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CHENNAI: Yoga and meditation are ancient healing sciences that can be used as therapies for holistic healing of the important triad of well-being, namely mind, soul and body. To keep the body healthy, strengthen the mind, and soothe the soul, nothing works better than these two divine practices. The world is waking up to their outstanding benefits and starting to incorporate them into their own daily well-being plans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, yoga and meditation practitioners have been quite successful in keeping the peace and going with the flow of the evolving times. Seeing this, some others also wanted to start or return to these practices to get in touch with inner peace.
Being at peace is an important factor in all positive things in life like peace of mind, a contented soul, restful sleep etc. People who have had traumatic experiences can really benefit from the practice of yoga and meditation as the benefits are just that what they need to heal. One of the effects of trauma is that it can alter personality as it causes a range of neurological changes. And with the regular practice of yoga and meditation, one can overcome the overwhelming effects of a traumatic experience.
Effect of Yoga: No matter when the traumatic experience happened, the remnants of it live on in the person’s mind and body. Hence, we see people who have experienced trauma fearing certain bodily sensations, and the resulting fear causes their breathing to become shallow and the whole body to become rigid and tense, as if they are afraid in the present moment. When you practice yoga, that strenuous breathing slows down and with it the stress, which slows down your heart rate as well. Yoga brings people back in touch with their bodies.
When meditating daily, not only the body but also the mind is gently retrained to let go of trauma and be mindful in the moment. So, it helps heal the residue of a traumatic experience by helping to manage anxiety, depression, insomnia, nightmares, and by spurring people to feel calm enough to let go of anger and engage socially with others.
What does the research say?
Many studies have shown how helpful yoga is in relieving traumatic stress symptoms, sometimes even more so than medication. After the subjects began practicing yoga, neuroimaging of their brains revealed perceptible activation in areas of the brain associated with self-awareness. These are the same areas that people are left out of after their trauma and need to be healed in order to move on in life. Therefore, the effectiveness of yoga in people dealing with trauma cannot be disputed.
In fact, the effectiveness of yoga and meditation is very high compared to other therapies such as neuro-feedback, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.
Several systems and processes such as altering brain activation and memory processing are also necessary to treat trauma. While the above therapies are masters in some of these systems, regular practice of yoga and meditation has proven helpful, albeit as a gradual process, with most of these systems. Despite these changes, trauma victims almost always struggle with good sleep hygiene. Sometimes the insomnia gets so bad that it interferes with her work schedule and all aspects of her life. Through regular practice of meditation and yoga, most subjects have experienced emotional healing and the ability to finally move on. Thus, meditation helps calm a mind afflicted with the residual strains of trauma, and yoga heals the body to release the tension it has been holding on to all along.
Other restorative therapies such as laughter therapy:
Trauma leads to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which has symptoms such as anxiety and depression, emotional numbness and social withdrawal, etc. In short, trauma locks people out of their inner child. When the daily practice of yoga and meditation is augmented with other restorative therapies such as laughter therapy and clean Ayurvedic diet and nutrition, many changes can be brought about. Laughter therapy is the purest way to reconnect with your inner child and its impact on healing trauma cannot be overstated; When you see the effects, you can see the benefits.
Healing from trauma is a gradual process, but it is possible with the regular practice of yoga and meditation alongside other ancient restorative and calming therapies. By working on the various symptoms of trauma and providing emotional healing, these healing therapies align the mind and body with the person’s infinite soul and make the process of overcoming trauma a reality.
(The author is the founder of Divine Soul Yoga)
