yoga teacher that holds space for people. You know, maybe in my everyday circle where it's just my friends at my house, you know, whatever. But sometimes when you're working with people And you wanna help them find their own healing. It's important to acknowledge the things that are important to them, even if they don't think, if even if I don't think that's important, the idea that someone else thinks it's important now makes it important to me.
Right. We're bearing witness.
Right.
We're bearing witness. And I think for me, in, in working with people who are really holding deep trauma, Um, or teaching yoga in the prison system, or in group homes, or in juvenile halls, or in middle schools, as the case may be. Um, bearing witness.
Well, I know that our time is limited and we could talk forever. I'm really enjoying our conversation, but I want to take a moment to talk about how, uh, people can connect with you and how they can work with you if they would like to, and in what ways do you offer services that people can, um, be a part of?
Awesome. Um, it has been a really rich conversation. I'm sure we can have a lot longer if it's time to talk. Um, I can be found on Instagram at Sarit Z Rogers, S-A-R-I-T-Z Rogers, and also Sarit Photo also on, on Instagram, um, although I haven't been posting as much there. But, um, and then sarittherogers.com is my website, and within that you can see sort of how to book a session with me if you want to book an SE session, if you, um, want to know more about somatic experiencing. Um, I am not teaching any public classes at the moment. Um, I'm actually working on building my own, uh, trauma-informed accessible yoga training.
Exciting. That's exciting.
Yeah. So I'm excited about that because I really want to integrate the accessibility in there in a deeper way. So that's in— that's cooking. That's currently in the, in the crock pot.
Will that be in person or online? Or both?
You know, I think it's going to have to be both because I feel like if you're going to, you know, through the lens of accessibility, it's like We want to make this accessible to everybody. And, um, you know, if somebody's bedbound and they want to learn how to do this, yeah, they can. They can. When I was hospitalized with COVID and alone in my room because it was pre— it was terrible, um, I was doing yoga in bed and that was incredibly beneficial for me. And doing like some of the asana, but also some of the eye yoga and some of the just, you know, the pranayama and like a lot of stuff I was doing, um, in bed. So I feel like helping people understand that it is a mobile practice, that we can do this wherever we are.
Um, yeah, I think wherever you are, there you are.
Wherever there, wherever you are, there you are.
Yeah.
It's like, how do we meet ourselves with some, some compassion, you know, to, to really sit, you know, allow ourselves to be uncomfortable when it's necessary and allow ourselves to also feel good. And I, I think from the lens of trauma work, we are really good at feeling like crap. Yeah. And I think that there's so much power in learning how to feel good, not by bypassing the, the ugly, but for like, the ugly's here and I can also feel good.
Yeah. For many years I traveled around and studied with Shawn Corn. Like everywhere she was, I would go and like be like, I'm in your class. And, um, for like 20 years. And one of the things that she said to me that really helped me as a person who has experienced trauma is that she said, when you're feeling out of control, when your life is— you're feeling upset about something or you're dealing with something, sitting with that emotion instead of having a drink, having a cigarette, calling up your friend, getting on social media, whatever, reading a book, whatever it is. That you, you know, uh, use as a tool to escape, sitting with that and learning how to just organize it in the mind will be the way to get through it. And I, for me, I have really noticed that that has been the way through that I no longer have to deal with racing thoughts in the way I used to. I no longer have, can't go like it used to be. I could only go 10 minutes without being with someone else. I couldn't be alone for longer than 10 minutes, you know, like, learning those coping skills through just sitting through it. Like, what, what's the worst that's going to happen if I just sit there, you know, and learn to control my breath and learn to just let the emotions come through and learn how to wait and turn it down and turn it up? Yeah. And, uh, I mean, there's, yeah, there is that riding the wave.
And I often will say to people that we are surfing, we're learning how to move with these emotions as opposed to trying to stop them with drink, drug, whatever. And, you know, I have a ridiculous amount of time sober. I've been sober for most of my life at this point. And, um, so I've had to learn like, how do you sit with and be with it? And I think, you know, circling back to the question you asked me about how I would bring this into a yoga class. Is I might invite also, like, notice how it feels to be in your body right now. Does it feel— what, what shows up? Does your breath change? Does it deepen? Does it lengthen? Does it get shallow? Are you holding your breath? Can we back off if we are, right? Like, actually learning how to titrate the activation so that If we're sitting in Warrior 2 and we're taking 10 breaths there, that giving yourself permission to back out and go back in, come out and go back in instead of like, I can do it. And then all of a sudden you're hurting yourself cuz you're like, you know, braced against it.
Yeah.
Things like that, like where we can, we can start to develop the capacity to hold more. Right.
Well, there we go right back into the conversation. And actually, we need to be wrapping up. So you can connect with Sarit @sarittherogers on Instagram. I will leave all of her links below in the description. Thank you again so much for joining us. The Yoga Liberty Podcast is on basically everything. Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, everywhere. Please do subscribe. If you're watching this on YouTube, hit the subscribe button. And for everyone, please do share with anyone who might be served by listening to today's podcast. I look forward to seeing you all in the next podcast. Have a great night.
Thank you so much for joining us at the Yoga Celebrity Podcast. I can't wait to join you next week for another exciting podcast. If you haven't yet, check out my online 200-hour or 300-hour yoga teacher training. I'll see you next week. Thank you so much for listening.
Mwah! I appreciate you.
