#traumayoga

[seasonofposttraumaticgrowth]

Ways to come out of emotional numbness and depersonalazation/derealization and anxiety. Do deep breathing exercises. Self regulating techniques and progressive muscle exercises and Trauma yoga. Do this every day until you feel better.

[hugoyogui]

Goddess or Fierce Angle Pose -Utkata Konasana Strengthens hip flexors, thoughts, ankles, calves, and hips. Stretches the thought and hips. #yogamen #yoga #yogapractice #yogaprocess #traumayoga #yogaposes #yogagay https://www.instagram.com/p/B6g4rXHgl9C/?igshid=1dfx1ygpj1eqk

[yogiangelyoga]

Trauma Sensitive Yoga and Equine Assisted Yoga: The Basics

Trauma In The Body:

Trauma actually limits a person’s lifespan and disrupts their neurodevelopment. Lack of emotional regulation, adverse health behavior, and “living on the edge” has a negative impact on a person’s biology which leads to chronic illnesses and chronic pain such as muscle spasms, back pain, migraines, and/or fibromyalgia (Van Der Kolk, 268).

In PTSD patients, stress levels do not return to baseline after a threat (real or potential) has passed (Van Der Kolk, 46). Effectively, the traumatized brain no longers feels safe and remains on high alert. This takes a person out of living-in-the-moment. The effects of trauma are not necessarily different from and overlap with the effects of physical lesions like strokes (Van Der Kolk, 43). PTSD survivors can lose executive functioning, the ability to self-regulate (often overreacting to minor inconveniences), and they can lose the Reflex of Purpose (Van Der Kolk, 45, 78) (often disrupting basic signals like hunger or fatigue).  

Interoception: Befriending the Body

Interoception refers to when one’s physical reality and neurophysiological reality are in sync. In yoga terms, this means: Body Awareness. One can only be fully in charge of one’s life if they can acknowledge the reality of their own body in all it’s visceral dimensions. (Van Der Kolk, 27). Body awareness puts us in touch with our inner world, the landscape of our organism (Van Der Kolk, 210).

In trauma, when fighting for survival, one often loses connection to their own body and that sense of detachment may remain long after the trauma is over. The goal of treatment of trauma is to help people live in the moment and not according to the demands of the past. To have an experience in the moment, we call attention to what’s happening right here, right now. (Trauma Sensitive Yoga, www.traumasensitiveyoga.com)

Reorganizing the Brain: Breath and Self-Awareness

No one can “treat” a war, rape, or abuse. It has been done. But what can be dealt with are the imprints of the trauma on the body, mind, and soul in effort to restore executive functioning (Van Der Kolk, 205).

We have the capacity to regulate our own physiology including the so-called involuntary functions of the body and brain through such basic activities as breathing, moving, and touching* (Van Der Kolk, 38).

Research supported by the National Institutes of Health has shown that 10 weeks of yoga practice markedly reduced the PTSD symptoms of patients who have failed to respond to any medication or to any other treatment. (Van Der Volk, 209.)

A yoga practice that is focused on breath is designed to completely relax the practitioner until a parasympathetic state is achieved. In the parasympathetic state, the practitioner is calm, relaxed, and able to resist the fight or flight response to stressful triggers. The rider learns to respond to stimuli in a discerning, thoughtful manner, rather than react on impulse.

We Provide A Safe Environment For Healing 

Feeling safe is the single most important aspect of mental health (Van Der Kolk, 81). When trauma survivors have shut down or find difficulty in connecting with humans, horses can provide less complicated companionship while providing the necessary sense of safety to heal. (Van Der Kolk, 82).

Bearing in mind that safety is the top priority, we must make great efforts to avoid interfering with the natural healing that the animal human bond facilitates. IOW not constantly telling the rider what to do. By encouraging the rider to be an active participant in his or her healing, we invite them to participate in the yoga and offer them the choice to engage in the lesson or specific aspects of the lesson. Empower the survivor by letting go of your expectations of their healing. Allow flexibility for the rider to explore both emotional and physical sensations during the yoga sequence. Give space to permit interoception/body awareness. In Trauma Sensitive Yoga and equine therapy, we want to provide an environment for the rider to regain control over their body and learn to trust themselves and the world around them.  This can not be forced.

You Are The Agent of Your Own Healing: Agency and Empowerment

Trauma by its very nature drives us to the edge of compulsion, cutting us off from language based on common experience or in an imagined past. (Van Der Kolk, 43.) We feel helpless and unable to express ourselves as the trauma has convinced us that we are not in control of our bodies or our destiny. In any modality, a trauma survivor must feel EMPOWERED. As facilitators of healing, we can’t take away their choices lest we recreate the trauma by interfering with the survivor’s personal agency. (A main tenant of Trauma Sensitive Yoga.)

We must respect the trauma survivor’s journey and allow the healing to unfold in its own time. In other words, we can not be attached to their healing or set forth any kind of agenda.

A Trauma Survivor Can Not Be Reminded Enough That They Have Choices

A Trauma Survivor Can Not Be Reminded Enough That They Have Choices

A Trauma Survivor Can Not Be Reminded Enough That They Have Choices

Key Components Of A Trauma Sensitive Practice

Language:

Concrete - Straightforward - Avoid metaphors and keep the instructions simple.

Visceral - invite exploration of internal body sensations. Don’t be too complex because it gets people too in their heads when we want to encourage body awareness.

Repetition - repeating cues to allow deep internal work, cueing 5-10 movements in a lesson.

Two basic styles of language:

Invitational Language - This highlights the empowerment aspect. They choose what they do with their bodies. E.g. You may… If you choose ... If you’d like …

Interoceptive / Inquiry Language - Focuses on the body sensation. E.g. You may feel… What are you feeling? ... Focus on...

We avoid praise and judgment remembering that the client is not there to have expectations set on them.

We avoid referring to the anatomy, instead say: Top of your body or lower part of your body ...

Demonstration: We practice with the client for the “shared authentic experience.” Additionally, this takes away from self-consciousness if we are not solely focused on the rider.  

“Forms” To Consider In A Sequence

Neck rolls, shoulder rolls, wrist circles, ankle circles, bilateral stimulation. Consider pausing at any point to ask the rider to notice if they are feeling balanced on the back of the horse.

Hands Together - at the heart and/or raised above head while shoulders press down

Eagle Arms - arms crossed at the elbows, hands to touch, lifting elbows upwards

Simple Twist - reach one arm behind, resting on the saddle or horse or lifted, sitting up tall

Simple Back Bend - sitting up tall, chin reaches upwards, hands reach behind as the shoulder blades reach towards each other

Quiet cool down. Invite the rider to thank the horse and feel its movement.

Responding to Triggers: 

Movement may cause triggers and that is ok. Part of this practice is learning how to safely respond to triggers. Some gentle ways to respond to a client who is upset, crying, or shutting down:

Are you ok?

What do you need?

Would you like me to rephrase how I cued the form?

Do you feel like you can continue the practice?

Do you have someone you can talk to today? Is your therapist available?

Recommended Reading and Sources:

Wills, Denise Kersten, “Healing Life's Traumas with Yoga, New studies show that people suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder can find real relief with yoga.” www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/healing-lifes-traumas;  last accessed February 9, 2019.

Emerson, David and Elizabeth Hopper, PhD. (2011). Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga, Reclaiming Your Body. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Emerson, David. (2015). Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy, Bringing The Body Into Treatment. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

Trauma Sensitive Yoga, www.traumasensitiveyoga.com

Van Der Kolk, Bessel, (2014) The Body Keeps The Score - Brain, Mind, And Body In The Healing Of Trauma. New York, NY, Penguin Random House, LLC.

[goodkarmastudio]

Trauma Sensitive Yoga Workshop Tomorrow, Saturday 12/16 1:00- 2:15pm $20 (No prior experience with yoga is necessary) Sign up here: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/ws?studioid=24145&stype=-101&sView=day&sLoc=0&date=12/16/17 By connecting our minds awareness to our movement, yoga will help us experience and notice what is happening within our bodies and investigate how/what we are feeling. This is a safe, supportive, non-judgemental environment, no hands on, no physical assists. We encourage cultivating a positive relationship, while re-connecting the body and mind. Who should attend this class: Anyone who has suffered a trauma, who may or may not be working with a therapist, you are encouraged to bring a journal and take time to journal after class. #trauma #traumayoga #overcoming 🙏🏻💕 #yogaforpeaceofmind #yogatoheal #yoga #goodkarmastudio #518yoga #518 #albanyny (at Good Karma Studio)

[goodkarmastudio]

Trauma Sensitive Yoga Workshop next Saturday (No prior experience with yoga is necessary) Saturday Dec. 16th 1:00- 2:15pm $20 Sign up here: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/ws?studioid=24145&stype=-101&sView=day&sLoc=0&date=12/16/17 By connecting our minds awareness to our movement, yoga will help us experience and notice what is happening within our bodies and investigate how/what we are feeling. This is a safe, supportive, non-judgemental environment, no hands on, no physical assists. We encourage cultivating a positive relationship, while re-connecting the body and mind. Who should attend this class: Anyone who has suffered a trauma, who may or may not be working with a therapist, you are encouraged to bring a journal and take time to journal after class. #trauma #traumayoga #overcoming 🙏🏻💕 #yogaforpeaceofmind #yogatoheal #yoga #goodkarmastudio #518yoga #518 #albanyny (at Good Karma Studio)