Overcoming Trauma through Yoga – Book Review

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Overview: According to Overcoming Trauma through Yoga, emotional wounds can come in many forms: accident, tragedy, loss, violence, ostracization, neglect, abuse, and more. As we move through life, the experiences which we undergo stay with us. This can be described as memory. However, memory doesn’t exist only in the mind. Our bodies store memory as well. When we undergo traumatic and painful events, our bodies essentially hold onto these feelings until we find ways to process and deal with them. That is why those who have experienced trauma have such intense physical reactions to triggers. These come in the form of uncontrollable anxiety, flashbacks, violence, and more.

Overcoming Trauma through Yoga helps all those who have experienced trauma reclaim their bodies. Equally importantly, this book helps guide all those who instruct yoga how to best create environments which are trauma sensitive. A very approachable theoretical background for trauma itself is given, interspersed with follow-along exercises, applicable for both teachers and students alike. These instructions come in the form of guided meditations, simple exercises, and comprehensive yoga flows alike. There are also ample personal anecdotes and stories which provide readers a more intimate understanding of traumatic experiences and the many processes of healing them.  

A synopsis of such practices would include concepts like befriending the body, allowing space for feeling psychosomatic sensations without judgement of them, forgiveness, acceptance, and release. By working with feelings and not against them, trauma survivors are encouraged to find a sense of power and agency through the aforementioned practices and by making conscious choices of their own.

This book is also absolutely essential for anyone who teaches yoga or utilizes any healing art for that matter. A basic understanding of trauma is imperative for being aware and sensitive to the needs of trauma survivors. This book provides an excellent background on trauma, healing, and the many techniques and ideas available to practitioners of every sort.

Memorable Quotes:  

“Many individuals who have experienced chronic interpersonal trauma disconnect from their bodies, so that they no longer feel emotional or physical pain. [...] People who have experienced chronic or repeated trauma often experience dysregulation in their body’s arousal systems and find themselves alternating between being highly sensitized and easily triggered, and feeling numb or disconnected from themselves and other people.”

“That being the case, people who are traumatized need to have physical and sensory experiences to unlock their bodies, activate effective fight / flight responses, tolerate their sensations, befriend their inner experiences, and cultivate new action patterns.”

“If you agree with Judith Herman’s idea that creating a sense of power and agency is central to the recovery of trauma survivors, you might wish to experiment with yoga-based interventions that can give your clients a unique opportunity to practice choice as a concrete experience with consequences right in the moment, rather than exploring choice as an abstract idea. [...] ‘You can’t say the word choice enough.’ This leads us to suggest that you repeatedly use the word ‘choice’ with your clients when experimenting with yoga-based interventions.”

Strengths: Overcoming Trauma through Yoga - Reclaiming Your Body is extremely approachable for everything it offers. From the basics of trauma to the basics of yoga, the authors of this book are able to help students and practitioners alike learn to heal. The information provided is diverse, easy to understand, and encourages readers to deepen healing, both for themselves and for others.

Further Discussion: Learning to do anything is best done in person. Thus, the guided meditations and yoga sequences are limited in that sense, as they are in a book. We would recommend recording some of your favorite guided meditations yourself, and listen back to them as you learn to be the center of your own healing.