“An essential aspect of recovering from trauma is learning ways to calm down, or self-regulate. For thousands of years, yoga has been offered as a practice that helps one calm the mind and body. More recently, research has shown that yoga practices, including meditation, relaxation, and physical postures, can reduce autonomic sympathetic activation, muscle tension, and blood pressure, improve neuroendocrine and hormonal activity, decrease physical symptoms and emotional distress, and increase quality of life. For these reasons, yoga is a promising treatment or adjunctive therapy for addressing the cognitive, emotional, and physiological symptoms associated with trauma, and PTSD specifically.”
— Emerson, Sharma, Chaudhry & Turner (2009) Trauma Sensitive Yoga: Principles, Practice, and Research.
Focus is on both the mind and body to promote healing, creating greater connection & befriending the body, effective ways to self-soothe and self-regulate the fight or flight response.
