Trauma-Informed Yoga &

Social Justice Certification

Yoga for a New Era: Rooted in Integrity, Rising in Collective Care

Yoga is a call to action.
In urgent times, we need more than asana.
We need your embodied, creative leadership rooted in healing, justice, and joy.

50-hour Trauma-Informed Yoga & Social Justice Certification for yoga teachers, healers, and changemakers ready to embody yoga’s full purpose.

Lead from inner work to outer change.

 JOIN NOW

WORK WITH SUSANNA

"Before it was a trend, Susanna Barkataki named the truth: real yoga is already trauma-informed. Embrace Yoga’s Roots became the movement’s blueprint." - Aditi, Yoga Trainer

Susanna is a Certified Yoga Therapist specializing in honoring the roots of yoga & healing justice, viral TEDx speaker, #1 bestselling author, pursuing a PhD in Psychology & Yoga Philosophy. 

Founder of Ignite Institute for yogic leadership and social change and Yoke Yoga, a wellness app for daily rest and resilience. Ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh, trained by masters in India, she bridges yogic tradition with embodied healing, creativity, and collective care.


Susanna leads with vision and lineage, holding honors degrees from UC Berkeley and Cambridge College and is a certified Experienced Yoga Educator, Teacher Trainer and Ayurvedic practitioner. Author of #1 Bestsellers Embrace Yoga’s Roots & Ignite Your Yoga (Shambhala / Penguin Random House)

www.susannabarkataki.com | @susannabarkataki

More Than a Certification. It’s Movement.

You and your friends are not broken. The systems are.

Tap into your wholeness and share tools to heal and change our world.

This 50-hour, career-shifting journey is for yoga teachers, healers, and changemakers ready to rise. Beyond a 200 or 300-hour YTT and root into purpose.

Like Kids or Prenatal Yoga, this path gives you the tools to guide trauma-informed, justice-centered practice.

But it’s more than tools. It’s coming home to the heart of yoga within yourself, healing, wholeness, and liberation, for self and society.


The roots of yoga were always trauma-informed. Now we remember.

You might feel nervous. That’s okay - this is a soft space to land.

Expect heart-opening rituals, soft, spoken word moments, and creativity that fuels your soul. Tears, maybe, and also laughter, music, movement, sparks of delight.

BE CONFIDENTLY TRAUMA INFORMED WITH YOGA'S ROOTS

Core Elements of the Certification:

Spiritual Empowerment:

Reconnect with your inner power. Unshakable, self-sourced, and transformative.
Tools for trauma-informed, personal & collective healing.

Healing Centered, Creative Expression & Ritual:

Joyful, embodied practices through ritual, reflection, and connection.
Ground your teaching in purpose, culture, and meaning.

Changemaker Leadership:

Use yoga for real-world transformation.
Lead with insight, equity, and clarity - aligned with your unique voice.


Early Bird Enrollment (50% off)

$997

or 2 payments of $498.50


or select a Buy Now, Pay Later option at checkout and choose your own payment plan!

FIRST 10 people to enroll get a 1:1 Coaching Call with Susanna Barkataki


Wisdom Holder Faculty

Dr. Rosales Rocio Meza - Indigenous scholar

“Decolonizing Trauma Informed Care"

Valarie Kaur -

Civil Rights Leader

“The Revolutionary Love Compass"

Trudi LeBron -

Author, Anti racist

“Equity Centered, Trauma Informed Business”

Hala Khouri -

Therapist, Somatics

“Somatic Safety"

Seane Corn -

Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher

“Yoga & Shadow Work"

Lama Rod Owens -

Buddhist Lama

“Love and Rage: The Yoga of Sacred Disruption”

Blair Imani -

Smarter in Seconds

“Tough Conversations Across Difference”

And You -

Upcoming expert in trauma informed yoga & social justice

Theory of Change Framework:

Become a Yoga Steward of Trauma Informed Social Justice

Rooted in yoga’s origins, this training centers trauma informed yoga inherent in yoga's roots, healing from systemic oppression through holistic care, community accountability, and collective liberation.

  • Healing Intergenerational Trauma: Break cycles of harm with somatic tools, nervous system care, and practices for deep self-awareness and embodied healing.
  • Collective Care: Build safety and connection through co-regulation, mutual support, and sustainable, community-rooted healing.
  • Decolonization: Return to the roots of yoga while actively disrupting casteism, colonialism, and systems of domination.
  • Transformative and Restorative Change: Go beyond individual healing to repair harm, rebuild relationships, and co-create liberatory systems.
  • Empowerment: Lead your own healing with clarity and resilience. Honoring your voice, your story, and every part of who you are.

"Teaching yoga today without understanding justice and healing is like teaching asana without breath."

A trauma-informed, justice-rooted certification that empowers you to create healing, equity, and lasting change.

This certification trains you in trauma-informed and social justice centered yoga, preparing you to advocate effectively and contribute to systemic change.

  • Equity & Justice: Ensuring fair opportunities and context-specific approaches that address the diverse needs of communities.
  • Human Rights: Honoring and protecting fundamental human dignity through yoga and beyond.
  • Yoga's Roots were already trauma informed. Practice the truth you know in your bones.
  • Interconnected Justice: Engaging in targeted action to address systemic oppression across race, gender, class, LGBTQ+, disability, caste, and religion.
  • Intersectional Feminism: Centering the lived experiences of those facing overlapping forms of oppression—while dismantling systems that uphold them.
  • Advocacy and Activism: Learn to teach in many environments, advocate for mutual aid, policy change, and structural transformation through trauma-informed yogic leadership.

This Certification is for You If:

✨ You’re a yoga teacher, educator, or healer ready to lead from your whole self with honesty, presence, and purpose.
✨ You know yoga isn’t just movement, it’s a path of healing, liberation, and collective care.
✨ You long to teach in a way that honors yoga’s roots and reimagines its future.
✨ You’re ready to center justice, tenderness, and truth in how you show up.
✨ You feel the call to be part of yoga’s evolving, embodied legacy.

By the end, you’ll lead with clarity and courage grounded in your values, creative in your expression, and devoted to healing in action.

There are few opportunities in our lives where we are given the gift to answer the call of the ancestors. Susanna guides us into our gifts.

— Jasmine Hines, Principal Consultant, The Inspower Agency

This Is More Than a Certification -

It’s a Call to Leadership.


Yoga is a path to liberation.

This training helps you move from fear to embodied power, root in resilience, and rise in truth. Claim your voice and amplify your impact.

Now is your time. Live and lead with yoga as a force for healing and change.

Spots are limited.
Enroll now—future you will thank you.

Why Now?

Because authentic yoga was already trauma informed.

You’ll learn to teach from the inside out. Guided by the wisdom of your own body, ancestral practice, and modern science.


Rooted in yogic texts and designed for the world we live in now.

We weave together the most essential trauma-informed frameworks:

  • Polyvagal Theory: Learn to read and regulate nervous system states - yours and your students'. Build true safety, not just the appearance of calm.
  • Parts Work (IFS): Understand and tend to the protective parts that show up in practice - shame, resistance, shutdown- with compassion and choice.
  • Somatic Healing & Felt Sense: Create classes that awaken interoception, proprioception, grounding, and healing at a cellular level.
  • Anti-Oppression & Decolonial Practice: Go beyond inclusion. Teach with cultural humility, justice, and collective care at the center.
  • Yogic Roots of Liberation: Reclaim the original purpose of yoga, far beyond performance, toward liberation. Not escape but courageous presence.

You’ll walk away with:

  • A toolkit to teach ethically, accessibly, and with integrity
  • Real-world skills for embodied leadership
  • The power to lead healing spaces that hold both joy and justice

You won’t just talk about justice or know cues for trauma informed yoga. (Though you'll totally get these!) You’ll teach and embody it. You’ll live it. On the mat, in the classroom, and in the world. Because you’re not here to fit in someone else’s yoga category.

You’re here to be the category.

I thought I understood trauma-informed yoga before. This training opened my eyes.

— Tara Seth

A Journey in Social Justice Yoga Leadership + Trauma Informed Training Integration

Includes 1 Year of Continued Support

What You’ll Learn

Live and Teach the Full Path

Support nervous system healing -ntegrate mantra, breath, mudra, meditation, philosophy for healing.

Yogic Ethics in Action

Live and lead with Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, and the full spectrum of yogic values.

Decolonize & Honor Lineage
Teach confidently with cultural integrity. Appreciating not appropriating.

Inclusive & Trauma-Informed
Create warm, trauma-aware spaces that welcome every body.

Yoga for Justice

Use yoga as a tool for healing, equity & collective liberation.

Lead With the F.I.R.E. Framework
Foundation, Integrity, Relationships & Embodiment.

How It Works

50-Hour Certification | 4 Months of Core Training
Complete the program over 4 months with a flexible hybrid format that starts as soon as you enroll. You'll begin with Trauma Informed Foundations, Embrace Yoga's Roots and continue with Yoga Class Curator.

Live + Self-Paced Learning
Learn with expert guidance, on-demand modules, and live coaching calls twice monthly, including:

  • Trauma-Informed Foundations of Yoga: Aug 28th - 12-2pm PST / 3-5pm EST
  • Visioning Call: Oct 16th - 12-1pm PST / 3-4pm EST
  • Practice and Poetry Jam: Nov 6th - 12-2pm PST / 3-5pm EST
  • Project Workshop: Jan 8th - 12-1pm PST / 3-4pm EST
  • Each month - Trauma Informed Social Justice Training with Susanna (2nd Weds, 12-1pm PST) + Pilgrimage & Puja (4th Weds, 1-2pm PST)
  • Wisdom Holder Residencies - 3rd Thursdays of each month for 1 hour
  • All calls will be recorded.

Have Fun Unlocking Your Voice with our Practice and Poetry Jam

Share, give and receive feedback in a fun, creative space of practice!

Real-World Integration Project
Apply your learning in a final project that centers your voice and creates meaningful change.

Leadership Milestones
Stay on track with structured accountability: visioning, reflection, and implementation.

Certification in Trauma-Informed Yoga & Social Justice
Earn a recognized credential in Trauma Informed Yoga & Social Justice. Move forward in your role as a Certified Yoga Steward. Affirm your leadership.

Ongoing Support
After the core 4 months, continue deepening your leadership with 8 months of access to live trainings, mentorship, resources, and community for a year.

Program Structure:

Immersive Training + Ongoing Support

Begin with 4 months of focused learning with Trauma-Informed Foundations Embrace Yoga’s Roots, including two live calls/month and ~2 hours/week of self-study.

We move through self-study, live ritual calls, embodied integration, and visionary community. Expect heart. Expect heat. Expect holy moments.

FAQs

What’s the cost?
Valued at $2,000 - now 50% off: $997 paid in full or choose a custom payment plan such as $249/month or as little as $61/ month less via Buy Now, Pay Later.

When does it start?
You can start immediately after enrolling with self-paced modules and join monthly live calls throughout the year.

What is the reading list?

1. Embrace Yoga’s Roots by Susanna Barkataki Rooted in yoga philosophy and decolonization, this book brings forward the roots of trauma informed yoga practice with social change. It’s the gold standard for understanding cultural appropriation, lineage, and justice-centered teaching.

2. My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem A groundbreaking somatic abolitionist text that explores how trauma lives in the body. And offers concrete, embodied practices for healing racialized trauma.

3. The Politics of Trauma by Staci K. Haines This book bridges personal healing and systemic transformation. It integrates somatics, trauma theory, and social justice—offering grounded, body-based practices to move from individual resilience to collective liberation. A must-read for trauma-informed facilitators and changemakers.

4. Ignite Your Yoga by Susanna Barkataki A visionary guide to spiritual leadership and embodied transformation. This book brings yogic ethics, the Yoga Sadhaka framework, and modern activism together, showing how to live, lead, and teach yoga from the inside out and will be the guide for your Trauma Informed Social Change Project.


Is this just for yoga teachers?

Nope! This is for anyone who is called to deepen in trauma informed practices and social justice. You can be a yoga teacher but you don't have to be. Many wellness practitioners, educators, therapists, activists, healers, aspiring changemakers of all kinds join this training.

Do I need a 200-hour YTT or prior social justice training?
Nope! Just a foundation in yoga and a willingness to show up with openness. You don’t need to know everything. You need to care deeply and show up with your whole self. We’ll walk the rest with you.

How is this different from a YTT?
YTTs teach you how to teach classes. This certification teaches you why, and how to lead with yoga’s full wisdom in service of justice and transformation.

How long do I have access?
You'll receive 1 year of access to all materials, trainings, and updates.

Does it count for CEUs?
Yes. earn 50 Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Units (CEUs) upon completion.

Is there an Alumni discount?
Yes! If you’ve completed Embrace Yoga’s Roots, Yoga Class Curator, or the YTT 200/300, email hello@ignitebewell.com for a special rate.

More questions? Email us at hello@ignitebewell.com

As a Black woman, yoga teacher and educator, I find Susanna's work essential to understanding how we share yoga with the world.

— Diane Bondy, Founder of Yoga for All

Who Is This For?

Those ready to feel more confident raising their voice as you steward your magic with depth, integrity, and power.

  • Yoga Teachers & Educators – Ready to deepen their teaching and expand their impact
  • Wellness Professionals & Healers – Seeking to integrate yoga into their work with care and purpose
  • Studio Owners & Leaders – Committed to creating ethical, inclusive, and justice-rooted yoga spaces
  • Activists & Organizers – Bringing embodiment and spiritual practice into movements for change
  • Anyone Called to Lead – With courage, clarity, and alignment with yogic values

Who You Will Become With This Certification

Beyond a 200- or 300-hour YTT, this is a path to become the teacher, leader, and healer you’re here to be.

Rooted in presence, guided by justice, moved by love.

Teach with care. Hold space with courage.
Let your inner work become outer impact.

This is where your voice, values, and leadership meet the world.

We’ll laugh, breathe, move, shake things up—and root into joy.

This is more than a training. It’s a return to your purpose.

What You'll Walk Away With...

  • A Certified Yoga Steward credential in Trauma Informed Yoga for Social Justice—to elevate your teaching and leadership
  • The confidence to integrate systems thinking, yoga’s ethics and philosophy into your offerings
  • A real-world project that transforms knowledge into meaningful action
  • A community of like-minded leaders and changemakers
  • A deeper understanding of yoga’s role in justice, healing, and liberation
  • Bite-sized learning and oversized confidence to lead change
  • Come for the liberation. Stay for the laughter, creativity, and community.

What Students Are Saying About Our Trainings

"This training transformed the way I teach yoga. It gave me confidence and clarity on how to bring yoga’s ethics into my classes in a meaningful way." – Alyson, Yoga Teacher

"I finally feel like I have the language and tools to create an inclusive yoga space that truly honors the practice’s roots." – Adriene, Yoga Studio Owner

"This helped me step into leadership and impact my community in ways I never imagined." – Ashanti, Activist, Nonprofit leader and organizer


Early Bird Enrollment (50% off)

$997

or 2 payments of $498.50


or select a Buy Now, Pay Later option at checkout and choose your own payment plan!

FIRST 10 people to enroll get a 1:1 Coaching Call with Susanna Barkataki


Join Us. Move Into Leadership. Teach for Change.

Spots in this Trauma-Informed Yoga and Social Justice Leadership Cohort are limited.

Enroll now to claim your place.

“I can’t think of anyone more suited
to lead the way than Susanna”

- Rachel Brathen, Author, Yoga Girl

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