Approximately 10 million women in America have been physically assaulted at some time in their life. Yes, that’s a sobering statistic. But the far-reaching effects of violence against women are even darker. Over a third of these survivors experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder with increased rates of depression, obesity and heart disease.
So how do we even begin to approach the healing of such an overwhelming phenomena?
The answer is complicated. And I wish current treatment methods showed better results. In a recent large-scale clinical trial, 78% of patients who underwent prolonged exposure therapy failed to overcome their symptoms after 6 months. Less than half showed any clinical improvement whatsoever.
You have to understand that this is partly due to the high drop-off rate of patients, most of whom exhibit a heightened inability to regulate impulse. They can easily become flooded or dissociated from their feelings, which negatively affects the resolution of traumatic memories.
This hits at the core of PTSD treatment in a traditional sense.
But Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD, and a team from the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute tried something novel.
From 2008 to 2011, they randomly assigned 64 women who were suffering from trauma-induced PTSD, half to a weekly women’s health support class (the control group), and half to a weekly trauma-informed yoga class.
Each treatment condition lasted 10 weeks. Patients were assessed at pretreatment, midtreatment and posttreatment using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS). The researchers were looking for any differences in the resolution of trauma symptoms between the two groups.
What they found was surprising. The patients who attended the weekly yoga group, with its guided meditation and breathing exercises, were much better able to focus on the present moment and control their impulses. Now, this alone was a promising result.
But beyond that, their PTSD symptoms plummeted.
When they did the final CAPS assessment, 16 of 31 participants in the yoga group no longer met criteria for PTSD, compared to 6 of 29 in the control group.
Now here’s something interesting – – in the DTS assessment, both the yoga and the control groups showed identically significant improvements right up until the midway mark of the study.
But the yoga group maintained their gains to the finish, while the control group relapsed.
So how do we explain this? What can we learn from the practice of yoga and its long-term effects?
Yoga has three principle components: breathing exercises (pranayama), postures (asanas), and mindfulness meditation. If you’ve ever tried yoga, then you know that it is built upon the concept of body awareness and opening yourself to the transitory nature of one’s momentary experience.
Practitioners focus on internal sensory experiences, which isolates emotions and physiological reactions to triggers such as fear.
What this means is that, instead of avoiding unpleasant memories, the women in the yoga study group were better able to isolate their memories and address them in a non-threatening way.
One interesting component to this study is the fact that the control group showed continued improvement in their Depression scores even as their PTSD scores relapsed. It is theorized that the supportive nature of this group, which shared food and encouraged contact outside of formal sessions, may have contributed greatly to the overall mood of the participants.
This would suggest that it might be the physical and interoceptive aspects of yoga – and not the social makeup of the group – that was instrumental in the change in PTSD symptomatology.
We should point out that, even though the groups were randomly assigned, there were significantly more
participants in the yoga group who were employed than in the control group. (The education and family income levels of participants were about the same in both groups.)
I would like to see further studies with larger sample sizes, as well as studies that included different socioeconomic classes and genders.
You can read more about the study at the ClinicalTrials.gov site, using the identifier NCT00839813
But now I’d like to get your take on the findings. Have you ever used yoga with PTSD patients in your own practice? Is it something you would be willing to try? If you have any experience with this approach, we’d love to get your insights on the topic, along with how you incorporated yoga into an overall client treatment plan. Please leave us a note below and share your story.
i would be willing to try. I am incorporating more body to mind assignments to my clients
and also passing on new information from recent studies about how the brain and how it
works body up as well as skull down. Thank you for your seminars, online courses and these
invitations to help us understand ourselves and our patients.
I am micro-chipped, tortured, harassed, gang-stalked 24/7. And even under these conditions
yoga helps.
Make sure you learn from a good teacher, because you can hurt yourself AND remember that Yoga,
even physical; is an spiritual practice.
Are there any modified yoga practices that you suggest for veterans that cannot maintain many poses (especially head down positions) due to head trauma?
Sure there are.
Find help from a restorative yoga teacher. He/she will help you
uncover the poses that are best for you.
We offer a set of retreats to women veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress in which we teach a special grounding mindfulness meditation, journaling, art-as-journaling, and poetry-as-mindfulness-practice. The women also do mindful exercise such as tai chi warmup exercises. In an early retreat we tried offering yoga but discovered that at least one woman had a history of being triggered by yoga and so we abandoned using it in these retreats.
I have taken 2 classes of neurogenic yoga to help with PTSD symptoms. They were very beneficial for PTSD, but not depression. That’s just my response.
Thank you, Ruth, for highlighting the healing potential of yoga for trauma. I am a psychotherapist and yoga instructor who healed myself from a major depression, using yoga, in 1970. Based on that experience, I have been exploring the use of yoga within the psychotherapy session since the 1990s. I applaud Dr. van der Kolk for bringing yoga into mainstream mental health care, and I took the first training his Center ever offered on Trauma-Sensitive Yoga. I am currently conducting trainings nationally on “Bringing Trauma-Sensitive Yoga into Mental Health Care” and my book on that topic is almost completed. Please contact me if you are interested in exploring this training opportunity.
I am very interested
I have been practicing yoga for 5 months and absolutely love it. There were times I sobbed after class. Is that normal?
It is completely normal, especially after backbends.
It is very normal for people to experience emotions arise after practicing yoga – particularly when they are beginners, attempt an asana at a standard way above their current ability or introduce a new asana into their practice.
You have defined “Yoga” in a limited way. There are several categories of meditation practices, and Mindfulness Meditation is just one type. Transcendental Meditation is also Yoga practice – in fact thousands of years old from the Vedic Tradition of India. And yes, as a registered Psychologist and a Certified Teacher of the Transcendental Meditation Program, I am aware of the tremendous positive results happening via the David Lynch Foundation in the USA with war veterans diagnosed with PTSD and who are having great relief through their practice of TM. Also a project with abused women and children in Uganda. I have great respect for the research going on including the one you describe here; what is apparent throughout much of the medical and scientific community (there are exceptions such as the numerous peer reviewed and published research and books from established Neurophysiologists and Medical Doctors on the notable benefits of TM for development of Mental Potential and prevention and treatment of physical ailments.
I was present when Dr. van der Kolk initially viewed the work of Dr. Pat Ogden on Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and observed his transition from healthy skeptic to major supporter of her work. My hope is he will turn his attention to examining the research and results world wide of the impact of the Transcendental Meditation Technique to alleviate individual and group suffering, and join the many voices of intelligent and skilled scientists and medical personnel to effect needed change in our World.
Yes, I incorporate yoga in my practice. Clients report feeling more centered, calm, and grounded at the end of session. I recommend the book ” Light on Yoga” by B.S.K. Yyengar and home practice or classes.
This is great news and I’m glad to learn there are specific trainings for yoga instructors to support students with PTSD. Practicing and teaching the Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education®, I believe, experience and see evidence of “movement is life, change the quality of the movement, change the quality of life”, Dr Moshe Feldenkrais.
I have personally found great relief from PTSD in weekly Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® group classes and initially frequent hands on Functional Integration® sessions with caring practitioners that invite me to the moment, to the support of the floor or table and internally to the support of my bones and my breath. Since lessons are customized to the students in ways that they can feel improvements in the quality, connection and secondarily range of movements for themselves, students report feeling more balanced, grounded, at ease, freer, standing taller, breathing easier and more at home in themselves. Since lessons meet students unique needs the same lesson can produce different results from different students since they each began class with their Neuro muscular organization and self image.
“We move according to our self image”, Feldenkrais. Moshe is now being called the father of neuroplasticity by Dr Norman Doidge. During the 4 years of training to be certified practitioners we learn how to create a safe learning environment for our students and do not model the movement so they are not looking to compare, compete or keep up with others which often happens in yoga classes. I recommend individuals to find a movement practice and teacher that best suits them.
For practitioners in the US go to Feldenkrais.com, find a practitioner
For practitioners abroad go to the international federation of Feldenkrais, IFF.com
Neuropsychology workshops I have attended indicated that physical activity activates many neuropaths, particularly when it is a new activity. Coupled with mediation and breathing, as provided in yoga creates further neuro-activation and I suspect results in repair or stimulation of healthy neuropaths in a more robust activation. New neuropaths provides opportunity for positive rewiring and healing. So…how do we get the client to be more active, to find the energy to engage activities? Many are mentally and emotionally exhausted and have lost stability regarding sleep, nutrition, exercise and meaninfullness.
This is THE question for those people, myself included at times, who lack any energy or motivation to move at all. This can be for a variety of reasons – acute depression, ME, Chronic Fatigue, disability, injury, PTSD.
Someone in this comments thread has made a helpful suggestion – to do something minor and seemingly insignificant for 5 minutes. I have used this technique myself and I believe it works. One designates oneself a small task such as washing up, cleaning a sink, watering a few plants, making a bed.
Having achieved that goal, one experience a sense of satisfaction which can build up slowly as one undertakes more small tasks to more satisfaction, more motivation and more challenging tasks.
I wonder if there is any literature on this technique.
I agree with all you’ve said. I practice yoga for three years in East Austin Texas during a particularly difficult and humiliating job. I am “survivor” of long term abuse and trauma as child, an adolescent, and abused wife. Now I don’t do yoga. I’m living in a isolating community and the first words out of the instructor’s were all about his ego.
Dear Ruth,
Thank you for this informative report. I am a PTSD survivor, and I have practiced yoga, Tai Chi, and Pilates class Les Mills Body Flow) for six years. I currently do the class five or six times per week. We have five minutes of meditation at the end of each class. I also work out with a trainer twice a week for a total of one hour plus do cardio. My self-disciplined schedule and goals have done wonders for me since September of 2008.
Eight years ago, six months after I had retired from my 20-year career, I had Transient Global Amnesia with severe flashbacks from my childhood. I was diagnosed as bi-polar by my psychiatrist and put on low doses of four kinds of medication. My Clinical Therapist counselor argued that I was not bi-polar, rather a trauma survivor. I saw her for six years, three of which she practiced Somatic Experiencing training with me. My psychiatrist finally believed my therapist and weaned me off all of the medications except that I still take one tiny pill, 25 mg. of Seroquel, each night before bed.
I am about to finish a three-year Somatic Experiencing Training Program pioneered by Peter Levine, PhD and will be certified as an SE Practitioner by the end of 2016. This is the best gift I have given myself. My husband supports me 100% in this endeavor.
I am a Childhood Developmental Trauma survivor as well as a survivor of an EF4 tornado in 2013. I have spent a lifetime since my Freshman year in College working with more than 25 therapists over the years to identify and heal excruciating emotional pain that I could not remember.
I have had a successful marriage to the same wonderful man for 5+ decades as well as a successful career as a teacher and Program Manager for a grant-funded program to help small businesses through Illinois Central College for twenty years. My husband is a retired Judge with more than 30 years of experience and 13 years in private practice. We have three married successful daughters and seven wonderful grandchildren.
I have spent a lifetime working to research and learn why I felt such incredible pain that I could not identify. I had very few memories of my childhood. During the time that I worked full-time at Illinois Central College, I earned my Master’s degree in Education, Women in Leadership, and took MBA electives. I am a faithful member of AL-Anon for 32 years, a spiritual, self care, 12 step program for families and friends of alcoholics and have shared my experience, strength, and hope with hundreds of people since 1984. My husband and I are faithful Roman Catholic parishioners who attend mass every week.
My husband and I are currently working with a marriage counselor because we are both childhood trauma survivors and survivors of the EF4 tornado in 2013. I am also working with an Advanced Somatic Experiencing Practitioner via Skype once a week, since I finished Advanced I training in Tucson, AZ on March 8, 2016. I did five personal sessions during our six days of SE training in March.
I am determined to complete my own healing as I help others in this world. There is such a need for healers who understand the pain of trauma.
I thank you for all of the work that your organization does to bring us into the healing light of feeling safe after a lifetime.
I’m so happy you fond love and safety!! What a journey. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
You are indeed fortunate to have had such a supportive environment, so many counsellors and therapists, so many options for healing and training and such a wonderful family, to help you through.
For those less fortunate, the internet can offer some sound advice, references, directions and hope.
For those who have no financial or family support, no motivation, it seems there is a real need for outreach services which penetrate deep below the stratum of people who can afford sessions and have the freedom of mobility and a family and friends network.
Having studied TSY (but at introduction level only) with David Emerson from the Trauma centre I’d like to add that the Trauma sensitive yoga that was offered in this research had been specifically developed for PTSD and complex PTSD survivors. It’s a specific methodology of presenting the yoga which is in many ways extremely different in approach and delivery than present most conventional yoga classes. I can’t say it won’t be triggering but there is no touch for example, language is used differently & much emphasis is placed on practitioners feeling through and making choices about how they move. If you’ve had a bad experience trying yoga but something still makes you feel this type of mind/ body practice could be useful to you then look out for trauma sensitive yoga or at least a trauma informed teacher/studio.
The philosophy of Brain Gym(R) is that movement opens the door to new learning, and some of the activities are from Yoga. Also, when balance is challenged, it activates all but one of the senses, so yes, I agree. All this is possible. Using Brain Gym, we put mindfulness, visual activities, auditory behaviors and movements together to activate changes of all kinds. I personally went from being tone deaf to singing in tune in three days with NO practice during that time after one session. A session is even called a “Balance Session”, so our evidence would indicate that mindfulness and yoga are a great team. Positive social support is also good, because we are social beings, and love connects, energetically speaking. It would be interesting to see the difference between those who do have the specialized group support and those who don’t. I would also want to investigate how this applies to the three requirements for growing integrative tissue in the brain: intent, novelty and movement.
The story is long and difficult. I have faced most of what was stated:abandonment, sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, ptsd, cancer, mental illness and I am grateful to come through I’m finally on a path to healing. I’ve committed myself to it after surrendering to my truths. I have a long road but once I said I need help my attitude changed.
Hi, Phyllis. I’ve endured all of those things too. You are very brave for talking about these painful issues that most try to hide. The most difficult thing for me to deal was with people’s reaction rejection/abandonement) to my diagnosis of PTSD: snap out of it, you’re just lazy to shy away from work after the incident, etc. Once I focussed on my life purpose instead of the trauma that would prevent me to live it out, I began to heal. It still took 19 yrs. I salute you for you courage! God bless you.
Thank you.
Yoga actually triggers me to a point of running out of the space!
I like the article–but yoga does not necessarily include mindfulness meditation. There are many schools of yoga, often with very different approaches.
My favorite saying is, “everything works for someone, nothing works for everyone, and nothing works forever.” I think Yoga is a valuable tool (i.e. medium) to have in the tool box but it should be one of many.
I have experienced on going sexual abuse and sexual and emotional and mental abuse and trauma from 2 yrs to nine and then again from fifteen until eighteen Ive had broken arms broken nose severe head trauma violence with weapons date rape five times violent rape once at 5 again at 15 and 4 times by someone I knew from 16- 18 as well as severe mental and physical abuse again. Also I was hit by a car at 15 and in many car accidents. complex ptsd is what my therapist called it severe depression. she said Id never recover ,too much trauma too many developmental times. I think yoga could be a good idea as long as you have physical touch from aware massage person,as well as verbal therapy and spirtual healers to assist in the extreme energy that is going to surface. And having the needed help is very costly.Its challenging because the abuse and trauma came from strangers as well as so called friends and people in family. Everyone has good intentions but it seems many think im crazy or that should just get over it. ts like fear has been my only friend. frozen in time.
Although I have not used yoga in my practice, I do believe that it can have a lasting, beneficial impact for individuals with many different struggles. In addition, I think that when one is going through a struggle, any intervention, including yoga, needs to be backed up with a support system.
I have PTSD myself, caused by the type of assault you describe. Took yoga in three different settings-with no special support- and had very negative experiences each time. It got me right into my body and back into the abuse. Quit each time and have very bad memories of yoga. So I’m surprised people would use yoga as a healing approach, but I know everyone’s different and I had no particular support
(except therapy) during it.
Healing from trauma is a process, and interventions like yoga and mindfulness I believe must be done with care and respect for what will ‘bubble up’ and best done along side the safety of therapeutic counselling and support.
I am psychiatrist working in a small Native American tribe in Oklahoma. A significant portion of our patient population has PTSD. They have intergenerational trauma and intergenerational substance-abuse. We have three therapists and a substance abuse counselor. I have a background in massage (I worked as a massage therapist for 10 years before going to medical school). I chose to go to osteopathic medical school because it seemed like a good continuation of what I had learned and practiced in 10 years as a massage therapist.
I use a combination of mindful breathing, Franklin method, Yamuna body rolling, yoga, Marsha Linehan’s work with chain analysis, and Brene Brown’s work on courage and vulnerability to help PTSD patients learn how to be present with their uncomfortable physical and emotional symptoms. I also educate my patients on the autonomic nervous system. I probably use other things, but these are the one’s that stand out to me.
I have read Bessel Van Der Kolk’s work and have shared it with my colleagues. One of my patients has PTSD and is a librarian. I shared Van Der Kolk’s book “The Body Keeps the Score” with him. He said the book matched what he experiences. While I have recommended the book to other patients, so far, just the one patient has read it.
I’m excited about this study and will follow the research with enthusiasm.
Yes as it is very helpful.unfortunately there is still stigma around it ( religious)
This is wonderful news! The mind-body connection is real! I encourage all my trauma clients to engage in yoga, breathing, and mindfulness. And I encourage them to TAKE IT BEYOND THE YOGA MAT.
What I mean be this is that trauma healing is lost or won in the hourly reactivity and distress that the imprints of trauma can induce. So while a yoga class is wonderful, the real work and healing COMES IN THE MOMENT OF THE DISTRESS.
That is when I teach my clients to do the 12-SECOND RECHARGE technique. It is a way to immediately get present, and re-wire the brain’s hyper-aroused sympathetic response of fight-flight-or-freeze. And this technique goes way beyond “just take a deep breath,” because it has elements of the body-heart-mind-spirit built into it.
Yoga for trauma is not restricted to women, Australia has successfully helped veterans from the Vietnam War since 1992. This pioneering work led to US veterans being helped and subsequent clinical research and studies.
I am a veteran living in the UK and have Combat PTSD and Moral Injury, together with associated medical and mental health illness. Yoga found me after some five years after diagnosis of Combat PTSD and I have used yoga practice since then to great effect.
I caution yoga as being described as a ‘cure all’ and suggest that it is introduced at a stage after initial counselling help. Recently I attended a workshop in London on Yoga for Veterans and was uplifted to find a significant number of clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and counsellors present.
Is there a class or certification for counselor’s to use Yoga effectively, or was the group co guided by a counselor and a yoga instructor?
Training in Trauma Sensitive Yoga is available in many countries for counsellors
As a certified yoga therapist (and Gestalt background) this is my work. The interoceptive nature of how I teach and work with clients is critical and NOT part of many many yoga classes. Many in the US are simply exercise classes, where people get pushed from the outside and can injure (and so retraumatise as well).
As for training to work with clients if you are not a yoga teacher another option is iRest developed by Richard Miller. Based on many years of work with traumatized people. (including research partner with Walter Reed Veterans hospital) It’s a powerful successful process.
Yes, I would agree that iRest (Richard Miller’s work) is very effective. I use it with my PTSD clients and it has helped them greatly.
Hi Dora, I offer training in trauma-sensitive yoga for psychotherapists nationally. You are welcome to visit my website or email me directly: joannlutz22@gmail
.com
I have been suffering from PTSD for over a decade and pranayana (breathing) and asanas have been the greatest tools for coping and finding a more tranquil place to reside in the present. The only therapy I have had lasting results with…we can always go back to our breath and be aware of our bodies to remain in the present…”if you’re depressed, you’re living in the past..if you’re anxious you’re living in the future.if you’re aware of your breath and body, you are living in the present” ~ Buddhist wisdom
encouraging indications….. which asanas were utilized and number of trials per interval might be
interesting…. healing character of social interactions (especially eating together)…. could consider
another modality (massage and trust-oriented visualizations).
not “in the business” any longer Ruth, but enjoy keeping up and appreciate you including me.
warm regards, AK
It would be interesting to include an EMDR group also to highlight real differences in the effectiveness of different trauma modalities
I’ve followed a similar regime for many years… just to keep my mind and body in sinc. I had done it so long that I really didn’t perceive myself as doing anything in particular. I had experienced trauma as a child but my resilience had overcome them. The body and mind, however, are not infallible, and at some point trauma found me again. This time, I was not so lucky and it was a couple of years of desperately trying to regain control. Through it all, however, I had my yoga, my prayers and meditations, Tai Chi, dance… and, I will add, music… because when nothing else could touch my core, the music could, but these techniques kept me out of ER’s and psych wards and allowed me to calm myself and regain control through panic attacks, tremors, severe joint pain, depression and anxiety. Processing difficult emotions in a productive and positive way is not easy, nor pretty, even in the best of circumstances, but it can be done. I commend all the natural healers out there for doing your part in this great work and also those who’ve used these techniques to resolve inner conflct, neurological deficiency and physical trauma. You are all heroes in my book! I’m back up and running. I still deal with intrusive thoughts, occasionally, but I know to not let them take hold. I can socialize, get out of my house for short trips, make and drive to my own app’ts, get groceries, maintain my regular workout schedule. I had to stop entirely for awhile, but when I could, I started with three minutes, and worked it up to my regular 30 – 45 minute sessions, 5 days a wk. Oh, and although I had to drop out of life for a number of months, I had a small but loyal, supporting team that worked to make sure I had what I needed. I have not used yoga in my practice. My experience is personal. I do encourage it and one of the first things I did when I could get out at all was to sign up for a lakeside yoga class. Keep up the good work. currently not working – training: MA pastoral counseling
PTSD dogs me. I do calm with yoga, even 20 minutes at home with a beginner DVD. Thank you for this encouragement to get consistent.
I am a Qigong and Tai Chi Instructor and a clinical counselor treating ptsd. In class we also focus on gentle movement, deep breathing and guided mindfulness meditation. Qigong is Yoga’s cousin from China. Qigong is a bit easier and less prone to injury. I am presently integrating my Qigong and energy work knowledge into my clinical practice and self-report is generally positive, in particular with the combination of deep rhythmical breathing and slow movement, allowing for the relaxation response even as patients are processing difficult emotions.
Mary Judith Wilson, LPCC
I work somatically, encoureging and supporting mindfulness of the breath, sensations, grounding, boundaries… as we cross and integrate the “mind body interface”. Many of my clients practice yoga. For some it has strengthened their awareness and been a nice companion to our work, others not so much, such as in the case of a client who was going to yoga classes at a gym for an “intense workout”.
Personally I’ve practiced yoga since 1984. My first two years with a teacher, then I moved away and practiced predominately on my own (it wasn’t so readily available back then and when it caught on the cost was prohibitive). I had experienced a number of traumatic events, much of which I’d repressed and did not begin to surface until years later when I became a bodyworker. Yoga and talk therapy alone were not enough for my own healing of complex trauma, yet I know many individuals who have undergone healing transformation through their practice. Trish’s comment below accurately sums up the many factors that need to be taken into account. I look forward to seeing more groups like the one in the study available in the future, especially for low fee clients.
Adelle Gascoyne, I am a nurse and massage and yoga therapist who has assisted many clients in finding their body, mind and soul again after trauma using yoga. I am appalled that someone who calls themselves a therapist would say such an ignorant thing about yoga. I humbly suggest that you stay a minister but please don’t inflict your views on others under the guise of therapy. Although, when I see the Christian ministers who are backing a misogynist, racist, scammer, con-man bullying jerk for president of the US, I don’t expect much from ministers who call themselves Christian anymore.
Likewise ministers don’t expect much from your therapy other than more people needing deliverance, so keep it up and I’ll never be short of people needing help!
The ministers in Australia tend to understand and value the role of properly trained psychologists, psychiatrists, yoga/ meditation teachers and other therapists in the task of assisting people achieve wellness. And vice versa. What on earth is happening in the US? I lived in California as a teen, I’m supportive of the US. I find the Christian minister Adelle’s fear of yoga to be strange and sad.
I pondered where fear of the unknown might come into this?
I’m recovering from post-traumatic stress and yoga and mindfulness meditation has been absolutely crucial in my recovery. The “secret” to recovery for me has been 1) yoga for streching out the tension that accumulates in my body (my body also giving me information about my mental states), 2) meditation for increased interoception, acceptance and clarity and practicing 3) mindful self-compassion. I also 4) keep a journal and 5) visit a therapist every week.
I work as a clinical psychologist myself and I use these methods trans-diagnostically.
Hi Ruth,
I am a psychotherapist, yoga teacher, and yoga therapist. I incorporate embodiment, which includes interoceptive awareness and often yogic techniques of breath and posture (primarily restorative yoga poses) and movement to work with all my clients, but especially PTSD and eating disorders. I have found it to be remarkably successful. The self-agency that develops through this approach seems to be what creates a huge difference. Many of my clients have gone through EMDR and have found this approach to be more helpful and lasting for change.
Our program targets gang involved males, who also experience PTSD symptoms at a high rate. Our experience width trying yoga did not go over well, my guess because of extreme incarceration histories of our young men; although not specifically “trauma yoga”, instructor was highly trauma informed and connected to the young people at the time. I do support the mindfulness, breathing aspects of the experience, as well as physicality mind/body connection ; have two major questions.
1. The significant difference of employed vs not employed may scew the resilience factor of the group ; it seems that folks who can hold down a job are more likely to be able to complete treatment, positive results
2. Wondering about differences in all female vs make PTSD subjects
This is very interesting. I have read works by Bessel Van Der Kolk, Peter Levine etc. As a current learner (again, after 30 years) of Alexander Technique, I believe this fulfils many of the same functions as yoga but in terms of everyday life postures and movement: sitting, standing, walking — but in the most relaxed & balanced way, by shedding postural habits that keep most of us locked into the “startle response”: poking head, hunchrd shoulders, knock knees etc. Re-educating the body is also to re-map it onto the brain, without the feedback from tense muscles in a state of hypervigilance / CNS sympathetic dominance, to keep the amygdala on high alert. Similarly, shutting down compulsively anxious rehearsal / replay thinking mode os most easily achievable via sinking awareness into the body — required to master AT– and becoming aware of the whole field of vision: ie the kind of moment-to-moment “presence” described by eg Eckhart Tolle, if you add following the breath as a common “mindfulness” technique. Once all these become habitual, one is freed from habitual fear etc (ptsd) responses.
And ps yes, the “unlocking” and sometimes spontaneous movement generated by letting go of habitually tense muscles, can suddenly bring back traumatic memories forgotten by the mind but remembered by the body, sometimes with dreamlike symbolic visual imagery (has all happened to me).
The power of Alexander Technique is sadly little known beyond its application to bodily aches and pains. Its life-changing effect on themselves is what generally motivates and creates new Alexander teachers.
Yoga or defined stretching exercises done in a mindful state, breathwork, and mindfulness training are foundational to my work with clients who have PTSD. The benefits listed in the article – increased ability to focus on the present moment, increased ability to isolate traumatic memories and process them mindfully – make a big difference in trauma resolution. When my clients notice the flooding effect to other aspects of life, they feel empowered, more confident, more in control of their lives in appropriate ways, and less like victims – which raises their sense of self-worth. Anecdotally, this approach seems to work better than addressing their low sense of self-worth directly.
My work with trauma clients is informed by work by Dr. Van der Kolk, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Peter Levine’s, Dr. Janina Fisher, etc.
I learned about Van der Kolk’s study from the NICABM website a while back and am excited by the results. Trauma-informed yoga is intuitively effective, but it is the evidence generated from the study that will help integrate it more readily into treatment protocols. As with any trauma-informed practice, a client’s success is dependent upon having a trained facilitator or teacher; that is, someone who understands the stress response and can either modulate the practice or provide containment should the practice prove too stimulating for some. It also seems sensible that before participating in trauma-informed yoga a client have some level of trauma-awareness and understand the fundamentals of self-regulation. I have seen occasions when the more contemplative aspects of yoga and meditation create a path for intrusive memories or a flood of emotions. Learning or knowing your client’s individual capacities and at what point in treatment to introduce this method would be critical.
Interesting. I personally tried yoga a few times in my life, with different teachers each time, but it didn’t “click ” anything to me, so I don’t think it’s the right key for me. In any case, no key is ok for everyone, as the study shows, so I will keep it in mind in any case.
I often use Yoga and Meditation in healing of trauma as it seems to settle an overactive Amygdala, allowing the individual to process (Cope) the traumatic event. Clinical research often suggest that settling the individual’s sense of danger may add to the healing, wether it being anxiety medication, mindfulness, nature and now Yoga.
Adelle Gascoyne I fully respect your view, however there are absolute no official research supporting your statement and I am concerned it may add fear to an already vulnerable demographic.
Carsten, I hear what you are saying and likewise respect your views and that of others, including the right of people to choose either a psychologist or therapist or deliverance minister. (Most of the people who come to me have tried everything else (which failed) and then come to me because I am both a social scientist and servant of God (a pastor and prophetess with the spiritual gift of discernment of spirits). The problem with research is that it is hard to qualify and quantify the supernatural (the spiritual realm that includes demons like the Kundalini spirit that is invited in by Kundalini yoga, etc). Science focus on the natural realm, after all. I recommend you read Defeating Enemy Strongholds Within for a spiritual perspective and take it from there. Best wishes!
I often use Yoga and Meditation in healing of trauma as it seems to settle an overactive Amygdala, allowing the individual to process (Cope) the traumatic event. Clinical research often suggest that settling the individual’s sense of danger may add to the healing, wether it being anxiety medication, mindfulness, nature and now Yoga.
Adelle Gascoyne I fully respect your view, however there are absolute no official research supporting your statement and I am concerned it may add fear to a already vulnerable demographic.
Hi this is a great finding however as a surviver of ptsd very active in meditation practices from mindless to dance meditation I know that there are a lot of different methods of yoga and I would like to know what the yoga was, the routibe and frequency and duration. Thank You
This is very interesting to me. I personally hS never tried yoga except as a rare class just to try it out and frankly I just really never saw any connection for me in my life. However, after reading this artical and seeing how it improved symptoms for people with post traumatic stress disorder, I am definately going to get myself directly involved into yoga this week and for the rest of my life. I thought my PTSD was the direct result of incidences catching my husband being involved with hard core ponograhy, but I think it started from my childhood living with an alcoholic father who was violent with my Mother and witnessing that violence through out my life. I am a walker and a meditation tape visioned a d now I see a reason to get involved in yoga. This artical along with the diet changes I am making will be life changing for me. Wow, am I grateful. This mYbe my greatest ” ahe ha”moment” for me! I suppose time will be the teller of this tale. Donna Alt
I live in Christchurch where we had lots of trauma (and severe adrenaline rushes) from continuous earthquakes for over a year and a half, every day. Yoga is how many of us got through this time. During the longest quakes, using the breath was my only way to keep ‘the body’ from fleeing the immense energetic fields pummelling under my feet. I learned to stand and breathe through them and ride the performance the earth gave without fear or hysteria. It was definitely a daily life changer for the better or the worse, no one remained neutral for long with 15-30 quakes a day. That’s a lot of energy to process and suddenly have placed upon the body day after day, non-stop, every single day, we that lived through that are a human laboratory for the marks it left upon our bodies, souls and minds. Those of us who used yoga and meditation then, DEFINITELY use it now without any resistance or necessity to be prompted by any outside source other than our own bodies moulded for the best possible outcome. I strike yoga poses in the kitchen, in the bathroom and in my caravan whenever ‘the body’ says it is necessary…and, always immediately upon any sudden jolt in my life, it is my go to stance. My body talks to me because I have witnessed it situated in too many life threatening circumstances to not give it a voice. It’s voice always says MOVEMENT after sudden shock, steady movement coupled with the breath and a mind full of awareness are my best friends. Thank you Dr. Van Der Kolk, “The Body Keeps the Score” has been used like a ‘how to’ book, put into personally interpreted action and not found lacking. Your turnabout has established fair play.
Donna Alt- I wish you the very best on your journey- I hope you find tranquillity, equanimity xxxx
My experience is that it is the breathing, the ability to stay safe in the moment that is most important. “Facing your demons” from a safe, grounded and aware body can heal. If you add social engagement (polyvagal theory), a new interest in life (finding meaning), helping others, doing things that are challenging (stretching yourself figuratively) or in yoga (literally) you can get out of your PTSD cycle.
That’s the most ignorant statement I’ve ever heard about yoga you obviously know nothing about it! Educate yourself before you make comments like that
Perhaps you’d like to follow your own advice, Jennifer?
The Christian minister sounds dangerous, I’m fearful for the clients she tries to “help”. I’m a psychologist in Australia with 24 years clinical experience. Dangerous.
The findings are interesting. I do use breathing exercises for patients, but I would never use yoga for any reason. The postures are known to be designed to attract specific demons to a person and as aChristian minister/therapist with experience in deliverance work I would never recommend that.
Adelle G, you are deeply misinformed about yoga. I have studied yoga extensively in India (as well as US) and the postures are definitely NOT designed to attract demons! Whoever told you this is simply fearful of something outside their experience.
Adelle G, your statements are laughable and illustrate an ignorance on your part–and those whose views you echo–of what yoga is really about. Yoga has healed many, many, many people (including myself) with NO ramifications involving demons or any other negative entity. On the contrary, it helps people find peace within themselves, which is something PTSD sufferers have a difficult time doing. I would highly recommend you find other sources to inform your position, rather than relying on misguided and misinformed religious zealots. Full disclosure–I am a yoga therapist and a practicing Christian and teach yoga in a church. I also allow my clients to draw upon their own faith when in the yoga therapy room. Yoga is a universal philosophy and practice.
Suzanne, my view also differ from Adele’s; however, as I understand it, one of the most important aspects of meditation (and the philosophy behind it) is developing a non-judgmental open mind. The current Dalai Lama, obviously one of the greatest teachers of this philosophy is quoted as saying: “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.” Peace.