Physical Activities That Can Help Heal Trauma

More research has been done regarding the body/mind connection in healing trauma. An excellent book on the topic is Bessel Van Der Kolk’s book, The Body Keeps the Score. In it he explores how the body needs to feel safe so that the person feels safe. He looks at different physical activities that can help get traumatized people back into their bodies and regain a sense of control and safety for themselves.

He says that trauma occurs when an individual experiences an event where they cannot use their own agency, or strength to escape a dangerous situation. Therefore, activities where they gain mastery over their bodies and engage in ways that let them feel part of a shared experience often are a help.

Examples are things like yoga, that help them focus on breathing to calm their nervous system and learning different poses that they can slowly gain competence and build strength and flexibility. He also says that participating in a group adds an added benefit to learning to feel safe with others and experience the uplift that comes from being in sync with others. Another good example is training in martial arts such as Tai Chi. Over time gaining skills that are about mastering your body and gaining the ability to act to keep yourself safe from attack helps the individual feel less anxious and calmer.

Other ways that help calm the nervous system are things like singing with others, being part of a drum circle, dancing or with the people you feel safe with, things like hugging and holding hands. When we have experiences where we are connected to others, musically, rhythmically, psychically, we feel safer and can be comforted by their presence and the connection we can feel.

Getting outdoors and going for a walk, especially with a friend or loved one, can also be helpful. We experience bi-lateral stimulation with our alternating footsteps which helps our brain process information and can help us process trauma. Other types of bilateral stimulation like alternating tapping, or butterfly tapping with arms folded over the chest can move trauma through our system and provide relief.

Moving away for a moment from activity to a one-to-one therapy, called EMDR. The letters stand for “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing”,  that uses a protocol where the person is directed to focus their eyes on an object or the finger of the practitioner that they slowly move back and forth. As their eyes are following this movement, they are directed to address an event that was traumatic for them in the past. They continue with the eye movement exercise and are asked what they are noticing, with feelings or thought. Time is taken to process the new information they are noticing. This helps them shift between their thinking and feeling parts of the brain to process past traumas. The person leading this method has specialized training in this technique which can be very effect and is recommended by Bessel Van Der Kolk in his book. He says, “This crazy eye movement desensitization actually changes the circuitry of the brain to interpret your current reality from a different angle.” These new thoughts or awarenesses help the individual see their past traumas from a different perspective and to be more at peace with themselves and less anxious.

So, in summary we are finding many ways to help people who have experienced trauma in their lives often including the body as a key component in the healing process. Being physically active to connect ourselves to our bodies helps us connect to our feelings which reside in the body. As one of my colleagues put it, “You have to feel it in order to heal it.” That is true as just knowing our past traumas is one step along the journey to healing them but integrating our body awareness into the process helps to move further along “ the journey to wellness”.

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