Using yoga to heal is a topic very close to my heart. Those of us who’ve experienced first-hand how yoga can help with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, recovering from illness, and so much more, tend to become a little evangelical on the topic.
So I get a little overexcited when I see articles like this one, by Linda Karl, being published. Here’s a pricture of Linda in parsvokonasana parivritti (revolved side-angle pose – I am TRYING not to be a Sanskrit Snob), because we like pictures.
And here’s an excerpt of the article that is out in the new (Summer) edition of Yoga Therapy Today.
Not everyone who experiences trauma develops pTSD. after a traumatic event, most people experience an “acute stress reaction” that helps them to process the event. however, others experience a longer-lasting effect that develops into pTSD.1 according to the teach- ers at my Trauma-Sensitive Yoga training at the Trauma center of the Justice resource Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts, in the United States alone, around 7.7 million american adults age eighteen and older, or about 3.5% of adults in a given year, suffer from pTSD. Trau- ma touches many lives and takes many forms. The national center for pTSD lists the following different types of trauma: combat or war exposure; child sexual or physical abuse; terrorist attacks; sexual or physical assault; serious accidents, such as a car wreck; natural disas- ters, such as a fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, or earthquake.
Traditional talk therapy, while effective for a trauma survivor,can only go so far, because trauma affects the body’s physiology and traumatic memories are stored somatically. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, director of the Trauma center, believes that the body-centered activi- ty of yoga combined with talk therapy is much more effective in treat- ing trauma survivors with pTSD. a physical yoga practice can be a way for a trauma survivor to make peace with the body, reclaim the body, and learn that the body can be reliable, safe, and effective again.
Read the whole article here!
Moving from Stability: Understanding the Pelvis in Posture (Online workshop)
Light Up Your Life
Most everyone has in their past have experienced all sorts of traumas. We need to be aware and sensitive to all humans. The effects of racism, sexism, classism, homophopia are wide spread and very damaging to every single human being. We all need to be teaching trauma sensitve yoga to everyone. To help anyone heal it helps to yourself from these types of hurts. Yoga teachers need to start their own support groups and learn how to build a heaing community.
Amen!
thanks so much, Nadine!
It’s awesome, isn’t it?