Why You Need Yoga in Trauma Recovery

Sariah Hoffman, Yoga Therapist, RYT • Jul 19, 2018

INTRODUCTION

We expect relationships to be built on trust, love and mutual respect, which is why betrayal in a marriage can seem both shocking and hurtful, and cause feelings of chaos and confusion. Few experiences create more pain and hurt than sexual infidelity (whether virtual or physical).

Betrayal trauma is a condition that parallels PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). When trust and safety are broken, the betrayed spouse naturally calls into question the bond they have with their partner.

Unfortunately, many women get stuck “in” their trauma. These unresolved issues are often carried into their lives and create emotional challenges (depression, anxiety, elevated stress) as well as physical problems (fibromyalgia, IBS, immune disorders, high blood pressure, etc.). When trauma isn’t resolved, it settles into our mind and our bodies.

TRAUMA'S IMPACT ON THE BODY

VIDEO ANSWER FROM DR. SKINNER: WHAT IS BETRAYAL TRAUMA AND WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS? (7:11)

TRAUMA’S IMPACT ON THE MIND

Betrayal Trauma creates feelings of hopelessness, danger, anxiousness and impacts our ability to express ourselves, making it difficult to regulate our emotions. As a result, our problem solving is impaired and we begin to shut down and lose our ability to connect to others, creating further feelings of loneliness and fear.

TRAUMA IS STORED IN THE BODY

Betrayal Trauma generally creates the fight, flight or freeze response. The trauma is stored in the body, even down to the cellular level. These protective responses put us in a protective state of mind. However, if the trauma is not released or resolved, the way we think, learn, remember and feel is altered. Symptoms of trauma being stored in the body are muscle tension, tightness, IBS, anxiousness, depression, TMJ, fibromyalgia,

headaches, restlessness or exhaustion.

TREATING BETRAYAL TRAUMA'S IMPACT ON THE MIND AND BODY

WANT TO PRACTICE YOGA SPECIFIC TO TRAUMA? MEET SARIAH OF BLOOMFORWOMEN.COM (2:53)

TREATING TRAUMA’S IMPACT ON THE MIND

For years, professional therapists have attempted to talk through trauma with their clients in an effort to bring relief. This approach to therapy is referred to as a narrative approach. Describing this process, Pat Ogden wrote, “The working premise is that significant change in the client’s cognitions and emotions will effect change in the physical or embodied experience of the client’s sense of self. The prime target for therapeutic intervention is therefore the client’s language; that is, the narrative is the entry point into the therapeutic process.” (1) Unfortunately, the results of using the narrative approach have been mixed.

Fortunately, professionals have continued to search for best treatment practices. Today, there is a growing

body of evidence that suggests that treating trauma may be best done by blending narrative therapy with movement interventions. Using this model, clients are taught to attend to thoughts (e.g. I am bad person), emotions (e.g. sadness, fear), and body sensations (e.g. tightness in chest, headaches). By incorporating all three of these areas, they learn to attune to their mind and body. Using this approach, the mind and body work together in the healing process.

TREATING TRAUMA’S IMPACT ON THE BODY

While there is plenty of research describing the benefits of talk therapy, there has been less work done on the benefits of treating trauma through movement interventions. Yoga is one of the movement based treatments. Yoga, by definition, is a combination of physical forms, focused breathing and purposeful attention or mindfulness. It increases awareness of the mind-body connection and builds self-regulation skills. It has been shown to have benefits for treating many medical problems (e.g. diabetes, arthritis, fibromyalgia, cancer) and mental health issues (depression, anxiety). (2)

In an effort to determine if Yoga could help reduce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in women with complex trauma, researcher Bessel van der Kolk and his colleagues examined the effects of trauma sensitive yoga (TSY) on women with complex trauma who were unresponsive to traditional psychotherapy. He wrote, “In research supported by the National Institutes of Health, my colleagues and I have shown that ten weeks of yoga practice markedly reduced the PTSD symptoms of patients who had failed to respond to any medication or to any other treatment.” (3) This significant finding suggests that in some cases of complex trauma, yoga may be a good starting place for healing and recovery.

These findings about the effectiveness of using yoga were surprising to investigators. For the first time ever, they had evidence that using physical movements to treat trauma was effective. This led researcher Alison Rhodes to conduct follow-up research in which she found, “At 1 to 3 years post-treatment, women who practiced yoga following the study were more likely to show a loss of PTSD diagnosis and greater reductions in PTSD and depressive symptoms.” (4) These findings are exciting in that they offer clinicians additional ideas to support clients who have been stuck in trauma.

WHY YOGA WORKS?

HOW HAS YOGA HELPED? KIM SHARES HER EXPERIENCE (1:20)

(Root is the yoga studio found at Addo Recovery)

If you are like many people, you may be wondering why yoga is helpful in treating trauma. This is the same question that researchers had after discovering these exciting results. In an effort to answer this question, they interviewed many of the women who went through the 10 week trauma- sensitive yoga program. They discovered three key findings:

By giving purposeful attention with physical postures and focused breathing, participants improved their capacity for present moment awareness.
By noticing how they were feeling in their body, it helped them gain a greater tolerance for difficult emotional states and body sensations.
Increased awareness of inner body sensations instilled a sense of ownership over one’s physical body that many women had lost through their traumatic experience. Regarding this, the author who interviewed the women wrote,

“Women started to recognize that their bodies belonged to them, that their bodies were under their control, and that they could be safe in their bodies.” (5)

Based on these interviews, it appears that there is a healing power in movement interventions such as trauma sensitive yoga. There are other movement based interventions such as the sensorimotor approach that have also been found to be effective in treating trauma. For more information on this approach, see the work of Dr.’s Pat Ogden and Peter Levine.

It is important to note that trauma- sensitive yoga is just what it says it is, trauma sensitive. Anytime an individual attempts to deal with trauma, they are intentionally exposing themselves to difficult thoughts, emotions and body sensations. Therefore, when attempting to deal with trauma through yoga or talk therapy, make sure to have professional support readily available if need be.

COMBINING YOGA AND NARRATIVE: THE BEST WAY

When you address traumatic experiences in therapy, your therapist may encourage you to participate in yoga. This is because they understand the power of combining the mind and body in your healing. Yoga will enhance your internal awareness of body sensations. You will learn to attend to breathing patterns and become more mindful of how specific thoughts influence your body. By combining these two strategies, you will learn to incorporate your body’s need for movement with your mind’s thoughts and emotions. As your mind and body work together, negative beliefs and painful emotions will be revealed through the awareness you gain from paying attention to your body’s sensations. By using this approach, you will gain a deeper appreciation into how your body is responding to trauma. This awareness will help you gain a better sense of how to heal.

If you are stuck in trauma, we recommend using a mind-body based approach by incorporating yoga into your healing plan.

REFERENCES

P. Ogden, K. Minton, and C. Pain, (2006) “Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy. Introduction XXIX. Norton. New York: New York
D. Emerson, “Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the Body into Treatment.” Location 36 of 2353, W.W. Norton & Company: New York: New York
B.A. van der Kolk, et al., “Yoga As an Adjunctive Treatment for PTSD.” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 75, no. 6 (June 2014): 559-65.
D. Emerson, “Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the Body into Treatment.” Location 59 of 2353, W.W. Norton & Company: New York: New York
D. Emerson, “Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the Body into Treatment.” Location 69 of 2353, W.W. Norton & Company: New York: New York