Trauma Sensitive Yoga in the Northern Beaches

One thing trauma survivors have in common is the desire to discover ways to regain their peace of mind.

When you come to counselling you some-times don’t really want to retell the entire story again, “not right now, not again” they say.

To ease anxiety I move the conversation to the present moment:

“What is going on for you right now?” I ask, “Could you help me understand your anxiety by sharing what bought you here today”.

“I want the memories to stop interrupting my day; they get stuck in my mind. (Flashbacks) I want the pain to stop – pain that the doctors cannot diagnose, anxiety pressing on my chest, pain that arises in times of distress. (Pointing to areas where pain is felt) Could nightmares please take a permanent vacation? The noise outside gets under my skin, I am irritated by so much – it’s not normal. I’m on alert for danger; it’s exhausting. Anger! Yesss, sometimes I feel out of control and then I am not sure why, where the anger came from, it can be embarrassing. I can’t think straight, my memory is hopeless; I can’t remember something that was clear to me minutes ago. I’m struggling at work, losing control, some days I just can’t take any more and I stay in bed, even there I can become overwhelmed. My heart pounds, I have gut wrenching sensations and my breathing gets chaotic. I can’t be be fully present with my family. I just can’t seem to calm down; all I want is peace of mind.
Peace within my mind. I don’t feel in charge of my own body, or my mind.” (Various Client Comments)

Trauma can be much more than a story about something that happened some time ago. Emotions, memories, & physical sensations are imprinted during trauma and abuse, they are often not experienced only as story memories, rather the memories are in the body, experienced as physical symptoms, reactions and feelings.

I could provide the first sign that relief is on it’s way: “When you feel more ready, you will need to revisit the trauma – but only after you feel safe, and you can feel confident that you can cope with feeling overwhelmed and you have some skills and knowledge about what is happening for you.”

There are many coping skills that people learn to help them regulate their emotions and thoughts. The rational brain can learn what needs to be done when these symptoms (mentioned in client comments above) arrive but the emotional brain often takes over before you have a chance to gain control. And a physical response comes in quickly, often intense, and intrusive & without warning.

“The challenge of recovery is to re-establish ownership of your body and your mind – of your self.”
p. 204 “The Body Keeps The Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk

I have become more and more interested in the Trauma Sensitive Yoga that has been developed and studied in the Trauma Centre, JRI Boston, led by Bessel Van Der Kolk, clinician, researcher, teacher and the yoga program developed by David Emerson, author and yoga teacher trainer who wrote “Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga”.

For the past few months our Yoga Teacher Connie Robinson, and I have been reading, studying and practicing Trauma Sensitive Yoga techniques. We now feel ready to introduce our ideas to the community and we are offering a variety of options. My role will be to provide emotional support for anyone within and outside the sessions, I will also be providing some information about trauma recovery from a bio-psycho-social perspective and introducing some creative and interesting tools to help manage stress, anxiety, grief and depression.

We have 3 offerings for this season – Bookings Essential:

1. Come ‘n Try Sunday Sessions Free $0:
18th Sept and 9th Oct at 1.45pm

2. Come ‘n Try mid-week Sessions $25:
Wed 28th Sept, 6.45pm
Fri 7th Oct, 9.45am

For the Come ‘n Try Sessions go to www.trybooking.com
Search for – Trauma Sensitive Yoga – or – Jane & Connie – and select your date/s

3. Six Week Course of Trauma Sensitive Yoga
Wednesday evenings 6.45-8.30pm
Starts 12/10 – 16/11/16
$36 per session, early bird price available at the checkout

https://www.trybooking.com/227542
**early bird finishes 25th September

We have answered many of your questions about Trauma Sensitive Yoga in this article (click here)
And I think this excerpt explains our mission really well:

“The term trauma-sensitive yoga was coined by David Emerson, E-RYT, founder and director of yoga services at the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute in Brookline, MA, to describe the use of yoga as an adjunctive treatment within a clinical context. The practice, pioneered by experts such as Bessel van der Kolk, MD… aims to help clients regain comfort in their bodies, counteract rumination, and improve self-regulation.

The objective of trauma-sensitive therapy is not to access emotions or dredge up trauma memories, but rather to help clients heighten their body awareness—to notice what is happening inside their bodies—and thereby learn to release tension, reduce and control fear and arousal, and tolerate sensation.

The practice is based on the growing understanding that trauma takes a heavy toll on the body and the brain. When the body absorbs and anticipates trauma, individuals are likely to experience hyperarousal, hypervigilance, and an inability to calm themselves. At the same time, their bodies respond by shuttering or dampening sensation. They avoid stimuli and their bodies become numb.

Trauma sensitive yoga helps them learn to calm their minds and regulate their physical responses and, thus, their emotions. They’re able to learn to recognise and tolerate physical sensations and thereby regain a feeling of safety inside their bodies.” http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/111714p8.shtml

Come along and try a Trauma Sensitive Yoga Class
If you have any questions, please get in touch.

Jane Macnaught 0425 152 490
jane@tranquilloplace.com

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