A practical, hands-on, experienced-based guide from a military veteran turned yoga teacher Brendon Abram combines his first-hand experience with PTSD in the field and years of teaching to offer this practical guide to bringing trauma-sensitive yoga to both clinical and studio settings. Drawing on his work with military veterans, first responders, and survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, he emphasizes the importance of respecting the uniqueness of every individual and demonstrates how to use the foundational principles of yoga to create a safe experience. Abram explains that basic principles of yoga bring power to the practice and that breath, mindful movement, focused awareness, and acceptance of present-moment experience form the foundation of any yoga offering.
An essential manual for yoga teachers and students to create a trauma-sensitive practice that benefits and supports all. People are turning to yoga for its stress-reducing practice and transformative philosophy. But for those who have a trauma history, the practice can be triggering. The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga offers an inclusive approach to yoga for teachers and students of all ages and abilities, especially those who have experienced trauma. Some of the themes covered include: How do the impacts of trauma show up in yoga spaces Suggested language for shifting power to the practitioner How to create an environment conducive to healing How to practice or teach poses in a way that includes all And much more This book is beautifully illustrated with 260 photos of poses and sequences, modeled by trauma survivors who share stories of how yoga helps them heal. Land works with people of all ages, from young children to seniors, who are coping with a range of traumas including physical, emotional and sexual abuse, homelessness, genocide, and incarceration. She is a passionate advocate for making the benefits of yoga and mindfulness available to all.
Survivors of trauma—whether abuse, accidents, or war—can end up profoundly wounded, betrayed by their bodies that failed to get them to safety and that are a source of pain. In order to fully heal from trauma, a connection must be made with oneself, including one’s body. The trauma-sensitive yoga described in this book moves beyond traditional talk therapies that focus on the mind, by bringing the body actively into the healing process. This allows trauma survivors to cultivate a more positive relationship to their body through gentle breath, mindfulness, and movement practices. Overcoming Trauma through Yoga is a book for survivors, clinicians, and yoga instructors who are interested in mind/body healing. It introduces trauma-sensitive yoga, a modified approach to yoga developed in collaboration between yoga teachers and clinicians at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute, led by yoga teacher David Emerson, along with medical doctor Bessel van der Kolk. The book begins with an in-depth description of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including a description of how trauma is held in the body and the need for body-based treatment. It offers a brief history of yoga, describes various styles of yoga commonly found in Western practice, and identifies four key themes of trauma-sensitive yoga. Chair-based exercises are described that can be incorporated into individual or group therapy, targeting specific treatment goals, and modifications are offered for mat-based yoga classes. Each exercise includes trauma-sensitive language to introduce the practice, as well as photographs to illustrate the poses. The practices have been offered to a wide range of individuals and groups, including men and women, teens, returning veterans, and others. Rounded out by valuable quotes and case stories, the book presents mindfulness, breathing, and yoga exercises that can be used by home practitioners, yoga teachers, and therapists as a way to cultivate awareness, tolerance, and an increased acceptance of the self.
This deck of 50 yoga shapes was created for trauma-sensitive yoga facilitators and other counselors, social workers, and caregivers who work with children. Unlike a traditional yoga deck, this one is trauma informed, somatic focused, and ideal for use in a variety of settings including small groups, classrooms, and one-on-one. Facilitators are free to create a shared, authentic experience that is non-coercive and non-prescriptive. The booklet included with the deck offers an array of games and explorations.
First-hand essays of embodied healing from the Center for Trauma and Embodiment at Justice Resource Institute: challenges, triumphs, and healing strategies for trauma-sensitive therapists and yoga teachers. All editor proceeds from Embodied Healing will fund direct access to Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY). This collection of essays explores the applications of TCTSY--Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga--as a powerful evidence-based modality to help clients heal in the aftermath of trauma. Written by a range of contributors including yoga facilitators, survivors, and therapists, the first-hand accounts in Healing with Trauma-Sensitive Yoga examine real-life situations and provide guidance on how to act, react, and respond to trauma on the mat. Each essay centers the voices, wisdom, and experiences of survivors and practitioners who work directly with trauma-sensitive embodiment therapies. From navigating issues of touch and consent to avoiding triggers, practitioners and readers will learn how to support survivors of trauma as they reintegrate their bodies and reclaim their lives. Organized into sections based on principles of trauma-sensitive yoga--experiencing the present moment, making choices, taking effective action, and creating rhythms--the 12 essays are for yoga teachers, therapists, survivors, and mental health professionals and trauma healers.
"[A] rare combination of solid scholarship, clinically useful methods, and passionate advocacy for those who have suffered trauma." —Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom From elementary schools to psychotherapy offices, mindfulness meditation is an increasingly mainstream practice. At the same time, trauma remains a fact of life: the majority of us will experience a traumatic event in our lifetime, and up to 20% of us will develop posttraumatic stress. This means that anywhere mindfulness is being practiced, someone in the room is likely to be struggling with trauma. At first glance, this appears to be a good thing: trauma creates stress, and mindfulness is a proven tool for reducing it. But the reality is not so simple. Drawing on a decade of research and clinical experience, psychotherapist and educator David Treleaven shows that mindfulness meditation—practiced without an awareness of trauma—can exacerbate symptoms of traumatic stress. Instructed to pay close, sustained attention to their inner world, survivors can experience flashbacks, dissociation, and even retraumatization. This raises a crucial question for mindfulness teachers, trauma professionals, and survivors everywhere: How can we minimize the potential dangers of mindfulness for survivors while leveraging its powerful benefits? Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness offers answers to this question. Part I provides an insightful and concise review of the histories of mindfulness and trauma, including the way modern neuroscience is shaping our understanding of both. Through grounded scholarship and wide-ranging case examples, Treleaven illustrates the ways mindfulness can help—or hinder—trauma recovery. Part II distills these insights into five key principles for trauma-sensitive mindfulness. Covering the role of attention, arousal, relationship, dissociation, and social context within trauma-informed practice, Treleaven offers 36 specific modifications designed to support survivors’ safety and stability. The result is a groundbreaking and practical approach that empowers those looking to practice mindfulness in a safe, transformative way.
Many of us have experienced a traumatic event in our lives, whether in childhood or adulthood. This trauma may be emotional, or it may cause intense physical pain. In some cases, it can cause both. Studies have shown that compassion and mindfulness based interventions can help people suffering from trauma to experience less physical and emotional pain in their daily lives. What’s more, many long-time yoga and meditation teachers have a history of teaching these practices to their clients with successful outcomes. In Yoga for Emotional Trauma, a psychotherapist and a meditation teacher present a yogic approach to emotional trauma by instructing you to apply mindful awareness, breathing, yoga postures, and mantras to their emotional and physical pain. In the book, you’ll learn why yoga is so effective for dealing with emotional trauma. Yoga and mindfulness can transform trauma into joy. It has done so for countless millions. The practices outlined in this book will teach you how to use and adapt the ancient practices and meditations of yoga for your own healing. Drawing upon practices and philosophy from eastern wisdom traditions, and texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Bagavad Gita, and the Buddhist Sutras, this book will take you on a journey into wholeness, one that embraces body, mind and spirit. Inside, you will discover the lasting effect that trauma has on physiology and how yoga resets the nervous system. Combining yogic principles, gentle yoga postures, and mindfulness practices, this book filled with sustenance and practical support that will move you along your own healing path.
This practical guide presents the cutting-edge work of the Trauma Center’s yoga therapy program, teaching all therapists how to incorporate it into their practices. When treating a client who has suffered from interpersonal trauma—whether chronic childhood abuse or domestic violence, for example—talk therapy isn’t always the most effective course. For these individuals, the trauma and its effects are so entrenched, so complex, that reducing their experience to a set of symptoms or suggesting a change in cognitive frame or behavioral pattern ignores a very basic but critical player: the body. In cases of complex trauma, mental health professionals largely agree that the body itself contains and manifests much of the suffering—self hatred, shame, and fear. Take, for example, a woman who experienced years of childhood sexual abuse and, though very successful in her professional life, has periods of not being able to feel her limbs, sensing an overall disconnection from her very physical being. Reorienting clients to their bodies and building their “body sense” can be the very key to unlocking their pain and building a path toward healing. Based on research studies conducted at the renowned Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, this book presents the successful intervention known as Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TSY), an evidence-based program for traumatized clients that helps them to reconnect to their bodies in a safe, deliberate way. Synthesized here and presented in a concise, reader-friendly format, all clinicians, regardless of their background or familiarity with yoga, can understand and use these simple techniques as a way to help their clients achieve deeper, more lasting recovery. Unlike traditional, mat-based yoga, TSY can be practiced without one, in a therapist’s chair or on a couch. Emphasis is always placed on the internal experience of the client him- or herself, not on achieving the proper form or pleasing the therapist. As Emerson carefully explains, the therapist guides the client to become accustomed to feeling something in the body—feet on the ground or a muscle contracting—in the present moment, choosing what to do about it in real time, and taking effective action. In this way, everything about the practice is optional, safe, and gentle, geared to helping clients to befriend their bodies. With over 30 photographs depicting the suggested yoga forms and a final chapter that presents a portfolio of step-by-step yoga practices to use with your clients, this practical book makes yoga therapy for trauma survivors accessible to all clinicians. As an adjunct to your current treatment approach or a much-needed tool to break through to your traumatized clients, Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy will empower you and your clients on the path to healing.
"This unique, user-friendly, and practical guide to understanding and healing the origins and effects of trauma is a comprehensive source of essential information and helpful advice and provides valuable, innovative tools to assist in addressing and working through anxiety, depression, and PTSD, as well as other trauma-related health challenges. Author Beth Shaw offers essential information and easy implementation of scientifically-proven techniques for self-care and new habits for daily living, exploring a variety of modalitites, including yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, and Ayurveda"--
What does twisting your body into poses named after animals have to do with trauma recovery? Everything. If you've ever wondered how yoga can inform trauma recovery and help us cope with extreme stress, this book is for you.Author Lisa Danylchuk has taught yoga as a healing modality in schools, prisons, recovery centers, and to traumatized populations abroad in Kenya, Haiti, and Tibet. In Embodied Healing: Using Yoga to Recover from Trauma and Extreme Stress, she shares the foundation of her approach and offers simple ways to understand and apply the theoretical bridges between the fields of yoga and psychotherapy. She outlines core elements of trauma treatment, yoga philosophy, and effective healing approaches.* Learn how trauma theory and yoga philosophy interconnect. * Find out the healing foundations of yoga that are so easily hidden by our culture's fixation on the external form.* Discover the role of the nervous system and how to cultivate balance through yoga.* Tap into sound advice on how to structure a trauma-informed yoga class.* Get insider tips on keeping yourself healthy as you do healing work!
