If you are reading this, you are probably interested in alternative ways to keep progressing in your healing journey. You might have heard about the physical and emotional benefits of Yoga for Trauma already, and are willing to welcome them into your life. But are you curious what makes Trauma Sensitive Yoga effective? My name is Jen Stuart and, in today’s post, we will explore together some of the evidence that different studies showed about the effectiveness of this treatment for trauma survivors.

Trauma Sensitive Yoga is an inclusive treatment

The International Journal of Complementary & Alternative Medicine released an article that discussed how yoga helps heal trauma, proving it’s a beneficial treatment for people suffering PTSD. 

One of the first premises it displays is that it’s a treatment that can be taken by everybody, like pregnant women and children, because it doesn’t cause any secondary effects. It’s appropriate for people with any physical ailments including and not exclusive to those in wheelchairs, broken bones, chronic pain, inflexible, and inclusive with all ages. There are no limits of criteria one must meet to attend a Yoga for Trauma class/programme.

While some psychiatric treatments use drugs to help aid the responses of the nervous system, Trauma Sensitive Yoga uses a variety of techniques to regulate it. It works by stimulating your body and mind, through a series of tools and techniques that drive your brain to release natural chemicals that make you feel more at ease and allow happiness, such as endorphin, serotonin, and dopamine, and teaches you how to cope with chemicals that may arise when your nervous system is experiencing changes in arousal.that make you feel sad and distressed, such as cortisol.

Another reason why Trauma Sensitive Yoga is an inclusive practice is that it is affordable. Your life can take a drastic turn after going through a traumatic event. Some people stop working, can’t focus at all, or could turn to bad habits such as drinking or consuming drugs. Others might not have a caring family to help them afford a traditional treatment. Even if they get to visit a doctor, anxiolytics, sleeping pills, pain killers, and other medications, can be too expensive.

It can take several months, even years, to release trauma(s) through talk therapy. Although there are some amazing results that talk therapy has helped clients to achieve and shouldn’t be dismissed at all, the physical body allows to open up a dialogue with the ‘trauma(s)’ that the mind may be closed off to. Trauma Sensitive Yoga does not allow the issues to drag on for years as your body knows how to respond, it just needs to be given the opportunity to be listened to. 

Trauma Sensitive Yoga is a treatment that doesn’t require you to invest a large amount of resources to obtain benefits. It’s an opportunity for you to learn the language of your body and trust the vehicle you are in

Trauma Sensitive Yoga improves mental health

A study that involved the Department of Internal Medicine of the University of Minnesota Medical School, the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute in Brookline, the Division of Biostatistics of the University of Minnesota, and others, was conducted in order to find how the incorporation of Trauma Sensitive Yoga in a group therapy of female domestic violence victims would improve their mental health.

58.8% of these women were still in contact, either personally or through a third party, with their abusers. The sample was suffering from anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, and other symptoms. The results of the study do not only demonstrate a reduction of all those symptoms but that Yoga for Trauma can positively increase self-concept and emotional regulation. In other 13 studies conducted, 10 showed the efficacy of Yoga for Trauma.

Each Trauma Sensitive Yoga class took place after the group therapy session. The study outcomes revealed that the women felt safe due to the Trauma Sensitive Yoga protocol. It stands for a variety of elements that contributes to creating a safe space for trauma survivors, like using inviting language instead of commands, no hands-on assists, making everything a choice so the students can regain their power to make decisions, and others.

One participant expressed: “I didn’t have to leave the meeting with anxiety… I was able to leave it on the mat”. Part of the power of Trauma Sensitive Yoga is its ability to create and hold space. Having a safe space to feel vulnerable and open up to yourself and release trauma held in the body is important, especially when you don’t feel safe in general in the outside world. You need to start by feeling safe in your inside world.

Trauma survivors respond better to body-based therapies

According to Bessel van der Kolk studies, Yoga for Trauma has proven to be able to reduce PTSD symptoms. The sample was 250 people, and their Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was measured. A low HRV is an indicator of anxiety and stress, while a high HRV is a signal of good stress resistance and positive emotions. The role of yoga in healing trauma was demonstrated when the results showed that HRV is increased during its practice. 

Another study, with a sample of 31 women who suffered from PTSD due to a history of sexual and emotional abuse, showed that traditional treatments can be enhanced using yoga therapy for psychological trauma since it helps to reconnect the body and the mind in a way that is difficult to achieve with medications or talking therapies, that can arouse the mind and don’t soothe the body. The women were interviewed at the end of the study, some of the transcripts are: 

“(…) starting to think that I ought to give

myself a little credit for all I’ve survived

…I ought to like myself” 

“(…) appreciate

how huge it is that I was able to survive

. . . made me appreciate the level of trauma.”

These discoveries were also supported by another study conducted by the Justice Resource Institute. The sample was 64 women diagnosed with PTSD. A group experienced 10 weeks of Yoga for Trauma, while the other group continued with its regular treatment. The outcome was very positive since 52% of the women in the first group reduced their symptoms so much that they weren’t diagnosed with PTSD anymore, strengthening their recovery journey. Only 21% of the women in the second group achieved the same results.

In the article “Mind-body Practices for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”, the results of Trauma Sensitive Yoga for PTSD were analysed based on 16 studies. One of the studies was conducted with a sample of 92 veterans who suffered from PTSD. 40% of them showed a significant reduction of the PTSD symptoms after two months and kept the results after six months.

Ready to start your healing journey? Please, contact me if you would like to know more about how Trauma Sensitive Yoga can improve your life, empower you and change your relationship with trauma.