Overcoming Trauma through Yoga Quotes

“Curiosity helps to create emotional distance in which people are able to “just notice” their internal states, without taking immediate action to try to shift these states.”
― David Emerson, Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body

“While the mind usually shuts down during a traumatizing experience, the bodily sensations associated with immobilization and helplessness carry the memories of having absolutely no control over the outcome of your life: the fate of trauma survivors is lived out in heartbreak and gut-wrenching sensations.”
― David Emerson, Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body

“the reality of our experience here on this planet can be difficult to bear.”
― David Emerson, Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body

“This should be of no surprise when we realize that a common denominator of all traumas is an alienation and disconnection from the body and a reduced capacity to be present in the here and now.”
― David Emerson, Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body

“MATCHING YOGA-BASED STRATEGIES TO GOALS FOR INTERVENTION Challenge Goal Chair-based Yoga Posture Feeling frozen, rigid, holding on to things (hoarding, constipation) Letting go Forward Fold Anxiety, tension, panic Decreasing hyperarousal Neck Rolls, Ratio Breathing, Belly Breathing Isolation Building relationship Mirrored mindful integrated movement; group practice Defensiveness, avoidance of intimacy Opening boundaries Sun Breaths Dissociation Grounding Mountain pose, noticing feet on floor Feeling off-balance, conflicting feelings Centering Seated Twist, Seated Triangle, Seated Eagle, balanced movement, bringing awareness to core Emotionally overwhelmed, unprotected Containment Child’s pose (adapted) Stuck, unable to make decisions or take action, unable to defend self Unfreezing; reorganizing active defenses Movement-based postures Somatic dissociation, emotional numbing Awareness of body Any mindfulness practice Reenactments, revictimization Boundaries Sensing body, creating physical boundaries Feeling helpless, disempowered Empowerment (feeling core power) Lengthening spine, Leg lifts, moving to standing posture Emotionally numb or shut down, low energy Decreasing hypoarousal Activating postures (standing), breathwork”
― David Emerson, Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body

“You know that you should not feel this way, but your body keeps getting hijacked into feeling intolerable sensations and emotions.”
― David Emerson, Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body