A vital new guide to trauma-informed exercise—yoga, strength-training, and more—for trainers and fitness pros to foster safer workouts and build empowering fitness communities

As much as we talk about the mind-body connection, we seldom consider how certain workout movements can trigger past traumas—pushing us back into a state of vulnerability at the exact times we want to be (and, sometimes, need to be) strong. Our brains mean well: They’re trying to protect us. And so do our trainers: They’re trying to empower us. But when we encounter these exercises, it can be shocking, painful, or demoralizing—and they can prevent us from becoming as healthy as we can be.

For more than seven years, Chelsea Haverly and Emily Young have been teaching trainers about the impact that a client’s trauma history can have on their workout performance and how to build sessions that accommodate people’s psychology and past experiences.

In Letting the Body Lead, the two authors apply their expertise in therapy, fitness, and social work to a vital new guidebook that helps people heal through movement.

In particular, the book introduces us to two psychological states associated with trauma—hyperarousal and hypoarousal. Haverly and Young explain how each may be embodied in our nervous systems and, finally, how awareness of them can be incorporated into exercises. For example: While some people may need to move fast, others may need to move slow—and should not be shamed for it.

At the very worst, when we don't understand what people need and why, we risk harming them—either physically or psychologically. Letting the Body Lead shows us that fully understanding all of what people walk into the gym with—body and mind—and tailoring their exercise regimens to that knowledge is the best way to help people become their strongest selves.