How Yoga Helps Heal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

What is your New Year’s Resolution? Perhaps it’s to eat healthier, exercise more, quite smoking. Maybe you have decided to take up yoga. If you suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, yoga just might be the perfect resolution. Studies show that yoga, specifically the breathing-based aspect, improves PTSD recovery. Hyper-arousal, nightmares, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, irritability, are all common features of PTSD. Yoga, which dates back to 3,000 B.C and practiced among warriors before heading into battle, means “to unite.” In other words, it helps us become more self-aware, allowing us to feel a sense of control over our own bodies. Yoga brings the mind and body back to a state of calm. http://www.traumacenter.org/research/yoga_study.php  http://uwire.com/2014/09/17/uw-study-finds-yoga-can-improve-ptsd-recovery/

Each morning (or most mornings), I sit cross-legged on my living room rug, take several deep breaths, then launch into ten minutes of yoga: downward dog, warrior I and II, Half Moon Pose, Plank, Forward Bend, Child’s Pose (not necessarily in that order). Downward Dog is my favorite – letting my head hang, my calves and hamstrings stretching, releasing a nighttime’s worth of bad dreams.

I know I could benefit from longer sessions, so I think that’s what I’ll strive for in 2015 – to breathe deeper, unite my body and mind, and, as Certified Yoga instructor Robin Carnes says, “draw [my] attention inward, away from outside stressors.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/military-yoga-treatment_b_2443317.html

What about you? How about joining me in a few downward dogs?

Here’s a link to get you started: https://yoga.com/poses