A New Course With De West, C-IAYT, RYT
Returning to the Body
A Path For Resilience After Medical Trauma
July 8th — August 12th, 2026
A Letter From De West
Dear Colleague,
There will be moments in life when the body stops feeling like home…
Not because it has failed you, or because you’ve done anything wrong, but because what it’s been through was too much, too fast, or too overwhelming to fully process in the moment.
For many people, that moment happens inside the very system meant to help them.
A procedure, a diagnosis, a hospital stay, or maybe a series of appointments where something essential, like safety, agency, or dignity, was quietly lost along the way.
And what remains isn’t always a clear memory.
It's an echo.
This can look like a tightening in the chest before an appointment, a breath that never quite settles, or a subtle bracing, guarding, or disconnection that lives on in the body… long after the event has passed.
This is the often-unseen reality of medical trauma.
And it’s far more common than we tend to acknowledge.
Whether you’re working with clients who carry these imprints…
Or you’ve felt this in your own body, or alongside someone you love…
You may already sense the limits of approaches that rely on insight alone.
Because medical trauma doesn’t just live in the mind, it lives in the nervous system. In posture, breath, and in muscle tension. In patterns of protection that once made perfect sense, and now quietly shape how a person moves through the world.
And those patterns don’t shift simply because we understand them.
They shift when the body is given a new experience.
This is where my new course, Returning to the Body: A Path for Resilience After Medical Trauma begins.
In this deeply experiential, six-module immersion, I’ll give you a compassionate, trauma-informed approach to resilience that works directly with the body, gently, intelligently, and at a pace the nervous system can truly receive.
This is therapeutic yoga, designed for resilience, and it’s offered at a level accessible to everyone.
Yoga can be so impactful for recovery, and studies are beginning to show you how…
A phase III clinical trial reported in The Guardian found that a 4-week, specialized yoga program significantly reduces insomnia, anxiety, and fatigue in cancer survivors. The study suggests this gentle Hatha and restorative practice offers a viable, non-pharmaceutical approach to managing multiple post-treatment side effects simultaneously.
My work, and this course, have been shaped not only by over three decades of clinical experience, but also by lived experience with medical trauma itself.
I’ve experienced serious injury, chronic illness, and autoimmune disease, as well as surgeries and a journey with cancer, so I bring to this course the experience and understanding of someone who has walked this path back to attunement with the body.
Inside this course, you’ll be guided through a step-by-step process of restoring what medical trauma can disrupt… That could include a felt sense of safety, the capacity for choice and agency, a more natural rhythm of breath, the unwinding of protective holding patterns, the integration of emotional experience, and ultimately, a renewed sense of trust in the body.
Because releasing medical trauma isn’t about forcing the body to “move on.”
It’s about creating the conditions where the body can finally soften, reconnect, and remember that it’s safe enough to be here again.
If you’ve been looking for a way to work more directly, more compassionately, and more effectively with the imprint of medical trauma…
Or if something in your own body is quietly asking for this kind of care…
You’re invited to explore what becomes possible when resilience begins from within.
Warmly,
De West
& Academy of Therapy Wisdom
The Unseen Imprint
Why Medical Trauma Requires a Different Approach
Medical trauma doesn’t always look like trauma.
It often happens in environments that are meant to help. With professionals we’re told to trust. Under conditions where time is limited, and choice is often reduced.
Even when care is necessary… Even when people are doing their best…
The nervous system may still experience, fear, helplessness, and loss of control, and the body responds accordingly.
Not as a failure, but as protection.
Over time, this can leave a lasting imprint:
The body becomes vigilant, breath becomes shallow or held, muscles stay braced, and sensation becomes something to override… rather than trust.
And gradually, something deeper can shift:
The body stops feeling like a safe place to be.
This is why traditional, insight-based approaches often fall short.
Because medical trauma isn’t just something we remember.
It’s something the body continues to live.
A Quiet Recognition
If You're Recognizing Yourself (or Your Clients) in This…
This course was created for you.
You may be noticing that something doesn’t quite resolve, even when the medical “event” is over.
You (or your clients) understand what happened… but the body is still bracing
Medical appointments bring anxiety, avoidance, or a quiet sense of dread
There’s a lingering disconnect from the body, subtle, but persistent
Breath feels restricted, movement guarded, or sensation hard to access
Insight is there… but it hasn’t fully shifted what’s held underneath
Or perhaps this is personal.
You went looking for care… And came away with something more.
If any part of this feels familiar, you’re not alone.
And more importantly, there’s nothing wrong with you.
This is where this work begins.
The Pathway Back
Why Movement Is Essential to Resilience After Medical Trauma
You cannot think your way out of a survival response.
Because these patterns don’t live in cognition alone. They live in:
Posture
Breath
Muscle Tone
Nervous System Patterning
This is why talking about it, while important, often isn’t enough to create lasting change.
In this course, movement becomes the pathway back.
Not intense movement or performance-based yoga, or even pushing through discomfort… But slow, supported, trauma-informed movement that listens before it acts, restores choice, rebuilds safety, and allows the body to experience something new.
Each practice is designed to help your body feel:
"I am safe enough now."
"I have options."
"I can soften."
"I can respond instead of react."
The Method
What Makes This Approach Different
This is yoga therapy as a nervous system intervention.
Inside this course, you’ll learn an approach that is:
01
Trauma-informed
All inclusive, space to decide pacing
02
Choice-based
Restoring agency moment by moment
03
Body-led
Listening before attempting to change
04
Experiential
Allowing the body to learn through direct experience
05
Clinically grounded
Applicable for therapists working with complex trauma
There is no “pushing through” here. No expectation to override your body.
Instead, this work is built on a different principle:
The body changes when it feels safe enough to change.
Our courses are at the intersection of psychotherapy, spirituality and social change.
We know you have options for learning and Continuing Education. Here’s what sets us apart:
Emphasis on Your Learning
We offer a friendly, intuitive learning portal designed specifically so you can easily find your course content, connect with your colleagues, and have fun actually completing it!
Professional Production Quality
A real camera crew with high-end equipment, a deeply involved content director who works closely with every presenter, and a top-notch editing team with over 200 courses produced to date all make our video lessons second-to-none. Each learning module is split into digestible video segments so they are easy to watch and reflect on.
Unparalleled Customer Service
We’re proud to maintain a customer happiness rating of over 90%, with 85% of inquiries responded to within 6 hours. We’re here for you, every step of the way.
We ensure that your learning experience is not just adequate, but exceptional.
We believe learning should challenge and change you.
The Arc Of Six Modules
The Journey You'll Take
This course is a progression — a re-relationship. Over six modules, you’ll move through a carefully paced arc.
From
"I don't feel safe in my body"
To
"I can begin to settle."
From
"I have no control"
To
"I can make choices again."
From
"My breath feels restricted"
To
"My body can find its rhythm."
From
"I'm always holding something"
To
"I don't have to brace so hard."
From
"I can't go there emotionally"
To
"I can feel and stay present "
From
"My body betrayed me"
To
"My body protected me."
Therapy Wisdom Curriculum
In this course, you’ll explore
Module 01
Live Call
July 8th, 2026 ·
10am PT / 11am MT /
1pm ET / 6pm BST
Safety & The Body's Intelligence
"I am not broken."
Moving on from medical trauma begins with one essential condition: safety.
In this opening module, you’ll learn how medical trauma lives in the nervous system, and why your body’s responses are not signs of dysfunction, but intelligent adaptations to overwhelming experiences. Through gentle orientation practices and body-based awareness, you’ll begin to shift out of the belief that something is “wrong” with you… and into a new understanding: your body did exactly what it needed to thrive.
This module sets the foundation for everything that follows by helping you feel safe enough to begin. This is all about learning how to be in your body again, at your own pace.
In this module, you’ll learn:
- How to understand medical trauma through a nervous system lens so that you can stop pathologizing your symptoms and start recognizing them as protective responses
- How to identify survival patterns like fight, flight, freeze, and shutdown so that you can make sense of your body’s reactions instead of feeling confused or overwhelmed
- How to begin listening to your body through simple awareness practices so that you can reconnect without triggering overwhelm
- Why safety must come before any attempt to “heal” or change so that you can work with your body instead of against it
- How to build a foundation of internal stability and support so that your nervous system begins to settle and trust the process
Module 02
Live Call
July 15th, 2026 ·
10am PT / 11am MT /
1pm ET / 6pm BST
Agency & Micro-Choice: Reclaiming Choice After Medical Trauma
“This is my body.”
Medical trauma often involves a profound loss of choice, when your body is no longer yours to direct, but something managed by others.
In this module, you’ll begin gently reclaiming agency through small, meaningful decisions. Using choice-based movement and invitational language, you’ll experience what it feels like to listen to your body, and respond. Not through force, but through permission.
This is where resilience becomes participatory again. One small choice at a time, your nervous system begins to relearn: I have a say.
In this module, you’ll learn:
- How to rebuild a sense of agency through micro-choices so that you can restore autonomy without overwhelm
- How to recognize the impact of lost choice during medical experiences so that you can release self-blame and understand your responses
- How to use movement as a tool for self-direction and awareness so that your body becomes a source of information, not confusion
- How to work with invitational (not directive) approaches to movement so that your nervous system experiences safety and control
- How to trust your own pacing, limits, and preferences so that you can begin making decisions from within, rather than overriding yourself
Module 03
Live Call
July 22nd 2026 ·
10am PT / 11am MT /
1pm ET / 6pm BST
Breath After Fear: Restoring the Inner Rhythm
“My body can find its rhythm.”
Fear changes the way we breathe. And medical trauma, especially experiences involving anesthesia, shock, or invasive procedures, can deeply disrupt the body’s natural rhythm.
In this module, you’ll explore breath not as something to control, but as something to relate to. Through gentle movement and awareness, you’ll begin restoring your body’s internal rhythm, allowing breath to return naturally, without force.
This is where the nervous system begins to soften… not because it’s told to, but because it finally feels safe enough to do so.
In this module, you’ll learn:
- How trauma impacts breathing patterns and internal rhythm so that you can understand symptoms like shallow breathing or breath-holding
- How to approach breath as a relationship rather than a technique so that you can reduce anxiety around “doing it right”
- How to gently reconnect with your breath through movement so that your body can restore rhythm without pressure
- How to recognize when breath awareness feels activating (and what to do instead) so that you can stay within your window of tolerance
- How to support your nervous system in widening capacity for calm so that breath becomes a resource rather than a trigger
Module 04
Live Call
July 29th, 2026 ·
10am PT / 11am MT /
1pm ET / 6pm BST
Unwinding the Bracing Body: Negotiating With Protection
“I don’t have to hold so hard.”
After trauma, the body often stays braced, tight, guarded, and ready for something to go wrong.
In this module, you’ll learn how to work with that tension instead of trying to force it away. Through gentle, intelligent movement practices like pandiculation, you’ll begin to unwind chronic holding patterns, at a pace your body can trust.
This is not about “letting go.” It’s about creating the conditions where your body chooses to soften.
In this module, you’ll learn:
- How to understand bracing as a protective, intelligent response so that you can stop fighting your body and begin working with it
- Why forcing relaxation often backfires so that you can approach healing in a way your nervous system can accept
- How to use gentle movement to negotiate with tension so that your body can release safely and gradually
- How to recognize where and how your body holds protection so that you can respond with curiosity instead of frustration
- How to support the natural unwinding of muscular and nervous system patterns so that softening happens without overwhelm
Module 05
Live Call
August 5th, 2026 ·
10am PT / 11am MT /
1pm ET / 6pm BST
The Emotions the Body Couldn’t Feel: Learning to Feel Safely
“I can feel without drowning.”
When medical trauma happens, there is rarely time, or space, to feel what’s happening.
In this module, you’ll learn how emotions are held in the body… and how to begin accessing them safely. Using principles like titration and pendulation, you’ll gently explore emotional experience in small, manageable ways—always anchored in safety and support.
This is where resilience deepens. Not through catharsis or overwhelm, but through capacity.
In this module, you’ll learn:
- How emotions are stored as physical sensations in the body so that you can understand feelings as physiological experiences, not just thoughts
- How to use titration to approach emotion in small, manageable doses so that you can feel without becoming overwhelmed
- How to practice pendulation between activation and safety so that your nervous system builds resilience and flexibility
- How to develop interoceptive awareness (body-based sensing) so that you can recognize and respond to internal signals
- How to create the conditions for safe emotional processing so that feelings can move through your system instead of staying stuck
Module 06
Live Call
August 12th, 2026 ·
10am PT / 11am MT /
1pm ET / 6pm BST
Integration: Trusting the Body Again
“My body is on my side.”
This final module is where everything comes together.
After building safety, restoring agency, reconnecting with breath, softening protection, and making space for emotion, you begin integrating it all into a new relationship with your body.
Not one based on fear or control. But on trust.
Here, resilience shifts from something you do… to something you live.
In this module, you’ll learn:
- How to integrate body-based practices into daily life so that healing becomes sustainable and embodied
- How to shift your identity from “something is wrong with me” to “my body protected me” so that you can relate to yourself with compassion
- How to rebuild trust through small, consistent moments of listening so that confidence grows naturally over time
- How to use movement as a tool for ongoing self-regulation and resilience so that you can respond to life with greater ease
- How to take ownership of your healing process so that you leave with tools that truly belong to you
PLUS, Enjoy This Special Bonus
1 month FREE access to De's Trauma-Informed Yoga program!
In Trauma-Informed Yoga for Mental Health Professionals, you’ll discover how movement, breath, and embodied awareness can help clients reconnect with themselves, regulate their nervous systems, and access a deeper sense of safety and presence. Designed specifically for therapists and other helping professionals, this training offers practical, trauma-sensitive ways to integrate yoga and somatic practices into your work, giving you powerful new tools to support resilience.
For Therapists
For Your Clinical Work
If you’re a therapist, this course offers a new way of understanding, and working with, medical trauma. You’ll begin to see how trauma shows up beyond narrative… in movement, breath, and physiology.
Inside, you’ll gain:
A nervous system framework for understanding medical trauma
so that you can accurately interpret your clients’ symptoms as adaptive survival responses rather than pathology
Tools for working with clients who feel stuck in their bodies
so that you can help them shift out of patterns of bracing, shutdown, or disconnection in a safe and effective way
Movement-based interventions that stay within scope of practice
so that you can confidently integrate body-based techniques into your work without overstepping clinical boundaries
Greater sensitivity to cues of safety, activation, and shutdown
so that you can respond in real time to your clients’ nervous system states and support regulation as it’s happening
So you’re not just helping clients talk about what happened…
You’re helping them experience something different in their bodies.
Your Guide
Meet De West
De is a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT), Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapist, and the founder of Be.Center in Boulder, Colorado. With over 34 years of dedicated practice and teaching, she has developed a unique approach that combines yoga therapy with functional movement principles creating a practice that genuinely serves each individual’s needs.
Her path to yoga therapy wasn’t purely academic. After experiencing a serious biking accident that left her with chronic pain, De discovered firsthand how therapeutic yoga could restore function and vitality when other approaches fell short. This personal experience became the foundation of her teaching philosophy: that change happens when we stop forcing and start listening.
For over eight years, De worked alongside medical professionals in pain clinics, demonstrating the power of yoga therapy as a complement to conventional treatment. Physicians, physical therapists, psychotherapists, and specialists regularly refer their patients to her, trusting her deep understanding of anatomy, pain science, and the therapeutic applications of yoga.
Today, through Be.Center, De brings her decades of experience to an intimate online community. Whether through daily live classes, private sessions, or special events, her mission remains the same: to help you come home to yourself through mindful, therapeutic movement.
“I believe that every body holds wisdom.
My role is simply to help you reconnect with what you already know — that you deserve to feel at home in your own skin.”
— De West
A PERSONAL JOURNEY
From Diagnosis to Deeper Purpose
In addition to her biking accident, De faced one of life’s most profound challenges: a late-stage cancer diagnosis. What could have been a devastating blow became a transformative chapter in her story and in how she teaches.
Through her own treatment and recovery, De experienced firsthand the limitations of a purely physical approach to moving on after medical trauma. She discovered that true recovery requires tending to the whole person: body, breath, mind, and spirit. This understanding now infuses every class, every private session, every interaction at Be.Center.
Her cancer journey gave her an unshakable conviction: that our bodies are not problems to be fixed, but ecosystems to be understood and supported. When students come to her in pain, in fear, or in frustration, she meets them with the empathy that only lived experience can provide.
“Cancer taught me that recovery isn’t about getting back to who you were. It’s about discovering who you’re becoming and learning to trust that process.”
Note: This course is built on the foundation of De’s personal history and years of experience as a yoga teacher and therapist. Each module of this course includes a teaching session as well as a 45-minute somatic yoga therapy session. The live calls will involve additional yoga demonstrations and opportunities for deeper exploration into the material.
“De West is a gifted healer who has added years to my quality of life. She has a unique gift to teach her clients how to listen to and befriend their bodies. She has helped me develop more strength and flexibility and heal areas of pain or immobility by gently building and expanding my ability to use yoga in a therapeutic way. But her practice is much more than a yoga class—it is about restoring health to mind and body. Whether you have an injury, stress, loss of mobility, or just want more well-being, she is the healer to whom to turn. De is the ‘body whisperer.”
— Janina Fisher, PhD
Author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors and Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma, California
Enrollment
Begin the Return
$297
If you are a BIPOC helping professional, please accept our discounted enrollment price for this course by clicking here. We are glad to have you with us!
A Full Satisfaction Guarantee
This course comes with a full satisfaction guarantee. If you complete the first two modules and do not find it worth your investment, contact us for a full refund. We are that confident in what De has created.
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