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Breath work, EFT, gym, dance, getting back into singing (which coincides with breath work), Journaling, giving myself permission and space to cry, as well as self defense classes are some strategies I've used to counteract with my traumas. Coupled with therapy. Yoga is an interest as well. Amazing outlets of safety. Thank you, Dr!
I'm so glad it also worked for you. I had traumatic event a month ago and went into parasympathetic trap. PTS. Terror. Anxiety. I'm yet to see therapist but in the meantime I helped myself greatly by: ▶breathing reeducation (Breathwrk app) ▶EFT (Tapping Solution app) ▶Andrew Huberman podcast episode #49 ▶morning HIIT training (I use orbitreck for that) ▶cold showers ▶grounding ▶extensive social contact (this was initially the hardest part) ▶vagus nerve reset excersises (Sukie Baxter TH-cam channel) I feel 90% PTS symptoms free already. But I am fully aware that tools above help to egstinguish fear. But trauma needs to be discharged in therapy. Therefore I will be trying (in a particular order): ▶somatic experiencing ▶TRE Then depending on the results: ▶EMDR And I will finish the process with 12 weeks or so of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy). All the best to all on your journey to full recovery. You can do this! ❤
It’s absolutely true! I’ve been re-wiring my nervous system every day with yoga 2x per day (once in the morning, and before bed) for 30-60 mins at a time. I’m a happier, calmer, completely different person - and without yoga, unfortunately, I fall back into emotional reactivity.
@@sudesucu His book yes and Dr Gabor Mate. For trauma I’d stay with actual MDs/health professionals who have been involved with and studied the research. Dr Mate was involved with counseling some the worst areas of addiction in Vancouver BC, prior to that a GP who worked with many private and hosp clinical patients on types of trauma. Neither have any controversy tied to them only respect and can be professionally held accountable for their advice. Ms Swan can’t and won’t be.
This is very important. If you know how to deal with those, you have much more freedom because then yet another trauma is not the end of the world, but just another experience.
What I wouldn't give to have this man as my therapist! I'm 53 and still seeking relief from Cptsd. Just reading the Body Keeps the Score...I guess I'll be trying yoga soon...why not, I've tried everything else!!
And signing ...... TRULLY SIGNING. The most powerful recommendation of this book is signing out loud (car ... kitchen ..... joining a choir) I sing 30 min everyday now my favorite songs out loud in the kitchen. I cannot explain how powerful it is to rewire the brain.
I find I need an integrated approach to trauma recovery. I need trauma-informed people to talk to, I need yoga, I need art, journaling, nature, animals, support, maybe some EMDR, somatic experiencing, I need energy medicine and eft/tapping and inner work methods (I like NLP). I'm self taught in everything, always practicing what works, for myself. I learned a half dozen yoga poses, all the standing up ones. I do them all the time now because I can do them standing up where ever I am. I learned 14 move Qi Gong from YT videos. Now I know it by heart. That being said, I like how he explains how this is connecting us to a time with an ending. Trauma survivors tend to dissociate and zone out, shut down, endure and survive, detached from our bodies in so many ways. So yes, yoga is good for that, being in the here and now and teaching self care by just being with our selves and our bodies and being in the here and now. The body and breath are also holding in and get stuck there and yoga helps us to realize its safe to relax. We're full of anxiety, terror and hyper vigilance, etc. I also like how he said we feel our trauma in our bodies, I used to think that meant we remember where we were hit or had stitches, but we do feel heart broken and gut wrenched and so yoga is healing to our body-mind-emotions for that too. I like all body work. Some people get a massage and have a meltdown, its ok to have one doing yoga, it will pass and you usually feel relief after and sometimes we need to let it out, we're safe now. Lastly I would say we need yoga and other things I've mentioned, to connect with each other. We don't have enough ways or places to connect with each other, that's what helps our recovery the most, the bond between survivors.
This man is an incredible human being. He has understood, articulated, and empathized with the effects of my trauma while sadly, no one else on this Earth has. He gets it. Why are so many others in the field still not getting it?
He talks about working really hard to get complex trauma into the dsm and it was rejected multiple times. Therefore for insurance and training purposes it doesn’t exist. As a therapist who healed from trauma myself, I realized institutions can’t teach what isn’t “evidence based” and the establishment fights hard against the modalities he talks about here. So the same old approaches are taught in school and it’s the unique and well off therapist that pays out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars to learn the trainings he speaks about which then truly transforms others. And then these therapies are often not covered by insurance since they are not “evidenced based” by the establishment so only clients that can pay out of pocket can afford therapy that truly is effective. It’s very difficult from the therapist side to get training that is effective and/or to offer it.
I feel as though I owe this man a lot for bringing me hope and a strategy. My life has been affected terribly by CPTSD nut I feel I can find my way out of it now. The best feeling ever. Thank you Dr van der Kolk
Thank you for your work Bessel! This is why I love doing Yoga with Adriene on TH-cam. She has helped me dealing with my PTSD due to sexual abuse when I was a child. XOXO from The Netherlands
I find mantra repetition or in chant form, very effective when triggered. I have had suicidal inclinations all my adult life - since practising yoga in it’s many forms, not just asanas, I no longer go into the suicide mode. Yoga IS somatic therapy and we deepen over time in our embodiment. Beautiful beautiful therapy x
I started doing yoga a month ago after reading The Body Keeps The Score and I've had moments where emotion has risen up during a yoga session and I've allowed myself to cry during the pose and after that it feels like its over, I feel lighter
Yes, I feel yoga has helped me immensely. Finding an understanding and great teacher is vital for us trauma survivers, I recently went to a class where I was scolded for not being flexible enough.. It was more like a boot camp. I miss my teacher who told me to listen to my body and be gentle with myself.
my sister's teacher is best she focuses on emdr and breathing in her hatha yoga class for 90 min everyday. since lock down my sister started taking classes on zoom and it changed her dramatically. she is also a neuro psychologist. she is studies sanskrit from ancien t texts directly. i wanted to join but she teaches women and only men who are married to one of her students.
Dr. van der Kolk was one of the first trauma practitioners who realized that our body is profoundly affected by trauma. I had the pleasure of being at one of his 6 hour seminars some years ago and of course, he did also speak of how therapy, social support, processing, good self-care and many others things contribute greatly to healing. Prior to this, people in therapy did not hear much about how the body reacts to trauma. This is a very short discussion about a complex topic.
Agreed. The people that I work with that respond the slowest to neuro reprogramming work to shift activation patterns/sequences in muscles (addressing physical- back pain/knee/neck etc) are ALWAYS the ones with a history of trauma. The disconnection between brain and body in the presence of trauma is overwhelmingly obvious to me. Equally worth note is how as the body starts to function better and pain is eliminated, the parasympathetic system is MUCH easier for them to activate. Dramatically so. The connectivity between brain and body is disturbed by trauma, but I have seen that it can also be restored. The problem with Yoga being many people with physical pain/issues are simply not able to do it without restoring THAT movement ability as well. This is a multi pronged issue that I believe in totality reflects on our state of "safe" and therefore directly on our limbic system itself. I am extremely thankful for people like BVK for bringing light to this issue. It is obvious his work has greatly helped people all around the globe.
I am glad you said one of the first. Arthur Janov wrote a groundbreaking book named the Primal Scream, in which he explained what trauma did to mind and body...hence, Primal Therapy.
@@mouhamedamine7935 Find a therapist who is trained to work with a person who has had trauma, talk therapy and EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing) can be helpful to many people. I wish you well.
I find that yoga helps manage muscle armoring. Many types of movement favor the contraction and holding that contraction, which can be hard to fully release. Yoga stretches the muscles while keeping them tensed. That's what I get from it. That extra burden helps afterward to relax. Plus: the breathing, which is normally an automatic activity, is taken over by conscious control. We consciously breathe in coordination with our body and engage our mind to do this. This contrasts to unconscious breathing that, when we are distressed, may be restricted or overstimulated. I find it happens when I recall trauma, as well as experience it. Repeated trauma is often never resolved. One experience overlaps another. It trains our bodies to always on guard -- with things like muscle armoring. Yoga trains us to bring our breath back to conscious control. In a way it's acting out the healthy tension and release over and over. So it tells my conscious and unconscious parts they can tense and relax repeatedly (hold a pose with breathing, relax out of the pose with breathing). That's my personal observation.
I have always known that yoga healed me and transformed the way I relate to the world, and the people around me. Until now I've never found any scientific proof to back up my personal research. thanks so much for your groundbreaking work.
With all my failures in treating my trauma this is very eye opening the suggestion that it has nothing to do with processing the traumatic thoughts but healing the body from reacting to it in other words I’ll probably never overcome the thoughts from reoccurring but I can overcome the way I react to it and desensitise the sensations associated with the thoughts hence differentiate reliving the thoughts and being in the present makes absolute sense .... God Bless doctor 🙏🙏🙏
my sister's teacher is best she focuses on emdr and breathing in her hatha yoga class for 90 min everyday. since lock down my sister started taking classes on zoom and it changed her dramatically. she is also a neuro psychologist. she is studies sanskrit from ancien t texts directly. i wanted to join but she teaches women and only men who are married to one of her students.
Thank you so much for your book "Traumasporen" it helped me more in understanding my complex ptsd than any therapist I've seen. Instead of just reliving t in my brain, yoga and meditation have helped me in reconnection with my body. Should be more focus on bringing back balance between the body and mind in trauma therapy.
By far one of the best expert in the Trauma field , thank you very much Professor van der Kolk for all the work you have done to make sense not only to Traumatized people but also to those that work with them
I couldn't agree more. When I started doing yoga, I for the first time was able to feel my body in an unconditional way, not needing or using it for anything, not to be a tool. A little time later, I learnt about trauma and started to process it, which made me practice yoga even more aware. However, I experienced it feels good and safe to feel my body, I started to feel safer and more comfortable with the sensation of my body, which always had been frightening to me and made me disconnect. Listening to me breathe, to feel my heart beating was a trigger to very uncomfortable emotional states. So I still do it in a loving and respectful way without pushing too much, but at the same time trying to stand at least a few seconds to feel that I'm alive. (in the meantime it has become way better to feel it). Yoga practice opened that door for me and can be so helpful if done without pushing, forcing or using it to disrespect the signs of your body but loving, caring and in curiosity. Thanks Mr van der Kolk for your great work and dedication to a trauma informed society!
Thank you. I intend to get more serious about my yoga practice, currently I only do sun salutations. The other thing about the sense of time passing - the first breath is a lot more difficult than the 5th one. By the time you've gone that far the pain has diminished and you realize you are near the end. I was homeless/out of work for over 2 years, and at times I felt utter terror that it would never end. But it did, everything does.
Maravilhoso ouvir o dr. Bessell! A maneira como ele trata o yoga em seus conteúdos é muito oportuna e gentil. Uma ferramenta incrível de bem-estar, que pratico, estudo e ensino. Gratidão ao dr. Bessell e sua equipe, Kripalu.
Kedves Doktor Úr! Hálásan köszönöm a könyvet,amiben érthetően elmagyarázza , mi is történik bennem és merre van a kiút. Minden túlzás nélkül a halál kapujából hoz vissza. Áldás a munkájáért!!!❤🙏
I had the trauma of losing both parents in my teenage years. We sold the family home in Buffalo New York and moved to New Mexico. I've always been extremely flexible and did gymnastics. Quite soon I became aware of yoga. This was in the mid 1960's. I looked at a few books on the subject and started practicing. It was an intuitave thing for me. I then migrated to Australia in 1971 and got seriously involved in yoga. My body enabled me to go straight into a teachers training group. I joined an ashram a few years later and taught all over Sydney for 5 years. I left because the ashram became toxic. I continued to teach until a few years ago. I'm now 71 and still practice daily. Yoga helped me process the trauma. The asanas and pranayama absorbed the pain I experienced thru witnessing. Now I'm seeing a psychologist who is helping me work thru it all.
I agree with his basic thesis that yoga helps with trauma. However, I feel he is a bit unfair as to psychotherapy, which is not "yak-yak with your psychologist", but also an essential part of genuine recovery from trauma. Both are very helpful.
This is just a part of the process , in the book there are also other additives as emdr and talking is a part too. But "old skool " only talk en medicine is not the only solution
Agree--to use words to express your traumas and for those words to be truly understood by another is a deeply moving experience and can lead to feeling the deep rooted feelings he's talking about.
I agree, but I know that I've been going to therapists for decades and I'm still miserable, so there must be more to this. Or maybe I still haven't found the right one 🤦🏻♀️
Yoga is so powerful to overcome trauma as the whole practice of yoga rests on the principle of ahimsa or non-harming of any living being. It requires we adopt a vegan lifestyle. When we stop consuming animal trauma (cortisol and adrenaline) every day we create a peaceful body and mind.
Great presentation. I would add the following caveat: Having done Advanced Yoga in my mid 30’s, - including performing headstands and handstands - I left the practice after several years for personal reasons unrelated to Yoga. After coming back to it again in my 60’s, I suffered several Yoga injuries as a result of overdoing the poses.and not doing the poses properly. An excellent book has been written about Yoga by a long time Yoga practitioner and Pulitzer Prize winning author. I don’t remember the book title, or author. In it , he warns about Yoga injuries, which caused an uproar in the hierarchy of the Yoga community, as this affected the Yoga business industry. Bessel said, “Get a good teacher”. I had an outstanding Yoga teacher in well known NYC Yoga studio, and still got injured twice, because in a class of 25, she/he can’t possibly see if everyone’s posture, movements, asanas, poses are correct. Otherwise , again, a great presentation by Bessel in the limited time he had. 🙏😊
Try YIN YOGA that will deactivate your stress response and so much more. Simple postures are held for around five minutes. Very relaxing also. Highly recommend!
I've come a long way without yoga and that has been via psychotherapy. Admittedly, many psychotherapists don't do both top down and bottom up, trauma-informed therapy but luckily mine does.
I was an astanga yoga teacher for 25 years, and I found that, although ujjayi breathing is an excellent tool for stimulating the vagus and connecting mind and body, and temporory relief from depression, the actual conditioning was not released from my body, but, in fact, was trapped in the muscles in my shoulders from the frequent repetitive movements, leading to a very unbalanced body and a lot of physical pain. In the end it was sacred plant medicines that are helping the most, but they are currently illegal, while poisons are being sprayed all over the earth, and we are being forced into a fake pharmaceutical 'solution' to a man made problem (covid), and the attendant financial difficulties, which just adds to my sense of being bullied by my government. It's very difficult to recover from trauma, while you are still being bullied.
Hello. My understanding is that there is a significant difference between doing movement in a rush vs slowly vs going in to posture and holding it. There is also difference in how the mind is staged for it. Going from intense to calm. There is also the mind set that the body is separate from the mind and the mind controlling the body
When I was young and I felt overwhelmed by emotions to the point I would black out I would lie in foetal position telling myself over and over again. This too shall pass.
I am suffering a lot lately with c-PTSD. In the past decade i have unfortunately found little understanding in the mental health care world in my country for this debilitating condition. Van der Kolk’s book The Body Keeps The Score was my first realization what i was actually suffering from. From then on i practiced psycho-education for my own healing through reading. I have started yoga because my insomnia is getting out of control (and is also a huge trigger for anxiety). Adriene’s ‘yoga for PTSD’ is really good. I can tell after the session i am able to breathe more deeply. I highly recommend. I was wondering after how long one will notice a difference and a calming in the nervous system? Has anyone found daily yoga to be helpful for PTSD-induced insomnia? I need a little hope to keep me going :)
It’s been 30-yrs of PTSD with MDD. Good days, a few great days, but a majority of “just getting through” days. I have yet to meet a person who has been healed of this madness. So, anything to just feel better is worth trying…
i often feel pressure to do this because i have cptsd (part of my trauma) to help heal but i am learning what feels good. yoga does not feel good at the moment. i lay on the couch and listen… try to be in the present.
But the way he describes it gives a mechanical tone to it, as some kind of a crude materialist. The body does keep the score, but "heartbreaking or gut-wrenchin feelings" are not just mere physical sensations, but also cognitive faculties. Releasing tension through tears for example is a necessary prerequisite for healing past trauma's. His approach is very enlightening, though I appreaciate his empericism, he doesn't connect everything as a complete whole. The opposite coin of looking pure physically at the body, the cognitive mind, memory processing, etc. etc. are all as important as what he mentions. The method of one doesn't substitute the other without both of them being true at a certain point. In my experience, MDMA, psolicybine, EMDR, Brazilian Jiujitsu, reconnecting with my real family, learning to work and functioning again in society, i.e. the practice of emotion regulation and developing new insights and putting them to practice in life and developing new insights again, even crying in and of itself, etc. etc. all of them contributed to keep my brain functioning again, and a real holistic study that understands the inward logic of it all could give us a complete outlook at what trauma actually means.
23 years of progressive chronic illness despite my best efforts of diet, exercise, yoga practice, meditation off/on, prayer , energy medicine etc-only get sicker. I don't feel safe in my body. Now in total insomnia cycle after vaccine triggered neurological attack and then developed chronic GERD. I don't know how to have hope/what to do /get sleeping.
Mostly Everybody has some or other kind of trauma. That means the doctors offices should have a yoga room ! And insurance should pay for my Yoga classes! And massage classes! Massage therapists need to be certified into yoga and ethics!
I have been diagnosed with DID. I don't feem connected to any part of my body. I have this sense that I am two eyeballs floating through space, just observing this bizarre world. My therapist has on occasion asked me what I felt in my body. Nothing...there's pain of ageing muscles, athritis, etc...but no broken heart, or gut wrenching, etc...just nothingness.
The numbness you express is still a feeling. Or rather the absence of feeling is a feeling. Whatever happened your body was/is very smart and protected you. Your mind as well. If you are now in a safe space begin to explore safe (not necessarily always comfortable) ways in which to reconnect to yourself. Follow your intuition. Your intuition brought you here. Take one step at time. You're ok.
Everything takes time. Never give up on anything you once started. Every 4 months yoga and meditation shows its effects in starting it's effect would be slow because of less focus and more trauma present in person. As you pass every next four months of time your speed of healing will also be multiplied but their is one most important rule - To stay away from anything or everything that's related to what traumatized you. Try on conscious level atleast once you will stop consuming it consciously ..healing will start to happen at faster rate. But if you are healing and also consuming anything related to trauma side by side then you are not going anywhere. . You will end giving it up thinking that yoga and meditation doesn't work. Everything works but you must know the root system of it ..that how it works.. Also you have to challenge yourself for any weakness u had or still have.. u'll crave for another person's attention and love.. which will also stop or slow you from progressing too at some level because your whole energy won't be working on getting rid of that trauma. Yes one of the trick or tip for getting rid of trauma is that never think whoever caused you trauma was ever worthy enough neverrrrrrr!! Because at one point you are trying to getting rid of something they gave(trauma) in return of your true feelings and on another hand if you still feel they were good enough or worthy enough then you are at conscious level wanting it..so your subconscious mind will not know that if you wanna get rid of it.. for example - if we hate something consciously our subconscious mind will know that you don't like it so it will help you get rid of it or things related to it.. once you are healed and meditative you can forgive them then!! Not in starting .. don't feel them worthy of you in starting.. your subconscious mind should be tricked first.. don't feel them worthy of you consciously so slowly your subconscious mind will like low the impact of traumas or fake memories (they were fake you have to accept it).. feel yourself worthy ..more than them.. feel they never deserved you.. that's how u can trick your subconscious mind.. but if you don't do it.. if you still feel no whatever it was..it was good.. then why would your subconscious mind get rid of it if it was good??.. i know hate ain't good.. but don't feel ..they were worth anything ..ever!!
As a retired trauma therapist, I would think that the primary variable MIGHT be, " Is the yoga practitioner trauma informed" so he/she knows what might be triggering and how to help the survivor through it. ALSO, I would never recommend a yoga teacher who was herself an unhealed trauma survivor.
This man is a hero, is book: "The Body's Keeps the Score" is absolutely amazing.
I am reading it right now and can’t put it down. I just received it two days ago.
it is one incredible book!! i have to take it 10 pages at a time :')
Dave Murray, I could not have worded it better. Life changing
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Yup. Changed my life, in combination with yoga :-), xx
Breath work, EFT, gym, dance, getting back into singing (which coincides with breath work), Journaling, giving myself permission and space to cry, as well as self defense classes are some strategies I've used to counteract with my traumas. Coupled with therapy.
Yoga is an interest as well. Amazing outlets of safety. Thank you, Dr!
Well put.
I'm so glad it also worked for you. I had traumatic event a month ago and went into parasympathetic trap. PTS. Terror. Anxiety. I'm yet to see therapist but in the meantime I helped myself greatly by:
▶breathing reeducation (Breathwrk app)
▶EFT (Tapping Solution app)
▶Andrew Huberman podcast episode #49
▶morning HIIT training (I use orbitreck for that)
▶cold showers
▶grounding
▶extensive social contact (this was initially the hardest part)
▶vagus nerve reset excersises (Sukie Baxter TH-cam channel)
I feel 90% PTS symptoms free already. But I am fully aware that tools above help to egstinguish fear. But trauma needs to be discharged in therapy. Therefore I will be trying (in a particular order):
▶somatic experiencing
▶TRE
Then depending on the results:
▶EMDR
And I will finish the process with 12 weeks or so of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy).
All the best to all on your journey to full recovery. You can do this! ❤
@@elokubano bro do you get enough sleep ??
BRO HOW DO YOU FEEL WITH YOUR BODY IN DAY TO DAY LIFE CAN YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN IT TO ME ?
Consistent exercise saved my life.
'Yoga makes it safe for you, to experience yourself' thank you.
It’s absolutely true! I’ve been re-wiring my nervous system every day with yoga 2x per day (once in the morning, and before bed) for 30-60 mins at a time. I’m a happier, calmer, completely different person - and without yoga, unfortunately, I fall back into emotional reactivity.
I recommend you to learn about the method that is written in the book, the completion process by teal swan
@@sudesucu
His book yes and Dr Gabor Mate. For trauma I’d stay with actual MDs/health professionals who have been involved with and studied the research. Dr Mate was involved with counseling some the worst areas of addiction in Vancouver BC, prior to that a GP who worked with many private and hosp clinical patients on types of trauma. Neither have any controversy tied to them only respect and can be professionally held accountable for their advice. Ms Swan can’t and won’t be.
@@jmc8076 Yes Teal Swans methods can be harmful; these practices need to be done in ways that is proven by professionals
@@jmc8076 Peter Levine’s work Somatic Experiencing is excellent for trauma
"Sucky things happening to people all the time.". I like the simplicity of this very smart man.
This is very important. If you know how to deal with those, you have much more freedom because then yet another trauma is not the end of the world, but just another experience.
Truer words were never said.
What I wouldn't give to have this man as my therapist! I'm 53 and still seeking relief from Cptsd. Just reading the Body Keeps the Score...I guess I'll be trying yoga soon...why not, I've tried everything else!!
May the spirit of pure Love 🤍 continue to make you try, try and try again......🌼
Look for a gentle yoga class. I've done chair yoga and even yoga/Pilates in water. You are never too for yoga!
And signing ...... TRULLY SIGNING.
The most powerful recommendation of this book is signing out loud (car ... kitchen ..... joining a choir) I sing 30 min everyday now my favorite songs out loud in the kitchen. I cannot explain how powerful it is to rewire the brain.
Please watch episode 49 of Huberman podcast and read about somatic experiencing and EFT. Lots of love ❤
I found a wonderful cranio sacral therapist who is a God Send and helping me release stored trauma. I would recommend if you haven’t already
"You need to reclaim your body as the central issue of overcoming trauma." 👏 Very enlightening.
I find I need an integrated approach to trauma recovery. I need trauma-informed people to talk to, I need yoga, I need art, journaling, nature, animals, support, maybe some EMDR, somatic experiencing, I need energy medicine and eft/tapping and inner work methods (I like NLP). I'm self taught in everything, always practicing what works, for myself. I learned a half dozen yoga poses, all the standing up ones. I do them all the time now because I can do them standing up where ever I am. I learned 14 move Qi Gong from YT videos. Now I know it by heart. That being said, I like how he explains how this is connecting us to a time with an ending. Trauma survivors tend to dissociate and zone out, shut down, endure and survive, detached from our bodies in so many ways. So yes, yoga is good for that, being in the here and now and teaching self care by just being with our selves and our bodies and being in the here and now. The body and breath are also holding in and get stuck there and yoga helps us to realize its safe to relax. We're full of anxiety, terror and hyper vigilance, etc. I also like how he said we feel our trauma in our bodies, I used to think that meant we remember where we were hit or had stitches, but we do feel heart broken and gut wrenched and so yoga is healing to our body-mind-emotions for that too. I like all body work. Some people get a massage and have a meltdown, its ok to have one doing yoga, it will pass and you usually feel relief after and sometimes we need to let it out, we're safe now. Lastly I would say we need yoga and other things I've mentioned, to connect with each other. We don't have enough ways or places to connect with each other, that's what helps our recovery the most, the bond between survivors.
That is truly impressive. I would love to talk to you about it.
yes!!
Yoy have clearly done a lot of work. Your insight and self awareness is your biggest medicine ever.
Very well said, I am inspired further by your words to self teach what I can't readily afford to pay for with instructions!
"Practicing what works for myself" Thank you. Me too.
This man is an incredible human being. He has understood, articulated, and empathized with the effects of my trauma while sadly, no one else on this Earth has. He gets it. Why are so many others in the field still not getting it?
I wonder the same thing.
He’s said that he himself suffered with trauma. I guess the experienced helped his drive and gave him a new perspective
I guess bc he suffered trauma himself, and is more articulate than some others.
He talks about working really hard to get complex trauma into the dsm and it was rejected multiple times. Therefore for insurance and training purposes it doesn’t exist.
As a therapist who healed from trauma myself, I realized institutions can’t teach what isn’t “evidence based” and the establishment fights hard against the modalities he talks about here.
So the same old approaches are taught in school and it’s the unique and well off therapist that pays out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars to learn the trainings he speaks about which then truly transforms others.
And then these therapies are often not covered by insurance since they are not “evidenced based” by the establishment so only clients that can pay out of pocket can afford therapy that truly is effective.
It’s very difficult from the therapist side to get training that is effective and/or to offer it.
I feel as though I owe this man a lot for bringing me hope and a strategy.
My life has been affected terribly by CPTSD nut I feel I can find my way out of it now.
The best feeling ever. Thank you Dr van der Kolk
Thank you for your work Bessel! This is why I love doing Yoga with Adriene on TH-cam. She has helped me dealing with my PTSD due to sexual abuse when I was a child. XOXO from The Netherlands
Who is adriene?
@@patglennon9671 my favorite yoga on TH-cam. Yoga with Adriene.
I will check it out, thanks. P.s. i lived gor 2 years in the hague, wonderfull country,
I am currently doing Yoga with Adrienne. I love her channel!
She has a great motto she repeats probably every show, "Find what feels good." I like that. Wish my mother and father had had that motto.
Read his book. He suggests EMDR therapy, yoga, and socializing. Yoga is 1/3 of his recommended treatments.
Also IFS therapy, Neurofeedback and psychodrama
Is socializing what it sounds like?
@@capitonymical yes, connect with other humans and begin to trust, but carefully
I find mantra repetition or in chant form, very effective when triggered. I have had suicidal inclinations all my adult life - since practising yoga in it’s many forms, not just asanas, I no longer go into the suicide mode. Yoga IS somatic therapy and we deepen over time in our embodiment. Beautiful beautiful therapy x
We need more speakers like you EDUCATING PEOPLE NOW
I started doing yoga a month ago after reading The Body Keeps The Score and I've had moments where emotion has risen up during a yoga session and I've allowed myself to cry during the pose and after that it feels like its over, I feel lighter
Yes, I feel yoga has helped me immensely. Finding an understanding and great teacher is vital for us trauma survivers, I recently went to a class where I was scolded for not being flexible enough.. It was more like a boot camp. I miss my teacher who told me to listen to my body and be gentle with myself.
Need to reclaim my body.
His book is amazing. I had never read anything that explained so well PTSD and how to solve this problem. He is a hero!
Brilliant !!!Hes completely sold me on taking up yoga for trauma "ah there's real hope to reclaim my body and heal " 🙏☺️Here's to being patient...
This guy is currently saving my life, and affirming a lot of things I thought about
you are saving your life.
Yoga and EMDR therapy together is amazing!!!
my sister's teacher is best she focuses on emdr and breathing in her hatha yoga class for 90 min everyday. since lock down my sister started taking classes on zoom and it changed her dramatically. she is also a neuro psychologist. she is studies sanskrit from ancien
t texts directly. i wanted to join but she teaches women and only men who are married to one of her students.
Could you please give me a contact of this incredible yoga teacher? I am a woman :)
Love this guy he's a genius!
Yes he most definitely is
Excellent understanding of TRAUMATIZED PEOPLE...🤩🤗😍😘🤗😍😘😍😎😎😋😘😘 THANKS
He's an epitome of human aliveness. So sharp and alive.
Love him and his common sense and down to earth approach to trauma.
Dr. van der Kolk was one of the first trauma practitioners who realized that our body is profoundly affected by trauma. I had the pleasure of being at one of his 6 hour seminars some years ago and of course, he did also speak of how therapy, social support, processing, good self-care and many others things contribute greatly to healing. Prior to this, people in therapy did not hear much about how the body reacts to trauma. This is a very short discussion about a complex topic.
Agreed. The people that I work with that respond the slowest to neuro reprogramming work to shift activation patterns/sequences in muscles (addressing physical- back pain/knee/neck etc) are ALWAYS the ones with a history of trauma. The disconnection between brain and body in the presence of trauma is overwhelmingly obvious to me. Equally worth note is how as the body starts to function better and pain is eliminated, the parasympathetic system is MUCH easier for them to activate. Dramatically so. The connectivity between brain and body is disturbed by trauma, but I have seen that it can also be restored. The problem with Yoga being many people with physical pain/issues are simply not able to do it without restoring THAT movement ability as well. This is a multi pronged issue that I believe in totality reflects on our state of "safe" and therefore directly on our limbic system itself. I am extremely thankful for people like BVK for bringing light to this issue. It is obvious his work has greatly helped people all around the globe.
Wath the techniques to recovery from traumat
I am glad you said one of the first. Arthur Janov wrote a groundbreaking book named the Primal Scream, in which he explained what trauma did to mind and body...hence, Primal Therapy.
@@mouhamedamine7935 Find a therapist who is trained to work with a person who has had trauma, talk therapy and EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing) can be helpful to many people. I wish you well.
Thank you for all the studies and work you did for people with trauma Dr.Bessell
I find that yoga helps manage muscle armoring. Many types of movement favor the contraction and holding that contraction, which can be hard to fully release. Yoga stretches the muscles while keeping them tensed. That's what I get from it. That extra burden helps afterward to relax.
Plus: the breathing, which is normally an automatic activity, is taken over by conscious control. We consciously breathe in coordination with our body and engage our mind to do this.
This contrasts to unconscious breathing that, when we are distressed, may be restricted or overstimulated. I find it happens when I recall trauma, as well as experience it. Repeated trauma is often never resolved. One experience overlaps another. It trains our bodies to always on guard -- with things like muscle armoring.
Yoga trains us to bring our breath back to conscious control. In a way it's acting out the healthy tension and release over and over. So it tells my conscious and unconscious parts they can tense and relax repeatedly (hold a pose with breathing, relax out of the pose with breathing).
That's my personal observation.
I love "The Body Keeps the Score." So amazing!
This is a great channel.
God bless you, Dr.
Thank you!
This man's work is so amazing.
He is a Medicine Man/HEALER ♥️
you bring me a lot of peace ❣️
Thank You! I met you at Kripalu - so glad you have TH-cam sessions
Great, I listen to an interview of you now. Very good. Very interesting and insightfull
I am so greatful for people like this
Spot on!
I absolutely agree with this core message…..
Reading this authors book at this time and highly recommend it. 👍🏼for yoga practice and praying 🙏🏽. Thanks for sharing this video.
He is my hero too. Hard book to read. But profound.
I have always known that yoga healed me and transformed the way I relate to the world, and the people around me. Until now I've never found any scientific proof to back up my personal research. thanks so much for your groundbreaking work.
Yes! I love what he said about it bringing back that sense of time.
With all my failures in treating my trauma this is very eye opening the suggestion that it has nothing to do with processing the traumatic thoughts but healing the body from reacting to it in other words I’ll probably never overcome the thoughts from reoccurring but I can overcome the way I react to it and desensitise the sensations associated with the thoughts hence differentiate reliving the thoughts and being in the present makes absolute sense .... God Bless doctor 🙏🙏🙏
my sister's teacher is best she focuses on emdr and breathing in her hatha yoga class for 90 min everyday. since lock down my sister started taking classes on zoom and it changed her dramatically. she is also a neuro psychologist. she is studies sanskrit from ancien
t texts directly. i wanted to join but she teaches women and only men who are married to one of her students.
@@vrssr7565 Who is she
Thank you so much for your book "Traumasporen" it helped me more in understanding my complex ptsd than any therapist I've seen. Instead of just reliving t in my brain, yoga and meditation have helped me in reconnection with my body. Should be more focus on bringing back balance between the body and mind in trauma therapy.
Superb. Thank you.
I totally agree with Bessell Van Der Kolk.
By far one of the best expert in the Trauma field , thank you very much Professor van der Kolk for all the work you have done to make sense not only to Traumatized people but also to those that work with them
I couldn't agree more.
When I started doing yoga, I for the first time was able to feel my body in an unconditional way, not needing or using it for anything, not to be a tool. A little time later, I learnt about trauma and started to process it, which made me practice yoga even more aware. However, I experienced it feels good and safe to feel my body, I started to feel safer and more comfortable with the sensation of my body, which always had been frightening to me and made me disconnect. Listening to me breathe, to feel my heart beating was a trigger to very uncomfortable emotional states. So I still do it in a loving and respectful way without pushing too much, but at the same time trying to stand at least a few seconds to feel that I'm alive. (in the meantime it has become way better to feel it). Yoga practice opened that door for me and can be so helpful if done without pushing, forcing or using it to disrespect the signs of your body but loving, caring and in curiosity.
Thanks Mr van der Kolk for your great work and dedication to a trauma informed society!
Thank you. I intend to get more serious about my yoga practice, currently I only do sun salutations. The other thing about the sense of time passing - the first breath is a lot more difficult than the 5th one. By the time you've gone that far the pain has diminished and you realize you are near the end. I was homeless/out of work for over 2 years, and at times I felt utter terror that it would never end. But it did, everything does.
Maravilhoso ouvir o dr. Bessell! A maneira como ele trata o yoga em seus conteúdos é muito oportuna e gentil. Uma ferramenta incrível de bem-estar, que pratico, estudo e ensino. Gratidão ao dr. Bessell e sua equipe, Kripalu.
* Thank you * 🙏
Van der Kolk, I’m moving to Amherst to study you!
Thanks!
this is so helpful
Kedves Doktor Úr!
Hálásan köszönöm a könyvet,amiben érthetően elmagyarázza , mi is történik bennem és merre van a kiút.
Minden túlzás nélkül a halál kapujából hoz vissza. Áldás a munkájáért!!!❤🙏
I had the trauma of losing both parents in my teenage years. We sold the family home in Buffalo New York and moved to New Mexico. I've always been extremely flexible and did gymnastics. Quite soon I became aware of yoga. This was in the mid 1960's. I looked at a few books on the subject and started practicing. It was an intuitave thing for me. I then migrated to Australia in 1971 and got seriously involved in yoga. My body enabled me to go straight into a teachers training group. I joined an ashram a few years later and taught all over Sydney for 5 years. I left because the ashram became toxic. I continued to teach until a few years ago. I'm now 71 and still practice daily. Yoga helped me process the trauma. The asanas and pranayama absorbed the pain I experienced thru witnessing. Now I'm seeing a psychologist who is helping me work thru it all.
I think running did this for me
I think running and weight lifting did it for my husband too, especially after our daughter passed away.
Yoga and Reiki helped me to get back my sanity after mental trauma. sometimes i still get anxiety attacks out of nowhere. hope i get better with time
Thanks💌
I agree with his basic thesis that yoga helps with trauma. However, I feel he is a bit unfair as to psychotherapy, which is not "yak-yak with your psychologist", but also an essential part of genuine recovery from trauma. Both are very helpful.
This is just a part of the process , in the book there are also other additives as emdr and talking is a part too. But "old skool " only talk en medicine is not the only solution
Agree--to use words to express your traumas and for those words to be truly understood by another is a deeply moving experience and can lead to feeling the deep rooted feelings he's talking about.
I agree, but I know that I've been going to therapists for decades and I'm still miserable, so there must be more to this. Or maybe I still haven't found the right one 🤦🏻♀️
have you tried supplementing therapy with physical practices like yoga?@@jenynz5334
It never helped me.
Love this!!! Just read this in your book!!!
Excellant EXCELLANT!!
Yoga is so powerful to overcome trauma as the whole practice of yoga rests on the principle of ahimsa or non-harming of any living being. It requires we adopt a vegan lifestyle. When we stop consuming animal trauma (cortisol and adrenaline) every day we create a peaceful body and mind.
Oriental medicine-the issue is in your tissue
Yoga = Indian spiritual practice, physical benefits are the consequences/by-products. Obviously, it spread east.
Wow I didn’t know that thanks
Great presentation.
I would add the following caveat:
Having done Advanced Yoga in my mid 30’s, - including performing headstands and handstands - I left the practice after several years for personal reasons unrelated to Yoga.
After coming back to it again in my 60’s, I suffered several Yoga injuries as a result of overdoing the poses.and not doing the poses properly. An excellent book has been written about Yoga by a long time Yoga practitioner and Pulitzer Prize winning author. I don’t remember the book title, or author.
In it , he warns about Yoga injuries, which caused an uproar in the hierarchy of the Yoga community, as this affected the Yoga business industry.
Bessel said, “Get a good teacher”. I had an outstanding Yoga teacher in well known NYC Yoga studio, and still got injured twice, because in a class of 25, she/he can’t possibly see if everyone’s posture, movements, asanas, poses are correct.
Otherwise , again, a great presentation by Bessel in the limited time he had. 🙏😊
Thank you for that. Yes, be careful.
Try YIN YOGA that will deactivate your stress response and so much more. Simple postures are held for around five minutes. Very relaxing also. Highly recommend!
I've come a long way without yoga and that has been via psychotherapy. Admittedly, many psychotherapists don't do both top down and bottom up, trauma-informed therapy but luckily mine does.
I was an astanga yoga teacher for 25 years, and I found that, although ujjayi breathing is an excellent tool for stimulating the vagus and connecting mind and body, and temporory relief from depression, the actual conditioning was not released from my body, but, in fact, was trapped in the muscles in my shoulders from the frequent repetitive movements, leading to a very unbalanced body and a lot of physical pain. In the end it was sacred plant medicines that are helping the most, but they are currently illegal, while poisons are being sprayed all over the earth, and we are being forced into a fake pharmaceutical 'solution' to a man made problem (covid), and the attendant financial difficulties, which just adds to my sense of being bullied by my government. It's very difficult to recover from trauma, while you are still being bullied.
Could you please advise which yoga exercises would be helpful? 🙏
Hello. My understanding is that there is a significant difference between doing movement in a rush vs slowly vs going in to posture and holding it. There is also difference in how the mind is staged for it. Going from intense to calm. There is also the mind set that the body is separate from the mind and the mind controlling the body
Wow this rings true. I literally had to hand my body over to doctors, some of whom were nasty assholes. Ptsd for 3 years now. I'm a bit over it.
When I was young and I felt overwhelmed by emotions to the point I would black out I would lie in foetal position telling myself over and over again. This too shall pass.
Reestablishing a sense of time… wow.
I am suffering a lot lately with c-PTSD. In the past decade i have unfortunately found little understanding in the mental health care world in my country for this debilitating condition. Van der Kolk’s book The Body Keeps The Score was my first realization what i was actually suffering from. From then on i practiced psycho-education for my own healing through reading.
I have started yoga because my insomnia is getting out of control (and is also a huge trigger for anxiety).
Adriene’s ‘yoga for PTSD’ is really good. I can tell after the session i am able to breathe more deeply. I highly recommend.
I was wondering after how long one will notice a difference and a calming in the nervous system? Has anyone found daily yoga to be helpful for PTSD-induced insomnia? I need a little hope to keep me going :)
Yes, keep with the yoga. I highly recommend Yin yoga which helps in many ways.
I experienced many traumas on my body. I want to use yoga twice a day to regain control of myself ❤
R u healing
@@user-zz2hu8om9k Yes but thanks to psychotherapy
Agree!
For anyone is thinking to try this, try trauma sensitive yoga classes. They are amazing and did wonders for me.
@thestripelessbee713 where do I find it
His presence makes me feel like it's going to be okay. I'm going to be okay. I hope to meet you, sir, one day.
It’s been 30-yrs of PTSD with MDD. Good days, a few great days, but a majority of “just getting through” days.
I have yet to meet a person who has been healed of this madness. So, anything to just feel better is worth trying…
Hey, how are you doing now? Did yoga help you with PTSD and MDD?
Great, thanks. Btw time is an illusion. Openness to possibility makes a difference. :)
Does it help with the anger associated with trauma?
I'd say anyone could cure trauma by doing what you love...traumas antidote is BLISS.
What type of yoga do you suggest?
i often feel pressure to do this because i have cptsd (part of my trauma) to help heal but i am learning what feels good. yoga does not feel good at the moment. i lay on the couch and listen… try to be in the present.
But the way he describes it gives a mechanical tone to it, as some kind of a crude materialist. The body does keep the score, but "heartbreaking or gut-wrenchin feelings" are not just mere physical sensations, but also cognitive faculties. Releasing tension through tears for example is a necessary prerequisite for healing past trauma's. His approach is very enlightening, though I appreaciate his empericism, he doesn't connect everything as a complete whole. The opposite coin of looking pure physically at the body, the cognitive mind, memory processing, etc. etc. are all as important as what he mentions. The method of one doesn't substitute the other without both of them being true at a certain point.
In my experience, MDMA, psolicybine, EMDR, Brazilian Jiujitsu, reconnecting with my real family, learning to work and functioning again in society, i.e. the practice of emotion regulation and developing new insights and putting them to practice in life and developing new insights again, even crying in and of itself, etc. etc. all of them contributed to keep my brain functioning again, and a real holistic study that understands the inward logic of it all could give us a complete outlook at what trauma actually means.
Most of trauma survivors are their salf thaught therapists. We have tried all types of strategies on us to find out which would help on us
Does someone know which yoga exercise match which trauma? Or all the yoga will do? Thanks for reply.
23 years of progressive chronic illness despite my best efforts of diet, exercise, yoga practice, meditation off/on, prayer , energy medicine etc-only get sicker. I don't feel safe in my body. Now in total insomnia cycle after vaccine triggered neurological attack and then developed chronic GERD. I don't know how to have hope/what to do /get sleeping.
I wonder if TaiChi has the same effect.
I agree.
I’m wondering what type of yoga is best for this
❤️
Wow
Yoga is not just a stretching routine. It has a diet based on your body type and many other things to do throughout the day.
Mostly Everybody has some or other kind of trauma. That means the doctors offices should have a yoga room ! And insurance should pay for my Yoga classes! And massage classes! Massage therapists need to be certified into yoga and ethics!
What kind of yoga should an absolute beginner starts with
Does this work for someone who lives in trauma, not just past trauma?
I have been diagnosed with DID. I don't feem connected to any part of my body. I have this sense that I am two eyeballs floating through space, just observing this bizarre world. My therapist has on occasion asked me what I felt in my body. Nothing...there's pain of ageing muscles, athritis, etc...but no broken heart, or gut wrenching, etc...just nothingness.
Total Control I’m sorry for you
The numbness you express is still a feeling. Or rather the absence of feeling is a feeling. Whatever happened your body was/is very smart and protected you. Your mind as well. If you are now in a safe space begin to explore safe (not necessarily always comfortable) ways in which to reconnect to yourself. Follow your intuition. Your intuition brought you here. Take one step at time. You're ok.
💛💙
Everything takes time. Never give up on anything you once started. Every 4 months yoga and meditation shows its effects in starting it's effect would be slow because of less focus and more trauma present in person. As you pass every next four months of time your speed of healing will also be multiplied but their is one most important rule - To stay away from anything or everything that's related to what traumatized you. Try on conscious level atleast once you will stop consuming it consciously ..healing will start to happen at faster rate. But if you are healing and also consuming anything related to trauma side by side then you are not going anywhere. . You will end giving it up thinking that yoga and meditation doesn't work. Everything works but you must know the root system of it ..that how it works.. Also you have to challenge yourself for any weakness u had or still have.. u'll crave for another person's attention and love.. which will also stop or slow you from progressing too at some level because your whole energy won't be working on getting rid of that trauma. Yes one of the trick or tip for getting rid of trauma is that never think whoever caused you trauma was ever worthy enough neverrrrrrr!! Because at one point you are trying to getting rid of something they gave(trauma) in return of your true feelings and on another hand if you still feel they were good enough or worthy enough then you are at conscious level wanting it..so your subconscious mind will not know that if you wanna get rid of it.. for example - if we hate something consciously our subconscious mind will know that you don't like it so it will help you get rid of it or things related to it.. once you are healed and meditative you can forgive them then!! Not in starting .. don't feel them worthy of you in starting.. your subconscious mind should be tricked first.. don't feel them worthy of you consciously so slowly your subconscious mind will like low the impact of traumas or fake memories (they were fake you have to accept it).. feel yourself worthy ..more than them.. feel they never deserved you.. that's how u can trick your subconscious mind.. but if you don't do it.. if you still feel no whatever it was..it was good.. then why would your subconscious mind get rid of it if it was good??.. i know hate ain't good.. but don't feel ..they were worth anything ..ever!!
What form of yoga? My mother killed herself .. she taught hatha yoga...I want to get back to yoga, but want to know what kind. Thx.
As a retired trauma therapist, I would think that the primary variable MIGHT be, " Is the yoga practitioner trauma informed" so he/she knows what might be triggering and how to help the survivor through it. ALSO, I would never recommend a yoga teacher who was herself an unhealed trauma survivor.