Attachment-Based Yoga & Meditation for Trauma Recovery: Simple, Safe, and Effective Practices for Therapy


Book Description

A practical but far-reaching look at a variety of mind-body techniques for working with trauma clients. This book offers an unprecedented, attachment-informed translation of yogic philosophy to body-based trauma treatment. The result is both erudite and accessible, emphasizing ready-to-implement skills and approaches that are as groundbreaking as they are effective. Organized around key trauma issues and symptoms, this book offers clinicians a practical but far-reaching look at mind-body skills and techniques for helping trauma clients access their individual wisdom, develop secure internal attachment, and find the path home to the Self.




Overcoming Trauma through Yoga


Book Description

Survivors of trauma—whether abuse, accidents, or war—can end up profoundly wounded, betrayed by their bodies that failed to get them to safety and that are a source of pain. In order to fully heal from trauma, a connection must be made with oneself, including one’s body. The trauma-sensitive yoga described in this book moves beyond traditional talk therapies that focus on the mind, by bringing the body actively into the healing process. This allows trauma survivors to cultivate a more positive relationship to their body through gentle breath, mindfulness, and movement practices. Overcoming Trauma through Yoga is a book for survivors, clinicians, and yoga instructors who are interested in mind/body healing. It introduces trauma-sensitive yoga, a modified approach to yoga developed in collaboration between yoga teachers and clinicians at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute, led by yoga teacher David Emerson, along with medical doctor Bessel van der Kolk. The book begins with an in-depth description of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including a description of how trauma is held in the body and the need for body-based treatment. It offers a brief history of yoga, describes various styles of yoga commonly found in Western practice, and identifies four key themes of trauma-sensitive yoga. Chair-based exercises are described that can be incorporated into individual or group therapy, targeting specific treatment goals, and modifications are offered for mat-based yoga classes. Each exercise includes trauma-sensitive language to introduce the practice, as well as photographs to illustrate the poses. The practices have been offered to a wide range of individuals and groups, including men and women, teens, returning veterans, and others. Rounded out by valuable quotes and case stories, the book presents mindfulness, breathing, and yoga exercises that can be used by home practitioners, yoga teachers, and therapists as a way to cultivate awareness, tolerance, and an increased acceptance of the self.




Becoming Safely Embodied


Book Description

Whether you are stuck in the distress of life, or appear like nothing’s wrong, you may have faced trauma or incredible stress or suffocating fear. Maybe you wonder whether those emotions, memories, and experiences are blocking you from being as fulfilled and happy as you could be. Maybe you’re stuck in patterns that simply no longer work for you. What if you could change it all? What if you could feel safe and solid and secure inside your own body? What if your life could be peaceful and centered and fulfilled? In Becoming Safely Embodied, Deidre Fay shares from her 35 years of psychotherapy and spiritual practice to provide a truly practical way to integrate modern neurobiology and ancient wisdom to finally and completely heal from emotional trauma, no matter how deep or faint, how long ago or recent you experienced the pain. Throughout her years as a therapist, Deirdre noticed that clients would make progress while in a therapy session and then revert to old patterns between sessions. What people need is a set of skills and practices to support ongoing healing and wholeness. That's what this book will help you with. You’ll discover: What “trauma” is and why you might have had a hard time healing from this pain, Why shame is an attachment wound and how to harness self-compassion to truly transform suffering, What to do when you feel like you’re easily “triggered” by a certain person or situation in your life so that you can stay centered and safe, Instantly effective methods of breath work for brain change and emotional regulation so that you can calm your mind or energize your body, The nine core skills that can help you to be more at home with your internal world and cultivate a body that’s a safe place for rest, reflection, and wellbeing, Simple daily practices that (like brushing your teeth) promote ongoing healing in your body, mind, and soul, And much, much more. Whether you are healing from abandonment issues or from pain or from grief—or whether you are helping someone else to heal—Becoming Safely Embodied is your map and guidebook to finally becoming at home with your internal world, cultivating a body that’s a safe place for rest, reflection, and wellbeing, and creating the life you want to live, instead of living in the life your history catapults you into. You may be wondering, “Is it possible for ME? Can I change? Is it possible for me to shift these painful patterns into a more fulfilling life? Can I truly organize this crazy inner world?” The simple answer is, “Yes,” and your journey to becoming safely embodied begins inside the pages of this book.




Becoming Safely Embodied Skills Manual


Book Description

For most clients with a trauma history, especially those grappling with dissociation, living inside their own skin is challenging. Most clients struggle between sessions, needing the connection to the therapist in order to feel contained. Our trauma clients tread water between therapy sessions, often feeling incapacitated and lost in figuring out a way to help themselves. The results of therapy once or twice a week can fade quickly when faced with the rest of the hours of a week besieged with overwhelming anxiety or despair. The skills in this manual are the foundation of the Becoming Safely Embodied experiential skill set developed to help clients learn step by step ways of being with themselves, especially when they are on their own, between therapy sessions. Nine easy to learn skills are presented and can easily be taught in a group format or to individual clients. Described for groups, the skills can be used individually. In addition there is curriculum for how to open and close the group.




Attachment-Based Yoga & Meditation for Trauma Recovery


Book Description

A practical but far-reaching look at a variety of mind-body techniques for working with trauma clients. This book offers an unprecedented, attachment-informed translation of yogic philosophy to body-based trauma treatment. The result is both erudite and accessible, emphasizing ready-to-implement skills and approaches that are as groundbreaking as they are effective. Organized around key trauma issues and symptoms, this book offers clinicians a practical but far-reaching look at mind-body skills and techniques for helping trauma clients access their individual wisdom, develop secure internal attachment, and find the path home to the Self.




Working with the Developmental Trauma of Childhood Neglect


Book Description

This book provides psychotherapists with a multidimensional view of childhood neglect and a practical roadmap for facilitating survivors’ healing. Working from a strong base in attachment theory, esteemed clinician Ruth Cohn explores ways therapists can recognize the signs of childhood neglect, provides recommendations for understanding lasting effects that can persist into adulthood, and lays out strategies for helping clients maximize therapeutic outcomes. Along with extensive clinical material, chapters introduce skills that therapists can develop and hone, such as the ability to recognize and discern non-verbal attempts at communication. They also provide an array of resources and evidence-based treatment modalities that therapists can use in session. Working with the Developmental Trauma of Childhood Neglect is an essential book for any mental health professional working with survivors of childhood trauma.




Trauma-Informed Yoga for Survivors of Sexual Assault: Practices for Healing and Teaching with Compassion


Book Description

Trauma-informed yoga guidance for survivors, instructors, and mental health professionals. Trauma-Informed Yoga for Survivors of Sexual Assault provides a comprehensive overview of how to offer yoga to survivors of sexual assault in a safe, effective, evidence-based, and healing way. Transcending Sexual Trauma through Yoga founder Zahabiyah A. Yamasaki draws on the framework of trauma-informed care and trauma-informed yoga program development and curriculum, while also weaving in personal narrative and inspiring survivor stories. She explores practical considerations for survivors, as well as for yoga teachers, mental health professionals, educators, and other healing professionals who are interested in integrating trauma-informed yoga into the scope of their work and/or healing. This book expands the scope and framework for healing and fills a much-needed gap in service delivery for survivors. Yamasaki provides holistic, trauma-informed, body-based, compassionate, and culturally affirming options for survivors as they navigate what is oftentimes a lifelong and nonlinear process of healing. A companion card deck of affirmations, Trauma-Informed Yoga for Survivors of Sexual Assault: Practices for Healing and Teaching with Compassion, is also available, both as a stand-alone item and in a discounted set with the book.




Every Memory Deserves Respect


Book Description

Exploring the nature of trauma and how best to deal with it is not only a timely task, it is a necessary one. While COVID, isolation, and social unrest don’t necessarily cause trauma—trauma is about how one reacts to a thing, not the thing in itself—the fact is that these days many of us are dealing with some sort of trauma. How can we heal? Perhaps through a therapy known as EMDR, which stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Cowritten by Michael Baldwin, a patient who experienced transformative relief from trauma through EMDR therapy, and Dr. Deborah Korn, a therapist (though not Baldwin’s therapist) who explains exactly how and why EMDR works, Every Memory Deserves Respect brings the good news of EMDR to countless readers who may not even know of it but would greatly benefit from using it. We learn the origins of EMDR and of its effectiveness in treating those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder; how a session works; questions to ask a therapist before beginning. But we also learn a great deal about trauma—how it can refer to any experience, big or little, that is overwhelming, triggers strong negative emotions, and involves a sense of powerlessness or intense vulnerability; how it’s stored in our memories, and our bodies, waiting to be triggered; and how EMDR resolves it. Every Memory Deserves Respect is a warm, accessible, and helpful book, in part because of its innovative use of full-page photographs paired with a statement, definition, or affirmation. And that, combined with its mix of personal story and trusted authority, makes this an unusually effective introduction to a complicated and important subject.




Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Analytic Therapy


Book Description

The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Analytic Therapy presents a comprehensive guide to the cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) model. It balances established theory and practice alongside a focus on innovation in both direct work with clients and the application of CAT more broadly within teams, organizations, and training, and as a model for leadership. The volume includes a range of innovations in 'doing' and 'using' CAT, which are directly applicable for those studying and working in health, social care, and private services, across many specialties encompassing the entire lifespan. This includes child and adolescent services; working age through to older adults; individuals engaged with mental health services and within forensic and prison populations; and those experiencing physical health and neurological difficulties, both in community and inpatient settings. Given the social and dialogic origins of CAT, the book acknowledges the importance of the wider social, cultural, and political factors that can shape an individual's understanding of self and other, with chapters that both apply a CAT understanding to key issues such as racism and social context, and provide a critique to the extent in which CAT engages with these issues in practice. This volume also has a focus on professional standards and governance (encompassing training, supervision, and a competency framework), and throughout the book the editors have endeavoured to include clients' voices, including personal reflections, extracts from actual CATs, and co-produced chapters, to ensure the book holds true to the collaborative nature of CAT.




Somatic Methods for Affect Regulation


Book Description

Somatic Methods for Affect Regulation is a unique resource that presents a variety of approaches for working somatically with youth. Chapters provide an overview of the relevant neuroscience research with a specific focus on affect regulation. The somatic techniques showcased in the book are evidence-based and illustrated with case studies showing their impact. Importantly, the chapters are also chock full of practical information, including strategies for working with dysregulated youth, information for collaborative and cooperative care, and an appendix with checklists and worksheets to help clinicians plan, guide, and assess their work.