Yoga For Healing Trauma

Yoga & MindfulnessTraumaMental Health Treatment

Jul 19

Written By Jennifer Jahahn, LMHCA, 200YTT

The ancient practice of yoga has long been associated with vibrant health and wellness. The word yoga itself means “to unite” or “to bring together,” connecting the mind, body, and spirit into one integrated whole. And while it has historically been viewed exclusively as a form of exercise, our ideas about what yoga is beyond a physical practice have evolved over the past twenty years. Returning to its spiritual roots as mindfulness meditation, yoga, and other body-based somatic practices are becoming routine interventions used in the treatment of mental health disorders, in both psychiatric treatment centers and in private therapy sessions.

Alongside traditional talk therapy, therapists are using these body-based healing modalities with their clients to reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use, and trauma. Among the many approaches to healing trauma from deep within the body, current research has increasingly shown promising results in using yoga for healing trauma.

What is trauma?

Trauma is an individual’s emotional response to a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. Traumatic events are often sudden and unpredictable, feel beyond a person’s control, undermine a sense of safety in the world, and create a feeling that catastrophe could strike at any time. Most of us have encountered trauma at some point in life - it is estimated that about 70% of Americans have experienced a traumatic event. Immediately following a traumatic event, a person might experience feelings of shock and denial and, over time (days, months, and possibly years), responses can include flashbacks, disruption in mood, relationship challenges, and physical symptoms.

According to Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s leading experts on trauma, traumatic experiences fundamentally change an individual’s internal sensations and relationship to reality, altering a sense of self by reorganizing the way the brain manages perception, as well as the capacity to think overall. His research has also shown that trauma is much more than an event that occurred in the past, as it leaves a “residue imprint” on the brain, mind and body.

The effects of trauma are many, including memory and attention issues, irritability, sleep disturbance, physical pain, emotional disturbances such as extreme anxiety, anger, and sadness, survivor’s guilt, disassociation, and PTSD. Trauma can show up in the body as physical issues, such as muscle tension in the areas of the head, neck, shoulders and back, shallow breathing and constant bracing against unwanted and overwhelming sensory experiences.

How do you treat trauma?

While trauma symptoms have historically been treated with medication, talk therapy and other cognitive-based therapies such as CBT and DBT, somatic or body-based therapies that focus on integrating the mind and body are growing in popularity and offer profound results in decreasing symptoms of trauma. Because the body holds data from traumatic events in every cell and tissue, somatic therapy aims to help release how the body holds onto stress and tension as the result of traumatic experiences.

In addition to talking about problems (“top down”), somatic therapies invite individuals to identify and focus on underlying physical sensations (“bottom up”). From there, a variety of mind-body exercises, such as sensation awareness, breath work, meditation, visualization, and grounding exercises may be offered. Among these practices, somatic therapists also use yoga for healing trauma.

Using yoga for healing trauma:

When a person has experienced trauma, the body shifts into a reactive state and often remains in a constant state of hyperarousal- everything feels threatening and being in the body feels unsafe. Because traumatized individuals often feel terrified by their own body sensations, numbing and disconnecting from the body are common responses. Using body-based practices to learn how to be in and befriend the body in a safe and gentle way is how we can use yoga for healing trauma.

Research has shown that using yoga for healing trauma is effective in alleviating many trauma-related symptoms, including reducing physical and emotional stress, as well as chronic pain. In a 2010 study conducted by Dr. van der Kolk, participation in gentle trauma-informed yoga led to over 30% reduction in symptoms of post-traumatic stress, including fewer intrusive thoughts and less dissociation from the body, and after only 10 weeks, many participants no longer met diagnostic criteria for PTSD.

Trauma-informed yoga classes are a great place to start in healing trauma. Often facilitated by yoga therapists, classes are centered around creating a space of safety and choice, as well as encouraging curiosity and self-inquiry. Sessions move slowly, and offer many options in how to participate. Breath work practices, sensation awareness, grounding techniques, meditation and gentle movements are typically offered in trauma-informed yoga classes.

But exactly how does yoga heal trauma?

The following describes six ways that yoga can assist in the healing of trauma:

Present moment awareness: Trauma survivor’s attention is almost exclusively focused on detecting and avoiding situations, interactions, or events that might subject them to threats of further trauma. Using yoga techniques such as grounding (feeling the ground beneath you) and five-senses meditation (attuning to what can be seen, heard, felt, touched and tasted) can help shift attention away from scanning the environment for potential threats to focusing on what is happening in the here and now.
Interoception: Individuals who have experienced trauma do not feel safe in the body, and often disconnect or dissociate from intolerable sensory and physical sensations by numbing, making it difficult to identify what is happening in the body. Interoception, or awareness of internal states, is cultivated in yoga practices such as yoga nidra, or slow body scans that bring attention to specific areas of the body, fostering a sense of safety.
Nervous system regulation: When living in a constant state of sympathetic arousal and hypervigilance, trauma survivors can benefit from the yoga practice of pranayama, or deep breathing. Slow, deep, and repetitive breaths, with particular attention to lengthening the out breath, stimulate the restorative parasympathetic nervous system, bringing the body back to a place of safety by reducing the heart rate and blood pressure and allowing the body to rest.
Self-regulation: Trauma interrupts the brain’s ability to regulate thoughts, emotions and behaviors, often resulting in anxiety and depression, which impedes the ability to manage life stressors. Meditation practices can help trauma survivors stay present to different sensations and experiences without judgement, which can help manage distress, reduce ruminating thoughts, and improve the ability to manage emotions.
Self-compassion: Trauma destroys a person’s sense of self and can leave a person feeling broken, damaged and alone. Cultivating self-compassion through practices such as loving-kindness meditation can challenge limiting beliefs and assist in recognizing full potential.
Acceptance: Trauma survivors can deny, push away, or develop unhealthy coping skills to manage intense feelings following trauma. Yoga encourages slowing down, recognizing and accepting the present moment as it is, right now. Violence and traumatic events are not ok, but accepting what happened is one of the first steps towards healing.

As a trauma-informed yoga teacher and somatically oriented therapist, I have witnessed firsthand the many healing benefits of yoga and other body-based approaches in the treatment of trauma. If you are a trauma survivor and are looking for more effective treatment and deeper healing, yoga for healing trauma, or another somatic approach, just might help you get to the root.