ARTICLES ABOUT RESEARCH INTO SOMATIC THERAPY & TRAUMA
http://www.janinafisher.com/resources.php
http://www.janinafisher.com/pdfs/addictions.pdf
http://www.janinafisher.com/pdfs/trauma.pdf
The benefits of yoga practice in helping people affected by trauma
1. Being trauma-informed is a best practice for everyone working with the public, not just “mental health” or “recovery yoga” teachers.
2. If even one new person comes to the class, review protocol for a safe practice.
3. Avoid making hands-on adjustments without asking permission, or review a protocol for declining.
Don’t assume—give people a chance to decline whether you have some sort of system (e.g., cards near the front of the mat, asking quietly or making eye contact when you approach). Avoid approaches from behind.
4. Consider that some people believe that they can’t say no, especially with adjustments.
Many emotionally vulnerable folks believe that they have to say “yes” to you in order for you to like them. Thus, people may say it’s okay for you to touch them, yet if the body language suggests they are uncomfortable, remember that the body doesn’t lie.
5. Offer a protocol for opting out of uses of essential oils or creams.
6. Make yourself available after class.
7. Closing the eyes is not always optimal.
8. Be mindful of the guided imagery that you may use.
9. Just because a pose makes you feel a certain way, don’t assume it’s that way for others..
10. Avoid telling the class how a pose “should” feel.
>>> This pose may alleviate depression.
>>> This pose has been known to alleviate depression.
>>> Many people say this pose creates great space in the spine.
>>> This pose is known to create great space in the spine.
>>> This breath can be very balancing.
>>> This breath may take some practice for you to experience its intended balancing effect.
>>> This pose has been known to alleviate depression.
>>> Many people say this pose creates great space in the spine.
>>> This pose is known to create great space in the spine.
>>> This breath can be very balancing.
>>> This breath may take some practice for you to experience its intended balancing effect.
11. Make a few statements about non-competitiveness during the class.
12. Avoid public or overt praise of your “favorite” or “best” students—consider the message it might send to others.
From "Decolonizing Yoga":
From "Decolonizing Yoga":
Yoga for Trauma Survivors
The resource below was contributed by Lauren Rubenstein, a clinical psychologist and yoga teacher with experience teaching yoga to outreach populations and consulting to non-profits. Lauren has a private practice in Bethesda, where she offers integrative psychotherapy and stress management. She can be reached at DrLaurenRubenstein@gmail.com .
What is Trauma? Psychological trauma occurs when an actual or perceived threat of danger overwhelms a person’s usual coping ability. The danger can come from a single stressful event, such as a car accident, or a series of events such as war or repeated sexual, physical or emotional abuse.
All traumas are stressful, but not all stress is traumatic. For many reasons, individuals differ in their response to threat or acute stress. As a general rule, however, intentional human causes seem to be the most difficult to recover from, while acts of nature tend to resolve more quickly.
Neurophysiology of Stress Most people have heard stories about superhuman strength in the face of stress — e.g., a mother lifting a car off of her trapped child. This is due to the body’s fight or flight response to life-threatening situations. The surge of stress hormones enables us to mobilize enormous energy in preparation to fight or escape. Once the body has discharged energy and the danger has passed, the stress hormones subside.
When we are unable to discharge this excess energy by running or fighting, the brain continues to release stress hormones, and the body remains on high alert.
Freezing, or immobility, is the third, lesser-known survival tool in response to threat. Peter Levine uses the example of a cheetah stalking an impala. When the cheetah catches its prey, the impala falls to the ground and plays dead, which reduces its chances of being devoured. Even if it is killed, numbness will attenuate the pain or terror that normally would ensue.
Fighting, escaping and freezing are all normal responses to extreme threat. What becomes problematic is when these responses persist in the body after the danger has passed. Bessel van der Kolk, an expert on traumatic stress, describes trauma as “hijacking the body.” Brain, mind and body remain in a state of high alert (fight or flight) or under-arousal (freeze). This scheme is helpful in understanding the complex symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Defined
The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (“DSM-IV”) outlines six criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD:
- 1. Exposure to Stressor. Intense fear, helplessness or horror experienced in the face of event(s) involving actual or threatened death, serious injury, or bodily violation.
- 2. Event Re-experienced through intrusive memories, distressing dreams, feeling as if the trauma were recurring, intense distress when exposed to cues symbolizing an aspect of the trauma, or physiological reactivity when exposed to cues.
- 3. Persistent Avoidance and Numbing. At least three symptoms are required from a list including avoidance of internal or external stimuli that arouse memories of the trauma; inability to remember an important aspect of the trauma; diminished interest in formerly pleasurable activities; feelings of detachment; and restricted range of affect.
- 4. Persistent Symptoms of Increased Arousal. At least two of the following: difficulty falling or staying asleep; angry outbursts or irritability; difficulty concentrating; hyper vigilance; and exaggerated startle response.
- 5. Symptoms persist for more than one month
- 6. Life Disrupted / Functioning Impaired
As yoga teachers, our intention is to make our classes as warm, inviting and non-threatening as possible. We are likely to succeed more often than not for the average student. For the traumatized student, however, even our most heartfelt efforts can easily go awry. By hijacking the nervous system, trauma robs its victims of a sense of basic safety and security. On the other hand, trauma-sensitive yoga practice can help people “befriend their bodies,” which van der Kolk says is such a crucial aspect of trauma recovery.
Trauma Aftermath On the Mat
There are unlimited possibilities as to how the aftermath of trauma might show up on the yoga mat. Some common pitfalls that may trigger reactions include:
Turning out lights for savasana
Bending over in front of others
Sexually provocative poses, e.g. happy baby, cat/cow
Lack of structure or too much quiet time in a restorative pose might prompt dissociation
Use of language with potentially sexual or aggressive meaning (see below)
Physical assists can startle or trigger flashbacks of unwanted touch
“The healing of trauma is a natural process that can be accessed through awareness in the body.”
–Peter Levine
Creating Safety in a Yoga Class
1st stage of trauma recovery is safety – in the body and with people. Need a supported, structured, consistent environment.
Universal triggers of stress (produce feelings of helplessness): Uncertainty; Lack of information; Lack of control
Breath: “Let’s breathe together.” Tell how many breaths, either counting down, or “two more”
Space
Presence
Pace
Accessibility (poses everyone can do)
Unity
During the course of practice, most yoga practitioners naturally come to know their most comfortable poses, which they can use as a touchpoint or resting pose when they need a time out during class. Trauma survivors can be quite disconnected from their bodies and sensations. Teach some common resting poses, with the instruction that they are welcome to come into these poses any time they need to during class. Depressed or dissociative students might find comfort in child’s pose, while hyper-aroused students might prefer an upright seated pose with their back against a wall, so they can continue to monitor what is happening in the room.
Inviting students to “take some time and follow your own flow,” or “do any postures that your body needs” runs the risk of losing students who are prone to dissociation. It is probably better to err on the side of more specific instruction, repeated often.
Trauma-Sensitive Language
Language commonly used in yoga class can be unwittingly provocative. Here are some instructions to avoid, and suggested alternatives.
“I want you to….” → “If it’s comfortable/available to you…”
“Claw the mat like you’re trying to rip it in half” → “Plant/root your fingers into the ground”
“Stick your butt out” → “move your hip creases back”
“Close your eyes” → “Gaze softly down at the floor in front of you, or close your eyes if you’d like”
“Nail your fingers/toes into the mat,” → “knit/root your fingers/toes into the fabric of the earth”
Tone of voice and clarity of instruction are also important. Avoid the “yoga teacher whisper.” Use simple, minimal wording and direct verbs: “Bending your right knee…” → “Bend your right knee…”
Trauma can result in a wide range of vulnerabilities and behaviors that might seem odd — to the survivor as well as the observer. Understanding trauma as a mind-body reaction to extreme stress provides a framework within which these behaviors make sense. For a more in-depth understanding, consult the resource list. Emerson’s guide is particularly helpful for yoga teachers, and Peter Levine’s work is refreshingly jargon-free.
© Dr. Lauren Rubenstein, Calm Heart Integrative Wellness
Physical Expressions of POSSIBLE Dissociation and Emotional Triggers in Children
(from Gillen & Gillen, Yoga Calm)
Extreme resistance to particular poses (without a physical injury)
Holding a specific part of the body in an overly stiff or unnatural way
A military or rigid approach to poses
Holding the breath
A glazed or distant look in the eyes
An upward gaze
Extreme agitation
Inability to follow directions in a particular pose
An unwillingness to participate in relaxation poses
Extreme silliness or a flippant attitude about particular poses
Mindfulness: paying attention to inner and outer experience on purpose without judgment.
Stress response: a response to a real or perceived threat. The brainstem / reptilian brain triggers the survival response. The experience creates new neural circuitry. Results in inability to self-regulate emotions.
4 kinds of resilience / strengths that can lead to post-traumatic growth
- Physical resilience: don’t sit still. Asana
- Mental resilience: will power works like a muscle. Take on a challenge, e.g. count backwards by 7 from 100.
- Emotional resilience: experience 3 positive emotions for every 1 negative. Connection among class/group members
- Social resilience: derive strength from others. Gratitude; reaching out to others. Touch: shaking hands for 60 seconds increases oxytocin. Partner poses (if appropriate)
People who regularly boost these 4 types of resilience live 10 years longer.
I came across this free online dialogue series; have not yet listened to it: Dialogue Series, produced by Diana Justl realspirituality.com Psychological Integration Through Yoga. Listen to dialogues with leaders in the field of trauma research, yoga, somatic psychology and neuroscience.
Brief (weekend) kids’ yoga trainings: Budding Yogis and YoKid
Brief trauma yoga training: YogaActivist. They place volunteer teachers in outreach settings.
You do not need to be a yoga teacher to attend these trainings!
Interview on Haiti work with Rob Schware of Give Back Yoga:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-schware/yoga-how-we-serve-haitian_b_1930905.html
Introductory steps for Yoga Nidra for children:
- Create an atmosphere that is quiet with dim lighting, but not dark. Shut off all electronics – even the low hum of a desktop computer can be distracting.
- Have the child lie flat on his or her back, arms away from body at the sides, palms facing up.
- Gently cover the eyes with a dry, warm washcloth.
- Start the relaxation process by asking the child to focus on his or her breath. On the inhale, ask the child to fill his or her body with a favorite color. On the exhale, release the color and the breath. Do this three times.
- Next, have the child tighten all his or her muscles at once, even making a fist, then release all at once. Do this three times.
- Ask the child to imagine something such as the sun, the moon, a star, sand, bubbles, or warm bath water.
- Starting with the toes, ask the child to imagine that whatever he or she chose above is touching that body part.
- Slowly move up the body: toes, ankle, foot, calf, knee, and so on for all the parts of the body. When the image touches the body part, it fills it with the light of the child’s favorite color.
- Move up the entire body to the head, which also fills with color.
- Give the child a minute or two (depending on age) to feel that his or her body is filled with color.
- Then, ask the child to roll to one side, remove the washcloth but leaving the eyes closed, and wait a moment before sitting in a cross-legged position. Then, open the eyes.
Sydney Solis: SIMPLIFIED VERSION OF YOGA NIDRA FOR CHILDREN
Basic method of Beginning Yoga Nidra adapted for children
- Preparation: find a quiet place with dimmed lights, but not total darkness. There should be no interruptions. Children should lie on their backs with arms slightly away from the body, palms facing up. I encourage children to cover their eyes with a beanie baby or a washcloth or even a sock – anything to cover the eyes and cut down distractions.
- I use a small glockenspiel during relaxation, which really helps children focus and relax. I just play random notes to my liking. Children have told me how much they enjoy it, how much it helps them focus, even having the feeling of leaving their body.
- Have children focus on their breath. Begin with three deep breaths. Inhale say “yes” to life, exhale, let go, and drop into the earth.
- Tighten all body muscles, let go, and repeat 3 times.
- Imagine a sun, the moon, being on the beach, something that they can visualize. Allow light from that sun or moon or their imagination to touch each body part as it is called out. Imagine it filled with golden, or silver light. Beginning with toes, proceed to name each body part, such as heel, ankle, entire foot, calf, knee, thigh, hips, stomach, chest, back, neck, shoulders, arms, elbows, hands, fingers, neck, chin, jaw, lips, cheeks, eyes, whole head, whole body.
FOR PRESCHOOL
- Entire yoga nidra should not take longer than 2-5 minutes.
- 1) Imagine the sun touching general body parts, feet, legs, hips, chest, arms, hands, neck, jaw, cheeks, lips, eyes, nose, ears. Whole head. Whole body. Relax.
- Call out images, such as a rose, a candle, a tall mountain.
- Make a suggestion such as “I am peaceful, I am relaxed, I feel safe.”
- Return to silence.
- Return awareness to the outside world, let them stretch, rock, roll over to their right side and rest before using their arms to get up.
- Let children talk about their experiences and what they “saw and felt” within.
- Have them draw pictures; make up stories around the images. Transcribe their words onto paper.
FOR K-2
a. Expand on Yoga Nidra by taking longer, such as 5-10 minutes total. Adding more body parts, such as back of knee, armpit. Imagining space between lips, space between eyelids. Space where body touches the floor.
b. Drop in imagery, such as a rose, a candle, a rushing river, and then tell a short story, such as the Cracked Pot or from the list below.
c. Drop in a suggestion, such as “I love myself,” I am whole and complete, I have value. My ideas matter.
d. Afterwards, allow silence.
e. Ringing a bell, bring children’s awareness back to room. Return awareness to the outside world, let them stretch, rock, roll over to their right side and rest before using their arms to get up.
f. Ask the children what they saw and felt. Ask children to journal, draw about feelings. Children can make up new stories, or relate their lives to the story.
FOR CHILDREN 8-12 YEARS OLD
10-15 minutes you go through more body parts. I also introduce left and right sides of the body at this age. Such as right toes, right ankle, right foot, right calf, and so on up the right side of the body, then to the left, then both arms or legs together and so on. On the face, take more time with the left eye, right eye, right eyebrow, left eyebrow, etc.
1) Visualization,
a. You can use a longer story or a fairy tale. The story and imagery, told in a soft tone, will keep them focused on the body through the imagination.
b. Or you can use longer guided imagery. For instance, have them imaging a treasure chest at the heart level. Ask them to decorate that chest with their imagination. Then they open it a crack, see the golden light peeping out. Feel the golden light. It touches the toes, body, etc. Open it more; see inside, what is there? What gifts do you have? Perhaps it’s helping your mother, or you are good at art and math, or you can make people laugh. Smile at those treasures. Make a wish for yourself, your family, your school, and the world. Imagine it coming true. Create your own visualization.
c. Cracked Pot. Ask children to see themselves cracked, something that they don’t like about themselves or. think has no value. Ask them to smile at themselves. I accept all of myself. I have value. All my gifts are special. I do not judge.
2) Allow for silence
3) Ringing a bell, bring awareness back to room. Return awareness to the outside world, let them stretch, rock, roll over to their right side and rest before using their arms to get up.
3) Ringing a bell, bring awareness back to room. Return awareness to the outside world, let them stretch, rock, roll over to their right side and rest before using their arms to get up.
4) Ask them to share with the class
5) Ask the children what they saw and felt. Ask children to journal, draw about feelings. Children can make up new stories, or relate their lives to the story. Children can create their own visualizations.
The Cutting Edge of Trauma Treatment: Healing Through the Body by Nora Isaacs
The muscles elongate. The heart opens. The breath deepens. A yoga practice can help us feel more vibrant, agile, and connected. But for anyone who has experienced trauma, a body-based practice like yoga can also be a lifesaving healing technique. By releasing held tension, paying attention to the present, and regulating the nervous system, a somatic approach helps ease the feelings of helplessness, fear, arousal, and disconnection that can arise for trauma patients.
Traumatic experiences can take many forms—a car accident, a mugging, or abuse, to name a few. In the past, conventional wisdom led people to talk therapy for healing. But some experts say this isn’t enough.
“Trauma causes the body to be frozen in a state of fear, terror, and hypervigilance,” says Dr. Bessel A. van der Kolk, a clinical psychiatrist and founder of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts and a leader in the field of posttraumatic stress. “So fundamentally, the effect of trauma is in relationship to one’s body. One’s body gives the signal that it’s not safe, and your body keeps fighting an existing enemy.”
Because trauma is so linked with the body, a growing number of people—led by van der Kolk—have been vocal advocates for incorporating body-based techniques into trauma recovery. And although yogis have understood the mind-body link for thousands of years, modern science is now catching up: cutting-edge brain scans have recently given neuroscientists the chance to more accurately understand the physiological effects of trauma on the body. With this knowledge, it’s clear that practices like yoga, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Somatic Experiencing can help unlock the body’s pattern of fear by allowing trauma survivors to become masters—rather than victims—of their own physiology.
Trauma 101
Some of us toss around the word “trauma”” lightly: “That meeting was so traumatic!” But for those who’ve experienced it, there is nothing lighthearted about it. “Trauma is a condition under which your body continues to get triggered into living an old situation as if you were back there again,”” explains van der Kolk, who has worked with many types of trauma patients.
According to Kripalu-trained yoga teacher Dana Moore, trauma runs on a continuum. Dana is a founding member of the Trauma Center Yoga Program and a faculty member of the Trauma Center Professional Training Institute who uses yoga, mindfulness, and counseling to help people overcome stress and trauma. On one end lies “Big T” trauma. Big T traumas, such as child abuse, physical or sexual assault, or a life-threatening medical procedure or car accident, pose “a threat to life or bodily integrity,” Moore explains. They can be single events, or things that happen over and over, such as chronic abuse. These experiences overwhelm a person’s capacity to tolerate the experience as it’s happening, and it’s common to get numb or disassociate during a traumatic incident. “The psyche shuts down, which is the body’s natural way of dealing with overwhelming stress,” explains Moore. “Often the result of a Big T trauma is that a person lives in a hyperaware, hyper-sensitive state to ensure that an intense life-threatening experience doesn’t happen again.”
People who’ve experienced Big T trauma include the combat soldier returned from war who builds a bunker in the basement or a 9/11 survivor who sleeps with a gun on the night table.
On the other end of the spectrum lie “little T” traumas, which include the universal stresses in life such as a breakup, job loss, big move, or minor traffic accident. While most of us experience these at one time or another, in some people they can trigger a significant stress response in the body. Moore uses the example of a significant breakup: although it’s hard on everyone, one person might grieve and then move on, while for another person it might trigger intense feelings of abandonment left over from early childhood.
Van der Kolk doesn’t focus on the cause of trauma in his patients. Instead, he is concerned with the effects of trauma—feelings of numbness and disassociation or a hyperaroused state, among others. In his decades of working with posttraumatic stress, he’s observed that many people turn to medication, drugs, food, and alcohol to deal with these states of being. But, of course, these external substances don’t address the root cause. To do this, he says, he aims to “get people’s bodies to function again.”
The Effects of Trauma on the Body
In order to get the body functioning normally, it’s helpful to understand exactly what happens physically when we are under stress. When the body feels threatened, it shifts into the “fight or flight” response, the evolutionary reaction that gets us ready to fight the proverbial tiger at our backs. As the body goes on red alert for danger, the heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, and stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline flood the body.
During a traumatic experience, the body goes through even more profound changes. These changes have become clearer over the past five to seven years because of breakthroughs in brain scans like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which enables scientists to look at how the brain functions in real time, rather than just taking a still photograph. “Only now are we getting a really deep understanding of how trauma impacts the body,” says Moore.
A key finding from these brain scans is that during traumatic stress, the speech center shuts down—one reason why many people cannot completely put what happened to them in words. ”This is why talk therapy is limited in helping someone recover from or heal from overwhelming stress,” says Moore.
Scans also show that the part of the brain responsible for experiencing what happens in the present moment—the medial prefrontal cortex—shuts down during stress. (On the other hand, Moore cites research conducted at Harvard on mindfulness meditation, where the medial prefrontal cortex lights up.) Yet another enlightening finding from scans shows that people who’ve experienced trauma have more difficulty processing information than those who haven’t. All of this information is helping the trauma community better understand—and help—those in need.
How Yoga Can Help
Because trauma has so many physical effects, it’s clear to van der Kolk why it’s important to move beyond simply talking: “It’s great to be able to put your feelings into words,” says van der Kolk, “and feeling that somebody understands your suffering is enormously comforting. But it doesn’t make your body know that you are safe. The real method is resetting your physiology.”
Van der Kolk says that yoga is an ideal method to do this. “Yoga really attends to the body and the breath, attends to stillness. It allows you to feel everything you feel, to tolerate every sensation, and to live and move with it.”
To this end, he recommends yoga in conjunction with working with a person who has special training in trauma therapy. “None of my patients have been able to tolerate a yoga program if they weren’t in therapy at the same time. Too much painful stuff comes up.”
Because a common outcome of trauma is hyperarousal—the gun by the bed, the bunker in the basement or, in less extreme cases, an intense reaction to a loud noise like a car backfiring—a gentle, trauma-sensitive yoga practice offers the opportunity to experience a change in mental states. “They can shift from hyperaroused to feeling relaxed, and that is very profound for them, even more so than the average population,” says Moore, who teaches yoga to trauma patients. “They can feel what it’s like to be ‘normal’ again.” He adds: “Then after yoga practice, they are able to say, ‘This is how I want to feel all of the time.’” Because yoga is nonverbal, it can help those people who experience the shutting down of their speech center. Even though they don’t talk about it, they can use their body as a means of self-expression.
And the simple act of moving the body can create a major sense of accomplishment for people whose bodies have been frozen or numbed by their experiences. Many people who’ve been through an overwhelming experience like a car wreck feel like victims of circumstances. “When they can move the body in a purposeful way, they cultivate an internal locus of power,” says Moore. “They can say, ‘I can act in my own best interest,’ or ‘I can determine the kind of experiences I have.’”
Overall, van der Kolk says that a somatic approach can radically alter the body’s physiology: “It can rewire your brain stem, and change the fear system in your brain. It can regulate the balance between the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems and activate the cranial nerves so your body doesn’t respond to everything as if it’s getting hurt.”
A New Frontier
Of course, yoga isn’t the only body-based therapy for releasing past trauma. “Overcoming trauma is learning how to regulate your own psychological system, and there are many ways to do that,” says van der Kolk. Other somatic techniques helpful for trauma include Somatic Experiencing, Sensory Motor Therapy, Hakomi Method, EMDR, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. As more research is done on trauma, somatic therapies like these just might move to the forefront of trauma recovery.
Whether a person chooses yoga or another method, it’s important to find a skilled practitioner to work with, to move slowly, and to stick with it. What we know now that we didn’t know 40 or 50 years ago is that healing from trauma is possible. And for many the secret lies in accessing that healing through the body. “To feel what you feel and know what you know in your body, can go a long way toward healing,” says van der Kolk.
Nora Isaacs, a former senior editor at Yoga Journal, is a San Francisco-based journalist who writes about health and spirituality and is the author of Women in Overdrive: Find Balance and Overcome Burnout at Any Age.
© Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. All rights reserved. Originally published in the Summer 2009 issue of the Kripalu catalog. To request permission to reprint, please e-mail editor@kripalu.org.
Reading List: Psychological trauma
Cope, Stephen (1999). Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. NY: Bantam Books.
Emerson, David (2011). Overcoming Trauma through Yoga
Emerson, David (2009). Toward Becoming a Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Teacher: A best practices guide from the trauma center. Order from www.traumacenter.org.
Fisher, Janina, “The Work of Stabilization in Trauma Treatment”; “Addictions and Trauma Recovery.” www.janinafisher.com/resources.php
International Society for Traumatic Stress www.istss.org
Levine, Peter A. In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness.
Healing Trauma (includes CD). Boulder: Sounds True
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences.
Ogden, Pat (2006). Trauma and the Body New York: WW Norton
Rothschild, B. (2010). 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery. New York: WW Norton (2000).
The Body Remembers: The psychophysiology of trauma and trauma treatment. New York: WW Norton. (2003).
“Applying the Brakes.” Family Therapy Networker. Available at Home.webuniverse.net/babette/brakes.html . Website with newsletter at http://www.8keys.webs.com/
Scaer, Robert (2001). The Body Bears the Burden: Trauma, Dissociation and Disease. Binghamton: Haworth Press.
Schiraldi, Glenn R. (2000). The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook. Los Angeles: Lowell House.
Talbot, Margaret (2009). A Reporter at Large, “Nightmare Scenario,” The New Yorker, November 16, p. 43. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/16/091116fa_fact_talbot#ixzz187d4DC8E
Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute. “Developing Trauma-Informed Services for Families Experiencing Homelessness: An Interactive DVD and Guide.” Order at http://www.traumacenter.org/products/homelessness_video.php
van der Kolk, Bessel, “The Body Keeps the Score: Memory and the Evolving Psychobiology of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” www.trauma-pages.com
van der Kolk, Bessel et al. (2006). “Clinical Implications of Neuroscience Research in PTSD.” [Includes results of study using yoga to change heart rate variability.] Annals of N.Y. Academy of Science 1071:277-293.
(2007). Traumatic Stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body, and society. Guilford Press
Wills, Denise Kersten . “Healing Life’s Traumas.” Yoga Journal, June 2007. www.yogajournal.com/health/2532 .
Working with Children
Gillen, L., & Gillen, J. (2007). Yoga Calm for Children: Educating heart, mind and body. Portland, Oregon: Book Printers Network. This book, written by a school psychologist and a yoga teacher, positions yoga as an ideal tool to help students understand and work with socio-emotional learning. The substantial curriculum makes it ideal for the K-8 teacher.
Murdock, M. (1987). Spinning Inward: Using guided imagery with children for learning, creativity and relaxation. Boston: Shambhala. Basic meditations and visualizations to enhance learning. One of the first books to ground learning in the five senses.
Viegas, Marneta (2004). Relax Kids: The Wishing Star: 52 Magical Meditations for Children, Ages 5+. Out of print but still available.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can answer any questions. DrLaurenRubenstein@gmail.com 301.928.9606
— Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo, ADHD coaches