Benefits Of Therapeutic Yoga

[Chava]

So many different types of yoga...great to explore. It can help with feeling empowered, but also feeling calm. I have to try to separate need for feeling strong, or finding healthy outlet for "fight" stuff, but also healthy outlet for wanting to just "give up" or allow myself to rest, without just throwing in the towel and letting myself be destroyed by bad habits. I haven't specifically tried therapeutic yoga, but I appreciate yin yoga for feeling of supporting my body, surrendering without awful feelings of giving up or feeling powerless, and slowing down. I have to set a timer for a few minutes for each pose and keep some nice music going. It also helps with some of my pain stuff.

For feeling strong (sometimes that feeling scares me because my fight energy feels gnarly)...I like hatha yoga, focusing on core and leg strength, but also Pilates.

I think any form of yoga can be a great tool for working on connection to our bodies, which is often so disrupted by trauma...finding feelings of strength, safety, calm, connection...or just being with our bodies for a bit without freaking out. A small class felt best for my starting out...with a teacher who offered modifications for poses and would use touch for guidance only if you were okay with it.

My goal is to make better use of my yoga practices...being in a better habit, so they don't feel so unaccessible to me when I hit the point of emergency...and keeping the forms I use balanced...even without exerting lots of physical effort I easily slip into "fight" mode just based on my own life stressors. And I can carry this into yoga/pilates and even do those practices in a disconnected way. I believe the effort is important, so I'm very serious about finding the right balance for myself and ways to hold myself accountable better. But it has taken some experimentation and searching for balance (like everything in my life!). Good luck!

 

[KwanYingirl]

I take Yin yoga. It's done lying down, is very gentle and we use props to support the pose. The poses are held for five minutes giving time for the small ligaments and tendons to stretch. Our teacher sometimes reads poems and affirmations and guides us in our breathing. It is very mindful and relaxing. There's usually 6-7 people there. Like I said we're on the mat with candlelight the only light. I don't even care who's there my practice is for me I take what I need and don't even talk to anyone except for wishing everyone Namaste at closing

 

[StellaBlue]

I started private sessions with an instructor who is knowledgeable in trauma about a month ago. We've been focusing on Restorative Yoga (which I believe is similar or the same as Yin yoga) and Yoga Nitra to help with anxiety and sleep issues. At our last meeting (which I almost blew off), we added Ayurvedic foot massage.

I'm going to have to say the yoga, combined with other things I'm doing (I've restarted DBT), is having an amazing impact on me. For example, last week there was a situation that would have, in the past, caused me to do a total tailspin...this time I was able to recognized a physical blocked sensation in my chest (OMG - a feeling!!!!). Instead of pushing against it or running away from it, I was able to kind of "relax" into it - it reminded me of relaxing into a stretching yoga pose...and what I got in return was a calmness, a sense of mastery, but subtle...like the universe sighing "yes". Hope that's not too "new agey" (I am not a new agey person at all)...I was more than a little amazed and pleased and...yes.