Welcome to Violet Yoga. My name is Jo O'Donnell, dedicated yogi and yoga therapist. 

I'm thrilled to be able to bring this unique healing system into people's lives. If you are human at some point in your life you are going to experience trauma, emotional pain and heartbreaks - sadly we can't escape it. However the good news is we can begin to heal, grow and evolve into a better version of ourselves.

Like millions of people I've experienced  heart breaking traumas in both childhood and adulthood. I've spent years battling crippling anxiety, PTSD and bouts of shame, sadness and depression. Talk therapy has helped me somewhat, but it’s this unique style of yoga therapy that has given me the biggest leaps in healing.

Until I found this style of yoga I had no idea that I could control how my body responded to triggering situations. I was so used to experiencing unwanted panic and anxiety or PTSD responses in everyday life situations (where there was no physical danger) and was totally unaware I could bring  control back to how my body responded.  I was constantly having anxiety attacks and trauma responses (a flooded nervous system, feeling unsafe, sacred, alert and heightened) in normal safe, everyday situations. Through regular practice of yoga therapy I have retrained my brain and body that I am in control. 

There is a science behind this yoga, it's evidence based, clinical and it works. I can make choices about how much tension is in my body - I can now respond, pause. I can manage my nervous system, self regulate and make choices. This style of yoga has helped re-wire my brain (an amazing process called neuroplasticity) so that my brain doesn't need to keep stepping in and triggering me into trauma responses and anxiety attacks when I'm not in a traumatic situation.

Being in my body in this unique style of therapy has given me awareness of what's happening in my body and it's in awareness that we can begin heal. Like many of us I had no idea I had lost the ability to be in the present moment and be in my body. I was  trapped in my head, lost in fearful thoughts of past experience or feeling anxious about the future. 

Jos areas of expertise include:

• Trauma Sensitive Yoga

• Yoga For Anxiety and Depression

• Yoga Psychology & the Neuroscience of pain and stress related disorders

• Trauma Informed Yin for the Nervous System.

"Creating a safe and nurturing space, where people have the opportunity to come back into their bodies, heal, make choices, reconnect with their true self and capabilities and ultimately experience they have the power to heal and release old patterns and unhelpful responses is one of my greatest joys" Jo O'Donnell, founder of Violet Yoga.

With over 20 years experience in yoga and a 200 hour trained traditional yoga teacher, Jo went on to train in Yoga for Embodiment and Healing with Martine Cotes, trauma expert, clinical social worker, psychotherapist and accredited facilitator of Boston Trauma Centre, Trauma Sensitive Yoga.