Episode 182 · April 29, 2025
Pam Nelson: Taking Clients from Trauma to Transformation
with Pam Nelson, Licensed mental health therapist & founder of Yoga for Anxiety
37 min
Pam Nelson: Taking Clients from Trauma to Transformation
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In this episode
In this episode I sit down with Pam Nelson, a licensed mental health therapist and the founder of Yoga for Anxiety in Tulsa. With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to bring you a conversation with someone who helps others heal — and Pam does exactly that, walking clients from trauma to transformation.
Pam was raw and vulnerable about her own lifelong relationship with anxiety, including a season as a young adult when she was almost agoraphobic. It was a kind therapist's simple suggestion to try a yoga class that gave her two or three minutes of true peace in her body for the very first time — a moment that completely charted a new course for her life and her work. I love how she's paired trauma-informed yoga with deeper therapy modalities like EMDR and somatic parts work to care for the whole person.
We get practical too. Pam shares her broad, compassionate definition of trauma ("too big, too fast, too soon, too hurtful, or too little for too long"), how childhood trauma shows up in adulthood, and a beautifully simple reparenting practice you can start today. Whether you're carrying something heavy or just curious about finding more peace in your mind and body, I think you'll feel seen here. Keep going — this one matters.
Key takeaways
- Trauma isn't only horrific events — Pam defines it as anything 'too big, too fast, too soon, too hurtful, or too little for too long,' including childhood roles or needs that exceeded your capacity to cope.
- Healing the parents helps the children. Pam's lightbulb moment as a child therapist was realizing that helping adults heal their own childhood trauma stops the cycle from repeating in the next generation.
- Talk therapy alone often isn't enough to rewire a nervous system stuck in survival mode — pairing it with body-based work like trauma-informed yoga, EMDR, and somatic parts work can reach deeper wounds.
- Trauma-informed yoga is different from a typical studio class: it's not about form, alignment, or keeping up with the group. Everything is a suggestion, and the focus is on how breath, movement, and stillness feel in your body.
- Childhood trauma shows up in adulthood as nervous system dysregulation (constant anxiety or shutdown/'procrastination'), relationship and boundary struggles, and a shaky sense of self — not knowing what you want, need, or even enjoy.
- A simple reparenting practice to start today: set an alarm every couple of hours and ask yourself three questions — Do I need the bathroom? Am I hungry or thirsty? Do I need rest or comfort? Then place a hand on your heart, say 'I'll take care of you,' and meet the need.
- Care is available at every level — from following along free on Instagram, to on-demand videos and self-study, to group classes, all the way to individual therapy and statewide teletherapy for Oklahoma residents.
“The way I think of trauma is anything that is too big, too fast, too soon, too hurtful, or too little for too long.”
“For the first time in my entire life, I experienced just peace in my body. Peace in my body, peace in my mind.”
“Place a hand on your heart and just say to all parts of you, don't worry, I'll take care of you.”
“With health, a lot of times it's just one thing — and you really need to think about the whole person.”
Resources mentioned
About Pam
Licensed mental health therapist & founder of Yoga for Anxiety
Pam Nelson is a licensed mental health therapist and trauma-informed yoga therapist in Tulsa, and the founder of Yoga for Anxiety. After beginning her career working with children removed from their homes for abuse and neglect, she pursued a master's in community counseling and counseling psychology to do deeper healing work. Drawing on her own lifelong experience with anxiety, she helps men and women heal trauma — often passed down through generations — using trauma-informed yoga, EMDR, and somatic parts work.
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