 There is something very empowering about taking your health into your own hands and learning how to heal with sustainable techniques and holistic care. For me, yoga is one of the most significant methods of self-care that has elevated me out of anxiety and trauma resulting from toxic connections to others. I share this about myself as a catalyst for helping clients understand why this work is important to me.
A few years ago, I was in the beginning stages of recovering from a chronically emotionally abusive connection that I had not received proper intervention for, nor education about, and I had been minimizing its effects on my health. I knew I was affected emotionally, but I didn’t know that the traumatic events and enduring stress from this connection with a toxic individual had profoundly affected my neurological health. Near the end of the connection, I began a rigorous yoga certification program that required me to attend almost daily yoga classes and meditations. Within days of this protocol, I noticed that my body was changing, but more importantly, I felt a positive difference in my brain. At the time, I couldn’t quite explain it except to say that I felt more calm, clear and energetic. I also noticed feeling less invested in certain experiences, habits and interests that were otherwise masking longstanding emotional and physical discomfort. I lost interest in many relationships that felt abrasive to my reconditioned neurological system and gradually worked them out of my life. The combination of yoga, meditation, and other self-care practices set my body and brain in a powerful healing mode that is better than any other interventions I have used and changed my life. Since that time, I have studied more about restorative yoga techniques and about how yoga is an effective treatment for the effects of abuse, trauma and chronic stress. Most of us hear about how yoga is wonderful for combating stress, but we don’t often hear about how it changes our neurological health and aids in physical recovery of stress-induced neurological damage. Before I dive in more, I’d like to clear up some misconceptions that will hopefully make anyone who is anxious about yoga, less anxious, as many people tend to perceive yoga as a potentially challenging or mysterious undertaking.
It is also important to address some basics about what trauma is and how it affects certain brain structures. My limited coverage of these basics is not meant to minimize how severe trauma can be, but rather to give a general framework for this particular post. Trauma can be a single or extended occurrence that is either actually threatening/harmful or perceived as threatening/harmful where a person's ability to cope is inadequate and their ability to process the trauma is overwhelming. By its very nature, trauma occurs when we do not have a choice in what happens to us, particularly negative and horrific experiences that are bestowed upon us without warning, consent, or knowledge that it’s happening (or to the level it’s happening) or going to happen. Trauma can also happen while we know it’s occurring, but we feel helpless or hopeless to do anything about it because of oppressive circumstances or our emotional, physical, mental and financial resources can be so drained at times to effectively get ourselves out of bad situations. Some examples of trauma are rape, natural disaster, child abuse, sexual harassment, domestic violence (verbal, physical and/or emotional). Chronic stress as a result of any type of ongoing trigger, behavior or event in your life can develop the same type of response as traumatic and abusive events do. Regardless of how it happens, trauma gets stored in our brain and body and stays there unless we actively work on healing it (versus stuffing it down or denying that it happened). Depending on the nature and severity of the trauma and a person’s coping skills, the trauma can cause a myriad of challenges such as mood regulation issues, amnesia, dissociative symptoms, alterations in one’s self-perception, shame, interpersonal issues (trust/intimacy), somatization, disease, and much more. On a neurological level, when trauma occurs, the brain and nervous system try to process a stressful experience, but can not effectively do so due to various neurological processes that work against you under these conditions. Now bear with me - the neurology information below is basic and does not do justice to the plethora of information out there, but it’s worth a quick overview here especially if you like nerding out on things like this. Neurologically, when trauma occurs: - Your frontal lobes shut down (pre-frontal cortex, medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). The frontal lobes are responsible for abstract thought, language, decision making, and empathy, including for oneself. Self-criticism is more likely to occur as a result of trauma and frontal lobe dysfunction. Also, when the frontal lobes shut down or are underactivated, especially repeatedly, their overall functioning and development decrease and your amygdala compensates by becoming overactive. - Your amygdala, an emotional perception and processing center, is overstimulated and overactive. Trauma survivors tend to have a hyperactive amygdala which causes them to experience chronic fear, distrust and anger. This can lead to other problems like insomnia, nightmares, intrusive memories and physical symptoms like gastrointestinal issues. Your amygdala actually grows when subjected to chronic stress and enlargement means more sensitivity. Without intervention to recondition your amygdala to a healthier status, your perception and overall health will feel compromised beyond your control. - Your hippocampus suffers from cell loss and possible atrophy from cortisol neurotoxicity. The stress hormone, cortisol, is naturally released in response to trauma. Sustained and chronic over release of cortisol can and does become toxic in your system. The changes it has on your hippocampus can make it difficult for trauma survivors to process memories and learn from the trauma. - Your thamalus shuts down. It is responsible for processing, filtering and transferring sensory information into a cohesive experience. When it is compromised, it is often difficult for survivors to feel integrated and their senses can easily feel overloaded. Sensory overload can lead to substance abuse and addictive behaviors to cope with and reduce stimulation. - Your vagus nerve does not function optimally. The vagus nerve is a cranial nerve that originates off the brainstem and travels down through the neck to supply our major organs. Toning this nerve to keep it strong and optimally functioning helps us regulate our body, bring about homeostasis, and adapt to our environment. The vagus nerve is part of the autonomic nervous system, the part of our nervous system that does everything automatically for us. We don’t have to think about breathing, digesting our food, and making our heart beat because it is all performed automatically and does a good job optimizing these functions if vagal tone is strong and healthy. The automatic system is subdivided into two branches: 1) the sympathetic nervous system (Fight, Flight, Freeze) and 2) the parasympathetic system (Healing, Resting Digesting, Development). The nervous system is only able to be in one of these states at a time. This is an important concept because fixing an imbalance in these systems is key to healing. Many individuals living with trauma are in a chronic sympathetic mode (Fight, Flight or Freeze). This might have started with trauma from long ago or recurring trauma that leaves your body in a hypervigilant state. As such, healing is not happening. Restoring and strengthening vagal tone is a key component to push our nervous system into more of the parasympathetic mode to help heal our body. How does yoga help reverse damaging effects and assist in healing and recovery? To begin, it’s important to set the tone and assist clients with basic tenets of yoga philosophy such as non-judgmental observation of oneself, conscious attentional training (maintaining a focus on the present moment/experience at one’s own level), and self-compassion above all else. These tenets help establish a baseline of self-acceptance for each client and everyone’s baseline will be different. Likewise, it’s important for guidance professionals to accept clients where they are as their baseline fluctuates. Setting this tone and acceptance is the most basic calming experience to start with in this work. Important components of yoga that improve neurological health are breathwork, poses and meditation strategies, all which can be interwoven into simple sessions with clients. For clients who have never done yoga, all of these components are easily modifiable, yet do not alter their positive results even when simplified. Yoga poses may be active (such a holding a standing pose) or restorative (seated or laying on a mat or props). In either style, breath guidance and positive mantras are incorporated to help soothe and affirmatively direct the process. Such techniques have an immediate healing effect that can be sustained for longer periods as your practice gets stronger. Over time, yoga practice strengthens and tones the vagus nerve, which increases vagal flow to the brain and central nervous system and increases parasympathetic activity, resulting in reduced negative arousal and increased restoration. Yoga reduces cortisol levels, increases GABA (a calming neurotransmitter), and increases heart rate variability (for better health). It also promotes positive and adaptive cognitive processing which counteracts negative thinking patterns and rumination (which could otherwise lead to stressful behaviors and neurological impairment). The holding poses, transitions between yogic movements, soothing breathing techniques, and practice in focusing through each process create a rhythm of healthy stress and relaxation patterns that train the autonomic nervous system to adapt to a favorable challenge, one that feels opposite to traumatic type of stress. When yoga is combined with other healthy lifestyle approaches such as a healing diet, talk therapy, holistic self-care, healthy social connections, elevated experiences, cognitive restructuring, various types of meditation, and other interventions, the positive reconditioning that results from such therapeutic practices contributes to strengthening and healing your actual brain structures and neurological health. You may not even realize the severity of neurological damage that you experienced from your trauma until you feel the difference weeks, months or possibly years after a sustained self care practice, but when you feel the difference, it will feel profoundly life changing. It takes work and dedication to get to this point, but it is worth everything you gain and lose in the process. With regard to yoga in my therapy approach, I generally teach my clients a few simple poses that they can implement three times per day for about 10 minutes each time. The poses include simple mantras and breathing techniques. Clients are welcomed and encouraged to attend any yoga community classes they feel comfortable with, but I equip them with a protocol they can do anywhere if a class is not an option for them. I’m able to demonstrate and guide my clients through the techniques in private online sessions. For yoga instructors, it’s important to be aware that many yoga students come to yoga to help with their healing process. There are ways you can support them better within your scope of yoga training without having to be a mental health professional. Much of your support will come from teaching classes with some minor adjustments that reflect a more trauma-informed awareness and approach to minimize triggering students with trauma. Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions about this. In my practice, I spend a considerable about of time educating and intervening about other important holistic self-care practices that aide in the recovery of trauma, depression, anxiety, and other conditions. Please take advantage of my complimentary consultation time to see is we can work together to help you elevate your healing process. Be well - Tina A helpful resource about how toxic relationships affect our brain: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/neurosagacity/201701/the-brain-can-work-against-abuse-victims
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