our why.
Frontline professionals are constantly facing life-threatening situations with courage and determination. These emergencies will naturally expose them to traumatic events that can lead to layers of lasting emotional scars and thick armor. Becoming aware and addressing the impacts of these experiences is crucial for their mental health and overall well-being. Prolonged stress and trauma in first responders & frontline workers can manifest in various forms, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), feelings of anxiety, depression, sleeping disorders, and burnout. The effects of experiencing traumatic events can lead to emotional numbing, hyper-arousal, intrusive thoughts, addictions, and avoidance behaviors.
Coping with trauma is a journey that requires courage, self-awareness, and the willingness to seek support. Thankfully, there are resources, tools, and long studied practices that support our minds, hearts, and bodies. By integrating science-backed Yoga, 9D Breathwork, mindfulness, and somatic tools into a daily routine, frontline professionals can enhance their emotional regulation skills and foster a sense of calm and clarity in their lives.
This is why we developed the Burning Layers.
Trauma-informed yoga is a specialized practice designed to support individuals who have experienced trauma or prolonged stress. It integrates principles of trauma theory in conjunction with the practice of yoga, emphasizing safety, choice, and empowerment. A key component of this approach is understanding and regulating the nervous system consistently something we focus on Burning Layers.
Yoga means Union and is a science developed to support the body’s resilience, unite with higher consciousness, and to achieve control of the mental fluctuations. Through traditional & modern practices we cultivate clarity in our mind, truth within our heart, and balance in our physical and emotional bodies. Yoga originated in ancient India and is believed to date back over 5,000 years.
We have paired this wisdom with innovative & modern practices that support the body, the brain, and the nervous system to offer support to the frontline in their personal and professional lives.
What is trauma informed yoga?
9D Breathwork is a guided, multi-layered breathing experience designed to train nervous system control, improve stress regulation, and enhance performance under pressure. Using structured breath patterns combined with immersive audio guidance, it helps first responders deliberately shift between high-alert operational states and effective recovery states.
In the fire service, chronic activation drives elevated heart rate, rapid air consumption, and long-term physiological strain. By improving breath control and CO₂ tolerance, Breathwork supports stronger air management, clearer decision-making, and steadier performance on SCBA. It also strengthens parasympathetic activation (the body’s recovery system) helping reset faster after calls.
For departments, this means more than stress relief & relaxation. It supports job sustainability, cardiovascular health, sleep quality, and burnout prevention. For training divisions and peer support teams, it offers a proactive, performance-based tool that builds resilience, improves recovery, and helps firefighters sustain long, healthy careers.
What is 9D Breathwork?
meet the team.
Tim wood
Co-founder, First Responder, Peer Support Member, Certified 200hr RYT Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher, Certified 9D Breathwork Facilitator
The career of the first responder is unique in its schedule, in its sleep cycles and the thousands of emergency incidents that are experienced throughout our career. Tim found it difficult to balance his work and home life, while unprepared changes in life circumstances were taking place.Tim was determined to find clarity in his life. He worked with many great therapists, mentors, friends and work colleagues that assisted him in navigating his mental and emotional experiences. He was guided to dive deeper, utilizing Yoga and Meditation for the purpose of gaining more self awareness, mental clarity and emotional stability.
Burning Layers has been a vision of Tim’s for many years. To support the hidden struggles of our first responders. Loosing friends and colleagues to suicide, and struggling with these thoughts himself. It only makes sense to share the practice of Yoga with our community.
“Your body is constantly trying to grab your attention, through symptoms.” - Tim
Nikole skrzypczak
Co-founder, First Responder Wife, Certified 200hr RYT Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher, Somatic Breathwork Facilitator, Entrepreneur, Wellness Advocate.
Nikole has been practicing Yoga for many years. These practical discipline became her main tool for personal healing, self-regulation & reduce stress while navigating marital abandonment, divorce, single parenting, and transitioning her life to a new country.
As the wife of a first responder, Nikole understands there are work related, personal and family challenges that negatively impact their lives and home/family harmony. She feels passionate to serve the fire family & supporting their mental and emotional wellbeing and balance.
Nikole has lead different styles of Yoga practices, facilitated workshops and hosted wellness offerings, mainly focused on personal self-discovery, self-transformation & self-regulation. She deeply wishes to positively impact more lives through these ancient practices, in a safe space that supports self-awareness & healing.
“Witness your life with compassion, love & understanding. You don’t have to carry it all alone” - Nikole
aris seaberg
Co-founder, 500hr E-RYT Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher & Educator, Prenatal & Kids Yoga Instructor
Aris came to yoga 11 years ago during and after the traumatic experience of her mother’s illness and passing. She was then disregulated, sick, and desperate to find a way to find balance and heal. Yoga was the one thing that truly supported her in transforming the pain to healing. Yoga is her way of life and the practice she continues to embrace whether she is cultivating personal clarity or navigating daily life stressors. Aris also heavily leaned on the tools and wisdom of yoga when she became the full-time, single parent of her niece. Her sister was an EMT and is currently navigating her own mental health crisis and addictions.
Aris has led countless yoga classes, been a facilitator in 6 yoga trainings, led multiple retreats, opened her own yoga studio in 2017, traveled the USA and UK as a Yoga Journal Ambassador in 2018, and is also certified as a prenatal and kids yoga instructor.
Aris hopes her experience and personal testament can further support first responders, military, and frontline professionals to thrive in their personal lives and careers.
“Through awareness we unlock the power of choice.” - Aris