How to Work with the Limbic System to Reverse the Physiological Imprint of Trauma
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with Pat Ogden, PhD ;
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with Pat Ogden, PhD; Peter Levine, PhD; Bessel van der Kolk, MD; Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD; and Ruth Buczynski, PhD
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Hi there,
Thank you so much for a wonderful series. I am an Art therapist in the UK, working primarily with children and adults who have experienced early trauma. I have learnt SO much this week, particularly in terms of practical ways in which I can incorporate working with the body in my practice. There are so many ‘take-aways’ but one of my favourites is ‘get out of your head and into your senses!’.
Thank you again for this opportunity and for sharing your knowledge and experience with us.
Many thanks for all of you who worked on this course. It would be wonderful if medical and psychiatric training would include your basic message. Also, if mental health professionals generally would have to keep up to date on your findings. Maybe the public knowing more about it could be the catalyst too.
I have a friend who was born during the Holocaust and as a baby, she had to be quiet and immobile to survive. She spent many years in therapy, but no one was able to connect her physical paralyses to her early trauma .She has many medical problems as she s older, due partly to lack of moving.
Your work is amazing!
I’m a former MFT, long out of practice. My main interest was possible applications for my adult son who is high functioning on the Autism Spectrum and also has trauma issues. I gained a lot of insight and tools to improve our interactions, as well as what to help him pursue for further growth and therapy. Thank you so much!
Many thanks for sharing these valuable sessions, Ruth. I fully agree that yoga/mindful movement practices can be extremely helpful for those who have suffered trauma. In response to the question below, I have worked with someone with severe mobility issues who was nevertheless able to follow a mindful movement practice by visualising themselves making these movements. Thank you again.
Thank you all for this informative, helpful series. One ‘take-away’ for me from today was the value of activity in the body to help deal with and heal from trauma. Another was about helping a client move from feeling/being frozen from trauma to actually being able to react in a way that gives personal protection and a feeling of success and accomplishment. — Thanks again!
I have a gift at being a life long learner and want to use my skill more in community. I love energy medicine and all the modalities and look forward to helping others on the healing and transformation journey.
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for this week, although I missed 2 sessions, attended 3 of them. I am a yoga instructor and your work, your books, and your research are paramount for my work. At a yoga class, one can never see deep inside each practitioner hence all yoga class needs to be trauma conscious. I also work with groups who experienced trauma and even though I have continuous consultation with trauma expert psychologists this week’s resources supported me in being more confident in my line of work and even gained new ideas for trauma-sensitive movement.
I’m also loving seeing the research coming trough about yogas ability to transform trauma. Especially some off the accademic work evidencing the shifts, as well as anecdotal accounts from teachers and participants. Good luck with this!
I am a middle school and high school teacher. This has given me a whole new way to think about the classroom behaviors of my most disruptive students, as well as my own responses to them. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this. It has been my daily appointment for the past 4 days. I loved hearing Lanius mention Panksepp, a scientist I am so grateful to, for his long standing courage and ability to communicate what he was doing as he did his groundbreaking work. I talk with town administrators about setting up a mental health hub that people seeking to integrate their trauma could could access a package of the many modalities that would, by enhancing the work done in the other realm, would rebuild the architecture of the brain towards well-being.
I work with educators in multiple school districts and my goal is to help them better understand and respond to trauma and resulting behaviors. I hope they will be able to help students identify their responses to trauma (including maladaptive coping strategies), and help to build new appropriate coping strategies that will meet their needs in the now and prepare them for future success in life and in relationships.
Thank you so very much for these presentations. They have been amazing and have opened up a whole new world for me. I knew I wanted to work with trauma clients, and these videos confirmed that’s what I feel called to do. I have primarily worked with women who has suffered trauma from having an abortion and/or have suffered sexual and emotional abuse throughout my studies and practicum. I will be able to use what I’ve learned here with those that I serve. I am currently studying for the NCE and that is taking up all my energy and resources, so I am not going to sign up for the Gold Membership right now. However I would like to to do so in the future. Thank you again, all of you for your wonderful life-changing work!
I so appreciate you offering this series for free so more people can view it. After working with trauma for over 35 years the new discoveries about the brain and limbic system have totally transformed my work with my clients and they are now healing faster and without as much pain. Mind/body approach is a must in the healing of trauma!
I’m so glad that Dr. Bessel is recommending Yoga. I’m a Yoga teacher and I’ve experienced tremendous benefits of it, especially in releasing trauma from the body, and I see how my clients feel lighter and are experiencing more freedom and joy in their lives. I’m grateful to learn the science behind it. Yoga is Brahmavidya, The Supreme Science. Thank you for sharing this knowledge with us.
This was a great hour of information.. I am particularly glad that someone finally brought up NLP, which I have a Master Practitioner license in. We are able to use all sorts of ways to help with Trauma and it is nice to now know why and where it is working. Many times I have wanted to write to Bessel and say Hey go check out NLP you will find it most helpful in learning to read the body, etc. Thanks again.
Thank you.
My intention is to integrate concepts learned today in my practice of mindfulness with an emphasis on mindful movements.
Thank you so much for offering these wonderful webinars on the treatment of trauma for free. I was able to use the term trauma time with one of my clients just a few hours ago. I am finding such useful information about the brain, about the body and the sensations, and about effective ways for treating trauma.
excellent summit, really informative.
I am not a practitioner but a teacher of neurobiology of trauma and I will be passing this information along to my students so they can change their perspective about the mind-body connection
Thank you so much for putting it together
Dr. Matilde Tellaetxe Isusi Sherman
EXCELLENT EDITION!
THANK YOU SO MUCH
Kinetic action, connecting to reporting it to someone trusted. Great combo!
This was my favourite session of this series – hands on, practically applicable techniques. Trauma is fascinating and helping people through it is awesome.
Compliments with this great work!
Much appreciated.
Thank you for this sharing. It consolide my view about the treatment of the trauma. All the best, Michèle
How does trauma treatment via telehealth change, improve, limit the treatment?
I appreciated this series. For me the question that came up was this: If movement is part of how trauma is healed, what are therapies that assist people who are unable to move? I work with patients with serious illness, many of who have been traumatized. Thanks!
I am a lay person who had the privilege of attending Bessel and Peter’s workshop at Esalen.
I have a family member who was severely abused during and after her pregnancy. You mentioned that major damage can be done to a baby invitro. What can be done to help the baby (who just turned 2)?
There is excellent work in Hand in Hand Parenting, and RIE, and also BMC infant work, that all help address thst and give parents really practicle tools for everyday support of child’s healing and making home safer. I worked in ece for 15 years and these really are the best philosophies and methods I’ve seen.
I am a layman who saw this on Facebook. I have watched all 5 segments. This is the most amazing and polished presentation I have seen in years. Thank you so much and I hope that more practitioners embrace what you have presented.
Thank you for being so brave in accessing these talks on such a harsh reality of our socialisation. May you find the material these people have written as useful as the talks. Please let other lay people around you know that there is a way of engaging with trauma and dis-ease of living that is not just sitting in front of a person. Taking up yoga, or taichi does so much even before someone accesses therapy.
Thanks for the clear presentation. I recall being taught decades ago to use pillow beating and today I found it very useful to hear of the completion of action approach.
This was a fantastic programme. I hugely recommend it to anyone wanting to understand and integrate somatic practices into their work. As a massage therapist, specialised aromatherapist dance therapist in training, as well as lifelong meditator and yogi, and with prior experience in ece and youthwork, I can totally see how these practices and the frameworks given are a useful measure of stepping someone safely through the process of integration of either developmental stumbling blocks with trauma, or occurances that left a lasting impression. Thank you so much for putting together this concise material. I do hope everyone one here would realise that this is just the tip of the ice urg, and to practice safely, we must as always, be coming from an integrated place ourselves. With good supervision and trianing, I really hope these methods become commonplace. They are so so effective.
As someone with CPTSD and a survivor of sexual abuse and assault, I would like to say that trauma-informed yoga classes are the best starting point for people with trauma, before suggesting regular yoga classes. I know from others and personal experience that there are many poses in yoga that can be very triggering (especially for assault survivors), and incorporating the movement is overwhelming and can actually be extremely unhelpful. In a trauma-informed yoga class, the pace is much more slow, teachers make certain poses optional, certain poses are avoided all together, you can stop at any time, etc. Bessel touched on how even a small amount of movement can be overwhelming to a highly traumatized person, but I felt this to be important enough that I wanted to re-state it.
I wish I knew why it can often be more easy, safe, and helpful for me to sit in meditation than to do any type of movement or exercise, as that seems to directly contradict what’s stated in the series!
Thank you for the offering this wonderful series at the option of no cost! So much information packed into a week and I am grateful!
Nicely done, nicely formatted; engaging and informative.
I have had a good deal of success with EMDR as a person with childhood sexual and physical trauma, though my sense is the need to combine it with other modalities as well, and your presentations have opened up new avenues and possibilities; thank you so much.
Thank you so much for explaining how the brain and body interact with trauma. I’ve been working with clients getting them to be in touch with their bodies and tell me what their bodies are saying, sensing, getting client dot be mindful. I had one client dissociate her childhood trauma but watch it as an adult, the little girl who was helpless to fight but also have to protect her younger siblings. I was not certain where to go – whether it was helpful or sending her body back to dissociate. I got her to to then find a safe place to bring her back in the room and talk about it. I realise I may need to help her ground and focus more on body sensations to help integrate.
I just signed up for the gold subscription, and I know the payment went through on my visa card, but I got a message that something went wrong and to try again. I don’t want to pay twice. How can i access my subscription, please? Great content, very helpful.
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for reaching out. We just sent you an email regarding this. Please look for an email form nicabmstaff@gmail.com
Clinical interventions
While I am not a health care professional – rather, I am focused on individual and team coaching – I feel this program is quite valuable to anyone who has an interest in personal / leadership development. I’ll humbly report, based on years of observation in a variety of organizational settings, that many (accomplished) individuals display unexpected interpersonal dysfunctions rooted in negative experiences – embarassments, slights, deprivations, put-downs, intimidations, etc. – that are embedded, repeatedly ‘rehearsed’, and reflected into stress behaviors. Helping people in business, community service, and other endeavors to sense their ‘dangers within’ and to reimagine their responses is a critical skill for maturity & advancement. The neurobiology concepts and coping/re-directing strategies shown throughout this program provide an additional foundation for those of us providing guidance in sub-acute settings…not to mention improving our capacity to spot people in trouble in order to help them find appropriate therapeutic assistance.
Hi,
I am a lay person who has used and am still using a variety of therapies and approaches to addressing my somatic manifestations of childhood trauma. I find it interesting how helpful and calming it is for me to hear all the professionals talk about their knowledge and understanding of the effects of trauma. I live in Western Massachusetts and there is a local initiative here called Trauma Informed Hampshire County, whose goal is to raise awareness of the effects of trauma and to help service providers, merchants, and others who come into contact with the public to examine their practices for interacting with people to identify practices that may activiate a trauma response in a client or customer, and to change those practices to better engage with trauma survivors. Trauma seems to be widespread and is becoming more recognized too. The panel of practicioners that were in this series are wonderful and I would love a series geared to someone like me with explanations and do at home activities to help with integration. Thank you for free access to this series.
I would also like to see a program directed to lay people. Thanks for requesting that.
WOW! A county initiative is beautiful! I’m in the Portland Oregon metro area where houselessness and substance misuse is epidemic. I can only imagine the benefits that could be reaped from such an initiative here.
I too am a lay person, though full time college student of mental health, social services & addictions counseling and very grateful for the complimentary access to these talks. A “broke verified student” rate would be magnificent.
I am a CASA. A Court appointed special advocate for a child in the foster system in Northern California.
This is very informative and helping me understand the effects of trauma in the little boy I am advocating for.
Thank you for making this available to me.
Bonnie St.James
CASA of Nevada County California
Yes, working with children! A real need!
Thank you for providing these videos. I am retired but am so interested in staying abreast in my field. The training has been invaluable to me. By the way, I have been following Dr. Van der Kolk and his research for 25 years. I first heard him present at a two day workshop in Nashville, TN in 1995.
As a patient dealing with an ongoing pattern ofchildhood trauma from long ago, that in my 75th year continues to permeate an awful lot of my feelings and behaviour, I found this series enormously important as an adjunct to the therapy in which I’m proactively engaged. The information was clearly and wonderfully presented in a way that helps me to understand a good deal of what my life’s been like, and why, from a neurobiological standpoint in addition to the psychological, as well as pointing to a direction for therapeutic modes I want to engage in the immediate future. Thank you so much to all.
This has been excellent – thank you so much. As a parent I can’t afford gold subs but will use all of your wonderful advice to personally help my son and get him the professional help he needs.
My grandson exhibits signs of trauma in his body — frozen sometimes, hitting other times. This alerts me to need for a child therapist who understands what’s been laid out in this program. Is there a national directory for child therapists trained in these modalities?
If anyone knows, pls reach out: stocking@indiana.edu
Thank you forever for introducing me as a survivor of early childhood trauma to many important concepts. If money were no object, or if this were a professional tool for me, I would eagerly pay for the gold subscription. However I will simply take away what I can from what I’ve seen in this series, and continue to follow resources and ideas you presented. It’s been a wonderful opportunity.
What are the possibilities of partnering with an occupational therapist trained in sensory integration, primitive reflexes and other movement techniques founded on neuroanatomy with pediatric trauma? Any studies that pair the two disciplines? Any possibilities for such studies or partnerships? As an OT myself, I work with many foster kids and other children who have significant trauma (not the focus of OT treatment) and I think a collaboration would be amazing!!
thank you
i am a gold member now
Thank you for sharing this valuable insight from these great frontiers in the field, I really appreciate their knowledge & work! I am a licensed social worker who comes across trauma history in many of those I see. I have done multiple trauma-work trainings however, have not pursued certification in somatic/lymbic work which I am still deliberating. I am not sure why but, I received the link for the week just today so I was not able to preview the other content. I would prefer to preview this before considering subscription.
I found the part of the woman being robbed because I was robbed and kidnapped at 18. I appreciate how using a defense in place while remembering helped tie pieces together and remove the fear. I used to lay in bed so still. My arms were always out and a nightlight always on. I used to see faces at night and in the day resembling my robber. After years they finally stopped and I can put my arms under the covers. I still don’t trust people easily.
this was so interesting. I am a transpersonal psychotherapist, and I have been trained in the rewind technique and process work many years ago and now I have a client who has been raised in a Cult who is very distressed. What I have heard today will really help me access the frozen parts of my client and find a way forward together. Thank you so very much.
Excellent, well-organized information. I took pages of notes. Thank you to all involved.
Hi Melissa.
I found the info. very engaging, so was not able to take notes.
Would you consider sharing your notes w/ me? (I’ll only use them for myself with my clinical psychologist, as a trauma survivor.)
Thanks,
mak11@cornell.edu – Mike
Wonderful information. I am not a therapist but have survived trauma and are passionate of how the brain works. As a former actress have been in touch with many different techniques of the expression of the body, emotion and the psychology of humans. Learning about this unified it. Thank you
Wow! This was great! Thank you!
I am a Certified Parent Coach and will be working with parents with regards to their nervous system and power over and power under parenting effects! I am so interested in learning more how I can explain trauma more clearly to my clients to help them heal, identify, integrate and transform!!
Thank you for this fabulous training! I am a social worker in the area of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California. Our collective community and it’s individuals have been traumatized greatly by that fire and several since. This information will inform my practice in the field.
I am not a practitioner but I am currently in a trial for Havening and after watching this I will either join doing or martial arts training because most of the time I feel helpless and frozen and I don’t even know why! I am working with a physchologist doing Dance movement therapy also. This information was extremely helpful and I am hoping to learn more about the subject. I am looking forward to hearing about the work that is being done with neurofeedback as I may look into this option also. I have been suffering from complex trauma and done many hours of talk therapy to no avial and read the book the body keeps score recently which has led me on a completely different path.
Thank you all for the generous sharing of your knowledge.I work with trauma,and use it.These lessons support and improve my work