What Can Be Accomplished Through Trauma-Sensitive Yoga?

There's no surefire way to predict what incidents will cause post-traumatic stress disorder. Some patients develop PTSD from single traumatic incidents, while others develop complex trauma responses to ongoing traumatic relationships or environments. Fortunately, psychiatric services are an effective way to treat trauma in struggling patients. Many find that treatments that involve the body, as well as the mind, are effective ways to address and heal trauma.

Trauma-sensitive yoga is one such treatment. This type of yoga is taught by trauma-aware professionals who help patients integrate a yoga practice into their ongoing therapy sessions. These are four things that trauma-sensitive yoga can help patients accomplish:

1. Gently bring awareness to physical sensations.

One of the ways that trauma-sensitive yoga can help trauma survivors is by allowing them to develop a greater awareness of their physical bodies. Yoga is a great tool for this because it encourages practitioners to pay close attention to their breath as they move through various poses, called asanas. Many people with trauma disconnect from their bodies as a self-protective mechanism. However, over time, this disconnection can lead to illness and feelings of dissociation. Trauma-sensitive yoga is a gentle way to encourage patients to feel at home in their physical selves once more.

2. Encourage being present in the current moment.

Many forms of therapy focus on processing past experiences. Delving into painful memories can sometimes be helpful. However, people dealing with trauma may find an overemphasis on the past to be counterproductive. Trauma patients are at risk of re-traumatizing themselves by reliving painful memories. Trauma-sensitive yoga offers an alternative technique that can encourage patients to focus on the here and now. Yoga can encourage mindfulness which is an effective tool for combating unhealthy reminiscences of the past.

3. Empower patients to take charge of their own physical and mental states.

What trauma survivors often need is to feel empowered. Many traumatic experiences, such as violence and sexual assault, can take away a person's feelings of agency. Trauma-sensitive yoga can be an empowering experience that allows patients to master their bodies and minds, so they can feel safe and confident as they move through the world.

4. Heal antagonistic mind-body relationships.

Finally, trauma-sensitive yoga can help people reconcile with their bodies. People with PTSD may be more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than other populations. This can cause self-destructive behaviors, such as self-harm. Self-harm is, at its core, an antagonistic way of relating to the body. Trauma-sensitive yoga can help people approach their bodies with gentleness and kindness instead of aggression and disgust.

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