What is Trauma Informed Yoga and How Can It Help Recovery?

The journey to therapeutic recovery can be long and will take lots of hard work. Whether you or a loved one is struggling from a substance abuse disorder, an eating disorder, or any mental health condition, there is hope. Thankfully, treatment programs like Integrative Life Center in Nashville, TN offer clients many tools to assist them on this journey. One of the tools we utilize is trauma informed yoga. More than just a work out or a meditative practice, trauma-informed yoga offers a gentle and comprehensive exercise for facing trauma and finding resilience toward recovery. 

What Is Trauma?

Trauma is when a person becomes emotionally overwhelmed by an event or circumstance happening to them or to someone they love, or witnessed by them. According to the National Council for Behavioral Health, some 70 percent of adults in the United States have experienced some type of traumatic event. These events can vary, and can include:

• Adverse childhood experiences
• Accidents or natural disasters
• Witnessing acts of violence
• Grief and loss
• Severe illness
• Effects of emotional abuse
• Physical or sexual abuse
• War and other forms of violence

Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event needs professional care to deal with the experience, but many people do develop physical and/or mental health concerns. In fact, according to the National Council for Behavioral Health, trauma is a risk factor in nearly all behavioral health and substance abuse disorders. Additionally, over 33 percent of young people who are exposed to violence in their communities will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the most severe reaction to traumatic events.

Symptoms of trauma

Though you may not have developed PTSD, some signs that you may be dealing with the fallout from a traumatic event are:

• Unexplained headaches or stomach aches
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Easily startled by sounds or touch
• Depression or anxiety
• Outbursts of anger
• Increased use of alcohol or drugs
• Overeating
• Feelings of detachment/self-isolation
• Loss of interest in everyday activities
• Nightmares and flashbacks
• Self-blame or shame
• More susceptibility to colds or other illnesses

Trauma-Informed Care

Thankfully, there is help available for those who are suffering after experiencing a traumatic event. If this is you or a loved one, it is important that you seek out trauma informed care. Otherwise, more harm than good may be done, as the possibility of re-traumatization–even in a therapeutic setting–will be present. In trauma informed care, a provider works to help their client heal from a traumatic event through a trauma informed lens, relying on the five guiding principles of:

• Safety
• Trustworthiness
• Choice
• Collaboration
• Empowerment

Whether in talk therapy, group therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, or any other methodology, trauma-informed practitioners keep in mind the triggers a traumatized individual may have and work to make them aware of these triggers themselves. Above all, anyone working to recover from a traumatic event must feel safe along every step of the recovery journey, participating alongside their provider to address, process, and heal from the trauma.

What Is Trauma Informed Yoga?

Successful recovery from trauma will involve many different steps and strategies. One of those strategies may be trauma informed yoga.

You may be familiar with the idea of yoga treatment in residential or outpatient mental health facilities. Much more than exercise, yoga is a combination of postures, breath, and meditation that facilitates overall wellbeing and is a vital part of a holistic approach to care. Yoga treatment creates a deep connection to the self that can help people learn to control and guide their thoughts and feelings.

Learning to do this is especially important in trauma informed care, where a client may experience sudden and seemingly uncontrollable flashbacks to a traumatic event. Trauma-informed yoga seeks to help a person control those thoughts without re-traumatizing them by triggering traumatic memories. For example, instead of encouraging practitioners to simply “move through” a particular pose that may be conjuring up traumatic memories, trauma-informed yoga instructors teach participants to pay careful attention to their feelings and thoughts and, if need be, follow them into a time of rest rather than strain.

Trauma informed yoga also acknowledges that trauma affects not only the mind but the body. It can present itself in unusual ways–tension in a particular muscle, a fear of a certain position. Trauma informed practitioners never push a participant to do anything that triggers them; rather, they seek to help clients become more grounded in their own bodies and minds, listening to them instead of running from them.

Experience the Benefits of Trauma Informed Yoga

If you or a loved one is suffering from the effects of a traumatic experience, now is the time to seek healing. Recovery is possible, and a future without fear awaits. At Integrative Life Center in Nashville, TN, trauma treatment includes an array of holistic and evidence-based options personalized to your needs, including trauma informed yoga. With our help, you can address both the mental and physical effects of your trauma and achieve long-term healing. Call 615-378-8806 today to start your healing journey. You are not alone.

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