Using Yoga as a Trauma Treatment: Here’s What the Science Says

Using Yoga as a Trauma Treatment: Here’s What the Science Says : Many individuals in the Eastern part of the world practice yoga daily or multiple times per week. They do so to stay flexible and strong. It has also become popular in the West and worldwide.

Yoga can do more than just keep you limber, though. Some doctors now recommend it as a way of working through trauma.

If you’re interested in trauma-informed yoga therapy in Austin, you should be able to find it with no issues. Before seeking it out, though, you may be interested in hearing what the science says about this treatment.

We’ll explore that in detail in the following article.

What is Trauma?

First, let’s make sure you understand what we mean when we discuss trauma. To put it as simply as possible, trauma refers to an event that causes the individual going through it to feel their life is in danger. They might also feel that what they’re experiencing is beyond the typical stress level they’d expect to encounter in their normal life.

A car wreck can cause trauma. So can a sexual assault or a robbery. Those who live through a natural disaster can be said to have gone through a traumatic experience.

You can probably think of many more examples. Perhaps you can conjure up images of trauma you have experienced in your own life.

Yoga Decreases Stress Levels

As for those who experience trauma, they can deal with it in many ways. Some self-medicate with alcohol and drugs. Some undergo talk therapy. Yoga presents another alternative, though.

There’s plenty of scientific evidence to suggest that those who have gone through a traumatic experience can get better with the help of a yoga regimen. Stress tests have been conducted on individuals who have gone through traumatic events. They show much higher stress levels before taking regular yoga classes. After those classes, their baseline of stress is much less.

Those Who Have Endured Trauma Can Work Through It with Yoga

Yoga can be beneficial to anyone, but those individuals who have experienced trauma might need it more than most. It may not work for everyone who has had something traumatic happen to them, but virtually any doctor will sign off on it if you want to try it.

Yoga makes you more flexible and your muscles more supple, but there’s a mental aspect to it as well. A part of almost every yoga class is meditation, and this is a time when you look inward and focus on your breathing. You can intentionally cause your heart rate to slow, and you can assess what you’re thinking and feeling in a way that you usually can’t.

This is a way of taking your emotional temperature and seeing where your body is on its healing journey. Your first yoga classes may reveal you have a long way to go. Later ones will likely show that you are in the process of self-healing, and that’s going to be crucial when reclaiming your sense of self after traumatic events.