Laura Wilson
Laura is the founding director of Edinburgh Community Yoga and is a Yoga Therapist (2016, 500 hrs.) specialising in trauma-informed yoga for mental health. She is also an experienced trauma-informed yoga teacher (2012, 200hrs).
As a survivor, practitioner, teacher and therapist, Laura has a gift for understanding the complex relationship between the experiences we have, the subsequent patterning laid down in our nervous system and subconscious, and the interplay between body and mind in integrating these experiences. She is motivated by a deep faith in our ability to process, let go and reframe, and finds the rich tapestry of practices offered in yoga to be an extraordinary set of tools for navigating life as a human being.
Laura has been practicing yoga since 2004 and teaching in mainstream settings as well as in collaboration with third sector organisations, NHS services and Criminal Justice Services since 2012. Laura has clocked up more than 1000 clinical hours as a one to one yoga therapist.
Laura’s approach is guided by the established and widely recognised principles of trauma-informed practice: safety, trust, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. Her work is informed by her professional knowledge, lived experience, and deep understanding of trauma theory, including nervous system regulation and polyvagal theory. She integrates trauma-informed yoga, somatic embodiment, and yogic theory, philosophy, and practice to create a safe, supportive, and empowering environment for her clients.
Laura is a member of The International Association of Yoga Therapists 
and bound by their ethics and guidelines.
Training and Qualifications
- Flash Technique. Intervention for reducing the disturbance associated with traumatic memories. Philip Manfield, 2026
- EMDR & Parts Work for Treating Complex Trauma: Decrease Defensiveness and Facilitate Trauma Processing, PESI Aerial Schwartz, 2025
- Accessible Yoga Training, Accessible Yoga School, 2025
- Exploring Practice and Teaching for Chronic Illness, Accessible Yoga School, 2024
- The Yoga of 12 Step Recovery, Yoga International, 2023
- Kundalini, Parayoga Master Training, 2021
- TRE Module 1, TRE Collage, 2021
- Embodied Trauma Conference, 2018
- Yoga for Veterans, Warriors at Ease, 2018
- Yoga Therapy Training 500hrs, The Minded Institute, 2016
- Pregnancy Yoga Module, British Wheel of Yoga, 2015
- Yoga Adjustment’s, David Keil, 2014
- Yoga and Mindfulness for Addictions, The Minded Institute, 2014
- Yoga Teacher Training 200hrs, Himalaya Valley Yoga, Goa, 2012
- Kids Teacher Training, Rainbow Yoga, 2011
Laura’s Journey in Therapeutic Practices
Laura works therapeutically both in groups and one to one. She writes and delivers workshops on the importance of nervous system regulation practices for stress management in workplace settings. She also writes and delivers trauma-informed training programmes for yoga teachers looking to work in community settings.
Laura is a published author, having co-written a chapter on person centred yoga for trauma in the 2024 book The Yoga Teachers Survival Guide 
.
Laura holds a BSc (Hons.) from London Contemporary Dance School, (2003).
“For me, yoga in all its forms is about building a deeper, more awakened and compassionate relationship with your self, so that we can experience the full spectrum of what it is to be human.
When we are braced against life’s challenges, we can miss the subtle moments that make life special. And so, Yoga is about creating aliveness as much as it is about calmness. Of course this always comes in response to the cultivation of deep, somatic safety.
I love the way the practice can teach us new way of being and I never tire of exploring the possibilities that offers us.”