Embodied Healing After Religious Trauma featuring Cait Ference-Saunders

In this episode of 'Out of Session w/ Kindman & Co.', host Caitlin Harrison interviews Cait Ference-Saunders, of ⁠Move with Cait⁠, a Trauma Centered Trauma Sensitive Yoga⁠ (TCTSY) facilitator, about embodiment, making choices, and religious trauma. Cait shares her background in yoga and her journey through understanding trauma, explaining that TCTSY is a research-based recovery modality developed to help individuals navigate complex and relational trauma by emphasizing personal agency and choice.

The conversation delves deeply into religious trauma, exploring how high-control religious environments can create complex psychological impacts, particularly in evangelical Christian contexts. Both Caitlin and Cait discuss their personal experiences with religious deconstruction, highlighting how traditional religious frameworks often deny the body's inherent wisdom and create fragmented relationships with one's own physical and emotional experiences.

Cait explains her approach to trauma-sensitive yoga as a way of helping individuals reconnect with their bodies on their own terms, emphasizing that the goal is not to force positivity but to create a neutral, choice-based relationship with one's body. The discussion underscores the importance of recognizing bodily experiences as valid sources of information and healing, particularly for those recovering from religious trauma or other forms of systemic oppression.

Caitlin and Cait had such an enjoyable experience in this episode that they’re actually planning an embodiment workshop in the new year, joined by Gaby Teresa! Head to Kindman & Co.’s instagram for more information!

There will be a full transcript of this episode, as well as show notes, on the Kindman & Co. blog, so be sure to check that out for more information!

Thank you again to Cait for joining us on our podcast! Here are a few more pieces of information if you’re interested in working with Cait:

• Her instagram: @move_withcait 

• And newsletter: https://bit.ly/movewithcait

This episode is bringing you to:

Michelle C. Johnson’s instagram: @skillinaction Our guest Cait highly recommends Michelle’s account and notes that she “just started reading her book and it’s really good. She’s a former social worker and yoga practitioner doing justice work grounded in yogic texts.”

Save Poppy Peak - this is a local campaign that “exists to ensure the character and quality of life in historic North Highland Park by protecting the area’s last hillside open space from residential development.”