Yoga

Yoga is a profound ritual of self-care, one that can transform emotional trauma into physical and mental well-being.

Emotional trauma usually permeates more deeply and heals more slowly than physical injuries, storing itself on a cellular level in our muscles and connective tissues.

Gently therapeutic yoga has the potential to reverse secondary brain and nervous system damage caused by trauma (Bessel van der Kolk, 2007).

Go from the bottom-up instead of the top-down . . .

Yoga at The Inner Practice focuses upon using your body to create a state of inner peace.

Traditional counseling practices enter through the mind; your thoughts and feelings guide the process, a top-down approach. Yoga allows the body to create a gentle state of relaxation, which then sends these calming signals to your brain, flowing on to the nervous system and emotional center, a bottom-up approach.

How does it work?

When the overactive brain won’t give you a break, as is often the case with trauma, stress and anxiety, the body can be manipulated to create a flow of energy, a release of tension, which leads to a calm state of relaxation. The mind has a difficult time being neurotic when the body is relaxed!

Release . . . Receive.

Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way.

We can’t see emotional trauma like a bruise or scar . . .

Emotional trauma can’t be seen with our eyes. But what research has proven is that emotional trauma stores itself in the body.

As these old traumas are stored or continuing patterns of stressful situations are endured, our bodies become over-loaded. The system alerts us with symptoms of anxiety and depression, or irritation and lethargy, or even physical dis-ease. You know the old saying, what goes in must come out.

Yoga allows your body’s system to create space for more of the experiences we want.

• Calm
• Relaxed
• Peace
• Comfort
• Joy
• Safety