(Originally posted in July 2015)
I went to the UN World Yoga Day a month ago and witnessed the most amazing panel conversation, led by Cate Peterson (founder of LovEarth, involved with Off the mat, Into the world) . Five teachers from all walks of life, talking about yoga, trauma, and the world we live in. It brought me to tears and left me with one thought “What am I waiting for to live my life to its full potential?”
When thinking about trauma, the extremes come to mind, and the teachers on the panel are definitely working with people who have been through extreme traumas – from Fernando Charnis, bringing yoga to jails, to Atira Tan, helping women who were victims of sex-trafficking, Dominica Dorning, supporting refugees, Rob Ginnivan, working with people who have come back from war zones and Shirley Hicks, helping people through trauma recovery.
I found it so incredible to see how yoga can support individuals who experienced the unimaginable through their journey of recovery. The recurring theme throughout the conversation was the power of the breath. All of the panelists talked about how, after a traumatic event, the connection between body and mind can be lost. Breathing exercises and yoga recreate that connection. In some cases it works as a reminder: “I have a body”. A reminder to feel your body, even for a moment. Associating movement with breath consciously is very powerful – our breath and our movements both act as points of focus for the mind, it brings us in the present moment, which quiets down the anxiety and the fear, even for an instant.
Another powerful aspect of the breath is that lengthening the exhale helps relaxing the nervous system. As Dominica Dorning points out, for people who have been through traumatic events, their resting state is very different to the average person’s. Controlling the breath helps with redefining that state and knowing how to get there.
Cate Peterson asks, “could it be that simple?”.
Maybe, maybe not. But the panelists are unanimous regarding the positive effects of yoga to support trauma recovery. They are seeing them first-hand. Shirley Hicks talks about a study done in the US, where participants suffering from PTSD took a trauma aware yoga class for 10 weeks. After that time, 50% of the participants were not experiencing any PTSD symptoms at all. Of course yoga may not be all of the answer, but I truly believe it is a part of it.
So how can we – those of us who haven’t been through extreme trauma – learn from this? As Cate points out, not a lot of people are living their lives to their full potential. Each and everyone of us has been exposed to some level of trauma, which affects how we think, act and perceive things, whether we realize it or not. It affects our behavior and how we respond to situations. Yoga is a way to reprogram our responses.