Trauma comes in almost as many flavors as ice cream. Trauma can come from experiencing anything such as car accidents, abuse, community violence, natural disasters, medical issues, loss of a loved one, and more. At Wisdom Within Counseling, we offer yoga therapy for trauma and PTSD.
Whether physical or mental, treating the sources of trauma can be taxing. Because your current insurance policy doesn’t have work loss coverage, you could suffer even more just for trying to get your life back on track.
Mental and physical trauma can make handling responsibilities tough. As a result, treatment is necessary to avoid complete burnout and other long-term consequences. Yoga and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are proven methods of trauma therapy, but how they work can be misunderstood.
Where does your body store emotional stress?
There is more to the saying “the weight on your shoulders.” Movement therapy can be used to treat physical conditions and injuries as well as mental and emotional ones.
A list of places where your body stores stress, sadness, anxiety, fear, and anger is:
- Shoulders
- Pelvis
- Heart and chest
- Abdomen
- Hips
- Stomach or “gut”
Even if your body seems okay, emotional stress gets physically stored. As a result, this may trigger physical or emotional pain for years after a traumatic event.
How do you release trauma from the body?
Movement can be used to release negative emotions and is shown to be effective in aiding the healing process of trauma.
The science behind why physical movement is productive for emotional healing isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Every day our bodies naturally self-soothe and alert us when our emotions become heightened due to external stimulators.
That feeling of your body reacting as you’re trying to process an ongoing situation is your physical reaction to what you’re emotionally feeling. A few examples of instinctual self-soothing and alertness are:
- Muscle tightness
- Increased heart rate
- Trembling or shaking
Motions such as these or even learned self-soothing like thumb sucking or biting nails are ways we physically release emotional stress.
Receiving therapy after enduring trauma targets the source of your emotional stress in a mindful way. Both yoga and cognitive behavioral therapy are methods that work to create healthy coping mechanisms. As such, yoga therapy for trauma is effective for many clients.
Although these treatments can treat similar conditions and systems, they are different in approach.
What’s the difference between yoga and yoga therapy for trauma?
Yes, yoga and yoga therapy are different, so don’t plan on signing up for a yen yoga course to consider your trauma dealt with.
Trauma affects how we see ourselves, thus making the state of physical awareness uncomfortable and often depressing. Additionally, positive emotions can become suppressed when you are in a negative state of feeling severe anxiety and depression.
Combining consciousness with yoga movements is used to treat mental conditions such as, but not limited to:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Chronic anxiety
- Depression
- Eating disorders
The ways yoga therapy helps treat these disorders is by using these methods:
- Meditation and breath control
- Yoga stretches and movement
- Guided energy therapy
Learning these yoga practices to better your overall wellness helps your mind and body connection. Also, focus on this connection is crucial in trauma recovery and aids the processes of other forms of counseling.
It is common for yoga therapy to include a personalized diet in addition to anxiety counseling to further connect someone with their physical being. The beauty of this practice is it can take place anywhere.
No matter where you are, yoga therapy and other counseling forms like East Lyme, Connecticut eating disorder specialists are available despite the need to quarantine. Yoga therapy is about repairing self-trust and self-worth values because it gives you the confidence to deal with triggers in everyday life.
What is CBT?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is likely the kind of therapy you first think of because it is founded on the talk therapy method.
Stopping the habit of negative thoughts requires a lot of effort and is like putting out a fire. Furthermore, we call CBT the “stop, drop, and roll method” for your thoughts. The target and methods vary, but we teach clients to do the following:
- Stop negative thoughts when they occur.
- Drop the habits that perpetuate negative thoughts and actions.
- “Roll-play” what healthy responses would be, and adapt them as a daily practice.
Here is a list of different ways to participate in CBT therapy with a summary of the methods:
- Multimodal therapy – Behavioral and medical
- Cognitive therapy – Association and emotional response
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) – Awareness of emotions and strategic actions
- Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) – Challenging beliefs head-on to disprove negative thoughts.
Each form of therapy seems similar but we use them for different cases.
What can CBT treat?
In general, CBT practices are recommended to help address these emotional and mental health problems:
- Bipolar disorder
- Anger issues
- Eating disorders
- Childhood trauma
- Depression
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Anxiety and panic disorders
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Psychosis
- Physical and sexual abuse
- Schizophrenia
- Insomnia
- Substance abuse
- Sexual disorders
- Grief and loss
- Relationship communication problems
Although CBT is styled to focus on thoughts and feelings, we use it to treat physical conditions. The mind and body connection mentioned earlier comes full circle in active practice, which is ruled by how we think.
A list of physical conditions that often receive CBT therapy is:
- Cancer
- Fibromyalgia
- Amputees
- Weight loss surgery patients
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)
Treating the emotions triggered by or caused by these conditions has helped patients process medical news and stop worsening symptoms.
CBT therapy is beneficial for individual, family, and couple therapy. And, learning how to be an effective communicator involves listening and self-awareness skills that aren’t always easy to practice.
Marriage counseling in Mystic, Connecticut, uses CBT-style therapy to help both individuals and couples work through trauma and toxic relationship practices.
How to Apply Different Therapy Styles, Like Yoga Therapy for Trauma
The difference between yoga therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is in their focus. Though the styles complement each other, yoga centers on intention and focus, while CBT centers on acknowledgment and behavioral practice.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy digs up your current lifestyle and is often uncomfortable at first. Without doing this emotional work, mental and physical therapy efforts may fall short.
The benefit of yoga therapy is that by strengthening and releasing these traumas, you become better equipped to make healthier choices. Additionally, as you become healthier, you can even help improve your status for things such as life insurance classification.
If you are currently enrolled in any type of therapy, you should ask your therapist about other therapy forms to help you reach your total wellness goals.
Danielle Beck-Hunter writes and researches for Insurantly.com. She is an advocate for wellness and normalizing therapy as a common health practice for communities of color.
