BACKGROUND: More than a third of the approximately 10 million women with histories of interpersonal violence in the United States develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Currently available treatments for this population have a high rate of incomplete response, in part because problems in affect and impulse regulation are major obstacles to resolving PTSD. This study explored the efficacy of yoga to increase affect tolerance and to decrease PTSD symptomatology.METHOD: Sixty-four women with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD were randomly assigned to either trauma-informed yoga or supportive women's health education, each as a weekly 1-hour class for 10 weeks. Assessments were conducted at pretreatment, midtreatment, and posttreatment and included measures of DSM-IV PTSD, affect regulation, and depression. The study ran from 2008 through 2011.
RESULTS: The primary outcome measure was the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). At the end of the study, 16 of 31 participants (52%) in the yoga group no longer met criteria for PTSD compared to 6 of 29 (21%) in the control group (n = 60, χ²₁ = 6.17, P = .013). Both groups exhibited significant decreases on the CAPS, with the decrease falling in the large effect size range for the yoga group (d = 1.07) and the medium to large effect size decrease for the control group (d = 0.66). Both the yoga (b = -9.21, t = -2.34, P = .02, d = -0.37) and control (b = -22.12, t = -3.39, P = .001, d = -0.54) groups exhibited significant decreases from pretreatment to the midtreatment assessment. However, a significant group × quadratic trend interaction (d = -0.34) showed that the pattern of change in Davidson Trauma Scale significantly differed across groups. The yoga group exhibited a significant medium effect size linear (d = -0.52) trend. In contrast, the control group exhibited only a significant medium effect size quadratic trend (d = 0.46) but did not exhibit a significant linear trend (d = -0.29). Thus, both groups exhibited significant decreases in PTSD symptoms during the first half of treatment, but these improvements were maintained in the yoga group, while the control group relapsed after its initial improvement.
DISCUSSION: Yoga significantly reduced PTSD symptomatology, with effect sizes comparable to well-researched psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacologic approaches. Yoga may improve the functioning of traumatized individuals by helping them to tolerate physical and sensory experiences associated with fear and helplessness and to increase emotional awareness and affect tolerance.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00839813.
Today we are going to open to and become aware of anxiety. Just like the other emotions we have opened to experience, we can open to the emotion of anxiety. Anxiety is not good or bad, it is simply an expression of energy. When we open to the free-flowing quality of anxiety we can attend to its energetic nuances in our minds and bodies.Anxiety affects 18 % of adults in the US, approximately 40 million adults between the ages of 18-54. Those numbers are pretty consistent worldwide. Women are twice as likely to be affected by anxiety than men.
When we experience anxiety we feel an overwhelming lack of trust in our world with no sense of inner security or safety. There is a feeling of being out of control and completely groundless. When we experience anxiety, we wear ourselves out with relentless thinking which heightens our nervousness in our bodies and minds. There is a sense of there being a danger or threat or not being able to cope with what may happen. When we experience anxiety we experience irrational fear, we are hypervigilant to the negative and we worry excessively about the future.
With anxiety we are caught in an endless feedback loop. Our minds spiral into continual mental scanning which use up our physical and mental resources, leaving us feeling exhausted.
The experience of anxiety results in hormonal imbalances in our bodies as our adrenal glands increase the secretion of adrenaline and cortisol in our bodies. Adrenaline and cortisol are hormones release in response to fear and stress by the medulla of the adrenal glands and in some neurons of the central nervous system.
Research has shown that yoga is superior to other forms of exercise in terms of lowering cortisol than other types of physical movement. A research study on African dance and yoga for example actually showed higher levels of cortisol after the dance than before compared to yoga where the levels were reduced. In another research study with specific yoga poses, researchers measured the cortisol levels before and after yoga classes and discovered significant decreases after yoga class.
With anxiety we need to ask ourselves, where is my attention? Usually our mind is all over the place and our body is fidgeting. When we practice yoga, we can place our attention with the sensations in our body. Instead of wearing ourselves out with relentless thinking which heightens anxiety, we can connect with our bodies and be still. Yoga offers us a way to connect with the earth, to ground, release all that nervous tension into the earth and connect with a sense of safety. Restoring your body through yoga will help to recover a sense of equilibrium.
This full length guided yoga nidra/sleep yoga for anxiety will help you let go of anxiety and stress to experience a deep inner peace and calm. Through the practice of yoga nidra we can surrender the ceaseless nature of the restless mind, let go of the accumulated tension in the body, stop, let go of controlling the uncontrollable and rest into our body’s own well-being.When we are caught up in a cycle of anxiety, we are often trying to do too much. We are caught in a cycle of doing, doing, doing. It is excessive urgency. We feel like we have to control everything and manage everything by doing. To control the anxiety we just try to do more.
Through yoga nidra your body and mind will be led into a relaxation response and excess stress hormones such as cortisol are removed from the system. Your muscles relax, your heart slows down, your breath deepens. Your body releases GABA which is calming, as well as melatonin and serotonin. Yoga nidra restores the parasympathetic nervous system balance, reversing the tendency to move into anxiety under stress.
When we are caught up in a cycle of anxiety, we are often trying to do too much. We are caught in a cycle of doing, doing, doing. It is excessive urgency
We feel like we have to control everything and manage everything by doing. To control the anxiety we just try to do more. We think that one day we will find peace and relaxation, but in truth that day will never come.
During yoga nidra your body goes into a relaxation response and excess stress hormones such as cortisol are removed from the system. Your muscles relax, your heart slows down, your breath deepens. Your body releases GABA which is calming, as well as melatonin and serotonin. Yoga nidra restores the parasympathetic nervous system balance, reversing the tendency to move into anxiety under stress.
Acknowledge yourself for letting go of doing and controlling and opening into a practice that allows your body to release hormones that naturally including: GABA which will naturally relaxes your central nervous system, serotonin which increases neurotransmitters in your brain to help improve mood, and of melatonin which can help you fall asleep more quickly and get deeper sleep.
When you take the time out for yoga nidra for yourself, you serve all those in your indeed your entire life and beyond. Notice how this practice echoes throughout the rest of your day and night.
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