Lansing’s premier source for therapeutic & adaptive yoga for kids, teens, & adults
wellbeing isn’t exclusive to the flexible, fit, and non-disabled few
TheraPLAYoga: Therapeutic Playful Yoga
High Quality Programs
Redefining wellness support for kids, teens, adults & caregivers with chronic physical, emotional, & mental health challenges & conditions.
Not knowing what to do (and not do)— or having too many complex variables— to confidently DIY shouldn’t be the thing holding you or your beloved back from relief, recovery, and restoration.
F’real, as long as instructors, studios, and practices aren’t optimized to be helpful to you and/or your beloved, they could ACTUALLY be harmful. 👀
That’s where I slide in with TheraPLAYoga—
notebook in hand, grippy socks on the hardwood floor— not nearly as smooth as Tom Cruise.
Actionable Resources
For stewardship of positive mental health: embodiment, nervous system regulation, & resilience
I create classes and programs that help improve mobility, mental health, and social emotional development for growth and engagement at home, at work, at therapy, and in the classroom.
Playshops & trainings help parents, teachers, therapists, and even beloveds to become regulated and resilient co-conspirators of joy, compassion, and inclusion.
Compassionate Community
I live, breathe, & eat-for-snacks: adapting movements & breath practice to be accessible, inclusive, therapeutic, and sustainable…
Yoga practice is an ebb & flow between ease and struggle. Life too, amiright?
While I respect the tradition and history of yoga, you won’t find a set lineage, guru, style or specific sequence here.
TheraPLAYoga is a transdisciplinary model for post traumatic growth, self-regulation, adaptive functioning, and nervous system resilience; prioritizing connection with self and others.
Developed through the lens of personal experience and motherhood, TheraPLAYoga synthesizes concepts and research findings from the fields of trauma, neuroscience, child development, and Eastern yogic philosophy.
Adaptive Yoga Studio – Lansing
Located at 2015 E. Michigan Ave. Lansing, MI
TheraPLAYoga is Mid-Michigan’s first and only adaptive yoga studio with a therapeutic focus on individuals and families with chronic physical, mental, and emotional health challenges.
Hailing from the Lansing’s Eastside, this is a space where connection & healing intersect with curiosity & play; where laughter & conversation are encouraged and compassionate community is built.
Plus, if it’s not fun, we don’t want it!
I can’t wait to welcome you into this unique space of mine. It’s accessible and spacious for small groups, colorful, and filled with playful charm.
Take the tour! 🤩
Yoga Teacher for Disabilities, Trauma, & Autism
Gloria Treviño
I know what it’s like to live on
the edge of CHAOS and EXHAUSTION.
With intention and deliberate practice, I took my table-for-2 family from that edge; to a safe place, within ourselves.
As caregiver to a child with complex developmental disabilities,
health conditions, & adverse experiences—
I KNOW the judgement, grief, and lack of support.
I’m Gloria Treviño, a survivor and neurodivergent solo-mom turned trauma-informed, body-based somatic healing and regulation facilitator.
I know the complexities of trauma, dysregulaton, and disabilities require a complex response.
I did it all— from creating a practice to regain mobility after a disabling car accident, liberating myself from an abusive relationship, healing trauma and building resilience—
to the commitment of positive parenting through difficult behaviors and situations, and doing all the developmental therapies myself when insurance stopped coverage.
Oh! The fear, overwhelm, & isolation!
It wasn’t long before chronic stress turned into chronic illness.
From sensory and self-regulation to positive parenting, healing traumas, and empowering purpose— therapeutic, playful yoga has supported me and my son through many challenges and stressful transitions.
The process of addressing trauma, grief, toxic stress, and chronic pain; embracing radical acceptance and understanding and creating sustainable ways— for me and my son— to heal and thrive was (and is) an adventure!
Mission
Your adventure might be similar or entirely different from mine. But no matter, I know we have at least one of these things in common:
✅ We want the ABSOLUTE best for our beloveds (and we know not just anyone can be trusted to be genuinely knowledgeable & compassionate)
✅ And we want to feel good and think good; doin’ all the we LOVE — and need — to do with ease.
This awareness fuels my commitment to empowering my clients— kids, teens, & adults— with a therapeutic modality to understand their nervous system, to connect to their bodies, transform their relationship with their minds & engage more [play]-fully in their lives with self & others.
With this mission in mind, I spotted the TheraPLAYoga-sized gap in the market:
Affirming, trauma-sensitive, neuro-inclusive, and anti-ableist environments that honor each individual’s experiences and intersecting identities with truly accessible, agency-based practices that genuinely support life-span wellness and positive mental health.
I created and launched TheraPLAYoga, a place and practice, founded on the virtues of inclusion and accessibility; rooted in a trauma-informed approach.
My hope is that in our adventure together— you and/or your beloved gain understanding, connection, & safety; and embody acceptance, compassion, & purpose.
I’m here— because I’ve been there and teach from the path I’ve walked.
You’re desperate to know the dos & don’ts that are unique to you or your beloved.
You want to get outta your head & into your body in a way that isn’t harmful or overwhelming.
You’re stuck; feeling like: the reason you should do this— is the same reason you can’t do this.
Values & Approach
I have different values, approach & focus than most *yoga teachers* out there:
Inclusive & Accessible Yoga Lansing
Radically Inclusive & Truly Accessible > special events & occasions. Full stop.
There’s a reason I say “TheraPLAYoga is founded on the virtues of inclusion & accessibility”— anti-ableism & compassion is a STANDARD.
Disabilities are life-long, not an occasion or special event. You won’t see classes segregated by an ability-based hierarchy. Nor will you see an “all abilities” class with a cookie cutter flow pretending it’s for everyBODY. 👀
Straight up HARMFUL or PERFORMATIVE marketing ploys for offers that lack awareness, the depth of understanding, and expertise just to gain gold stickers and your dollars is not my vibe.
I’m down to teach people with diverse bodies, brains, and abilities and always remembering there’s a felt sense of safety in community with affinity classes. General classes are inherently accessible; offering informed accommodations and modifications. (We know the difference, don’t we? 😉).
I’m for making money to HELP people and live my values as an inclusion & compassion activist and disability & trauma-informed advocate. Integrity always.
Trauma-Informed Yoga Lansing
My instruction matters… but your internal state matters a leetle bit more.
This is sensory-based, trauma-informed facilitation: helping you connect to your body and empowering you to do what serves your needs within your capacity.
This is where a lot of yoga teachers get it wrong: they tell you to— just be still, just clear your mind— directing a sequenced game of simon-says with abstract and esoteric phrases, while talking AT you about how a posture or breath SHOULD look, feel, & be achieved— and might even get handsy with adjustments.
Yes. Alignment matters. But what your body is saying… How YOU find & feel ease… Hoo.
Physical, mental, and emotional safety… THAT’s the bees knees. 🤌
I gotchu.
Yoga for Disabilities & Autism Lansing
Your practice should never die on the hill of “I can’t.”
Most of what you know of yoga is complex bendy poses. But there are other parts that get you feelin’ good & thinkin’ good— aka gets your body and nervous system regulated & resilient.
Bendy poses are only a fraction of the practice and kinda overrated. The asanas matter, but don’t always get taught prioritizing science and safety— and DEFINITELY don’t get taught through the lens of anti-ableism.
🖤 I live, breathe, & eat-for-snacks: adapting movements & breath practice to be accessible, inclusive, therapeutic, and sustainable to people with disabilities & complex needs. I’m for the ruthless adaptation & elimination of things that don’t work.
So I won’t let your practice die on not being able to do flexy & fast-flowing, Instagram asana aesthetic. Informed intention should dictate the adapted movement— therapeutic movement is the vehicle that drives the healing.
Whole-Family Approach: A zealous revision of parent-caregiver code & sibling support.
It’s the parent-caregiver code in action: “My needs are on permanent hold; if they’re okay, I’m okay. I’m basically a zombie, who runs on coffee and willpower to be immortal.”
A dependent child’s wellbeing and mental health are directly related to the primary caregiver’s wellbeing and mental health. FACTS.
When you hear a teacher say, “if you can breathe, you can do yoga”— it’s a sign they’ve never trekked paths like ours.
I’m for the zealous integration of a whole-family approach; caring for caregivers (*and siblings!). We all need one of the big 6: respite, regulation, relief, recovery, restoration, or (at the very least) recognition to function well. Even if it’s to catch a breath for just a moment.
Whether I work with your disabled beloveds or not, I believe in well-informed self-care strategies, compassionate community, & our names being on the top of our priority list.
* And I’m THRILLED to share— As of August 2024, I am a certified Sibshop™️ Facilitator; offering trauma-informed Sibshops in Lansing.
Sensory-friendly Yoga Lansing
TheraPLAYoga Policies & Studio Etiquette
READ CODE OF CONDUCT & COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS→
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Consider it your court-side seat to what I’m applying to myself, my son, & clients; what’s on my desk, and juggling the joys of: motherhood, authentic relationships, and entrepreneurship.
Ready to fill up your wellbeing bank with weekly swipes, inspo, regulation tips, & self-care hacks? Thought so. 😜
Totally over YouTube yoga, DIY, ableism & risk of harm?
Unroll your mat with me at TheraPLAYoga.
EXPERIENCE LIBERATION WITHOUT LIMITATIONS.
![Teachers are educational caregivers; and
people who take care of other people, are my kinda people.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to close out Teacher Appreciation week by sharing TheraPLAYoga with some wonderful educational caregivers in the @lansingschooldistrict
#TeacherAppreciationWeek2023 #LoveLansing #TeacherWellness #AdaptiveYoga #AccessibleYoga
[image: Cordelia Black, Executive Director of School Culture; standing at left. Gloria Treviño, owner of TheraPLAYoga; standing in center. Jennifer West, Director of Culture and Climate; standing at right.]](https://theraplayoga.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)