Moving Beyond "Just Feel Your Feelings" with Trauma-Informed Yoga and the Power of Lunar Energy
I pulled a tarot card for November and got The Moon.
Perfect timing, honestly. Because lunar energy is exactly what so many of us need right now.
If you're not familiar with tarot, The Moon card represents intuition, instinct, emotionality, and fluidity. It's about what can't be seen but can definitely be felt. One of my yoga teachers says this all the time in her classes: "Notice what can't be seen but can be felt."
That's lunar energy in a nutshell. The unseen.
And here's the thing: the unseen is really hard for most of us.
Why Feeling Is So Hard (And Why That Makes Sense)
Our culture doesn't encourage feeling. It celebrates what we can explicitly talk about and what we DO. We're more comfortable with solar energy (think action, productivity, visibility) than lunar energy (think emotion, intuition, the stuff that's harder to name).
Maybe in your upbringing, feeling wasn't just discouraged. It wasn't allowed.
So it makes complete sense that so many of us struggle to identify and express emotion. It makes sense that you might say, "It's really hard to get into my body and notice what I'm even feeling in there."
And if trauma is part of your story? That disconnection goes even deeper.
How Trauma-Informed Yoga Actually Works
Here's what trauma-informed yoga doesn't do: it doesn't say "feel your emotions" and then leave you drowning in your body for 20 minutes.
That's not helpful. That's actually retraumatizing for a lot of people.
Instead, trauma-informed yoga uses something called titration. If you remember those titrators from chemistry class, you'll get this. We're not pouring the entire solution into the cup. We're adding one drop at a time. Small doses. No explosions. Just subtle transformation.
In practice, this looks like moving into a hip opener, noticing for a moment ("Do you notice any difference from side to side in the backs of your legs? Maybe one feels more grounded?"), and then moving on to plank pose.
You're not forced to stay in the feeling. You're building capacity to notice your internal landscape, one movement at a time.
The 1% Rule: Why Slow Actually Works
When I look back at my own yoga practice over the years, I can see that subtle internal transformation. It was a very slow burn. I built 1% more capacity to notice what was happening inside me, one class at a time.
Those percentages add up.
This might not sound sexy in a world of automation, instant gratification, and AI that can spit out answers in seconds. But the slower processes? They're the ones that actually create lasting change.
You can't ChatGPT your way into feeling safe in your body.
Practicing Lunar Energy Through Movement
This is why I love incorporating lunar energy into yoga practice. Shapes like half moon pose and sugar cane aren't just pretty Instagram moments. They're invitations to embody something softer, more fluid, more feeling.
Not through forcing. Through practicing.
When we take on these lunar forms, we're building that 1% more capacity to feel. We're honoring the unseen. We're giving our nervous systems permission to notice without demanding they perform.
I hope you’ll join me by signing up for my free yoga class centered around working with the energy of the moon this month!
Your Invitation to Practice
If you've been told to "just feel your feelings" and it hasn't worked, you're not doing it wrong.
Maybe you just need a different entry point. One that's slower. One that's structured. One that doesn't ask you to dive into the deep end before you've learned to float.
Trauma-informed yoga can be that entry point. Not because it's magic, but because it respects where you are and builds from there. Join me for a FREE yoga class, and have access to all of my pre-recorded classes here, or sign up for my weekly wind down class here.
One breath. One shape. One percent at a time.
🧡,
Learn more about therapeutic yoga in Horsham, PA and working with Abby on our blog!
I pulled a tarot card for November and got The Moon.
Perfect timing, honestly. Because lunar energy is exactly what so many of us need right now.