Trauma Recovery & Yoga-Based Body Psychotherapy

 

Research is showing more and more that using a body-centered approach to addressing Trauma is an integral part to recovery.

(For more research on the science of how body approaches can help heal Trauma, view my  Resource page.)   

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Trauma is anything from one’s life experience that remains trapped and unresolved, causing disturbances at the biological, physiological, emotional, mental, or behavioral levels.

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The manifestation of Trauma symptoms such as  PTSD, CPTSD, anxiety, disassociation, and depression are often felt in the body, too. Therefore using Yoga practices that involve the body can be helpful and provide deep healing relief.  Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk explains how in his view, Trauma is really a somatic issue and because of this Yoga can play a big role in healing. For further reading please read Dr. Van der Kolk's article: Befriending Your Body: How Yoga Helps Heal Trauma.

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The impact of traumatic events leaves a person disconnected from his/her true self, surroundings, relationships etc. This is the true tragedy of trauma. In my work I help support people on a compassionate journey to heal the self that was "lost" or "disconnected". Yoga has an incredible power to help with this process. Yoga means unity and is an ancient practice that links both mind, body, and spirit together through various movement sequences and breath. In Yoga, we can start to "unify" the parts of the "broken self". For example, a client may choose to do gentle asanas while consciously linking their movements, with their breath, and a specific intention. This unification can be extremely powerful and restorative; rebalancing the nervous system, and lessening the grip that past traumatic experiences have on the persons psyche, by helping people "recover" their lost  "I" or authentic root.

 

The beauty of this therapy is that there are infinite number of choices and authentic movements that clients can choose to create within a given session. The choices are endless and limitless. There is tremendous healing potential as each movement represents various layers, levels, and facets of who we are and who we can become.  By having numerous choices, and unlimited freedom this helps to "unfreeze" the trauma a client experienced/experiences in his or her life, thus leading to deep healing and recovery.

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Using yoga and the body in therapy can aid in ones's ability to feel more grounded, safe, present, and an increased sense of control and self-regulation.