About
Joanne Spence, MA, ERYT 500, is a recovering social worker and certified yoga therapist. She is the founder and executive director of Yoga in Schools. Joanne trains and teaches all sorts of amazing people, both nationally and internationally. She has taught yoga in prisons, hospitals, schools, churches, and sometimes on street corners. She specializes in working with adults and children who are experiencing chronic pain, trauma, depression, anxiety, ADHD, and insomnia.
Joanne has co-authored several published articles and has contributed to Best Practices for Yoga in Schools (Yoga Service Council, 2015) and Stories of School Yoga: Narratives from the Field (Syracuse Press, 2019). Joanne likes nothing more than to demonstrate the inclusive nature of yoga practice; if you can breathe, you can do yoga.
Her first book, Trauma-Informed Yoga: A Toolbox for Therapists: 47 Simple Practices to Calm, Balance, and Restore the Nervous System was released in March.
Joanne has been married to Doug for over 30 years. Together they have three adult children, all of whom practice yoga! When not writing or teaching, Joanne loves to read, hike, bike, travel, cook, and even dance a little - just not all at the same time.
Visit her website at www.joannespence.com and www.yogainschools.org. Or follow her on social media @urbanoasispgh on IG, and on FaceBook.
Featured Work
Trauma-Informed Yoga: A Toolbox for Therapists: 47 Simple Practices to Calm, Balance, and Restore the Nervous System
Although many forms of trauma treatment rely solely on talk therapy as a means of healing, we cannot "talk out" every issue related to trauma. Indeed, trauma is stored in the body and the brain and must be treated as such.
Designed with both mental health clinicians and clients in mind, "Trauma-Informed Yoga" offers 47 short, simply practices that regulate the autonomic nervous system, calm the racing mind, and center those of us living chaotic 21st century lives.
Drawing from 20 years of teaching and clinical practice, Spence masterfully weaves together the ancient wisdom of yoga with modern neuroscience and clinical practice in an accessible and compassionate manner.
This how-to toolbox will arm you with knowledge and with powerful, yet simple, mind, body activities that reduce suffering and increase well-being.
