Do you want to learn how yoga can help you with trauma and PTSD? Read more here!
What is a trauma?
It is an extraordinarily stressful event that often involves a threat to life or safety, but it can also be caused by situations that left you feeling overwhelmed and isolated, even if it doesn't involve physical harm.
That means that it is not the objective circumstances that determine whether an event is traumatic, but your subjective emotional experience of the event.
Trauma can affect your body in different ways
- upsetting emotions
- memories or memory loss
- anxiety that won't go away
- problem with sleep
- tired vs. hypervigilance
- feeling numb
- disconnected
- difficulty trusting other people
Yoga as a support while healing from PTSD
There are studies that show yoga as a more effective treatment for PTSD and trauma than traditional medicine.
Even if the experience is individual, you see common denominators where unresolved traumatic stress affects the autonomic nervous system and our ability to handle stress. It changes the chemistry and structure of the brain by triggering hormonal changes, increasing the production of adrenaline and cortisol, and reducing neurotransmitters and hormones that make us feel safe and happy. This is where you can go through stages of feeling trapped in your own stressed body. While doing yoga there is a process going on that will help you reown your body, according to psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk. Trauma-informed yoga is an evidenced-based yoga practice that can support people who are suffering from triggers caused by traumatic stress.
“At some point, the story often becomes an alibi. Many traumatized people, tell the same story over and over again. Instead of feeling things very deeply, they go through a recital of misery, which is not the same thing as psychotherapy.” – Bessel van der Kolk.
Trauma-informed yoga online – program in Swedish & English
Yogobe has together with our yoga teachers Heather Mason and Josefin Wikström, created a 6-week program to help you learn more about trauma and PTSD, and how trauma-informed yoga can support you with your trauma reactions in your everyday life.
Who is this program for?
For anyone who has gone through a trauma and is now experiencing PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) symptoms, even if you have not yet been diagnosed but recognize a lot of the symptoms within you.
You can also find a 9-week trauma-informed yoga program in Swedish with Josefin Wikström and Eleonora Ramsby Herrera.
Read more about PTSD and trauma
- Om traumaanpassad yoga.
- Traumaanpassad yoga – lindring på vägen med Josefin Wikström.
- Möta sig själv i överväldigande känslor – Del 1: Trauma & PTSD.
Classes & lectures online – trauma-informed yoga
See all classes and lectures in our library: Trauma-informed yoga
To see a whole video you need to be logged in as a paying member. If you are new to Yogobe, try for free for 14 days – get started straight away!
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