Trauma, great or small, touches every life
For 28 years I’ve had the privilege of helping men, women and children heal from the aftereffects of life-threatening illness, physical and sexual assault, military combat, childhood abuse, auto accidents, natural disasters – or simply bearing witness to such tragic events in their families or communities. In response to this wave of human anguish my colleagues and I developed a cutting-edge suite of mind/body tools anyone can pick up and immediately put to work to heal the impacts of tragedy.
The illness known as PTSD develops when a traumatic incident gets lodged in our bodies and minds. While other people might experience the same event and move on, PTSD sufferers find their lives increasingly organized around memories of the traumatic event. As this happens they begin to lose touch with the here and now, with the people and places around them, and with the full range of their emotional lives. Even their dreams may become part and parcel of this abbreviated landscape, re-exposing them night after night to an event that may have begun and ended decades before.
About 7% of the U.S. population and up to one third of combat veterans, victims of assault, rape and childhood abuse go on to develop PTSD. Research suggests women may be more vulnerable than men and genetics may play a role in predisposing certain individuals to developing it. PTSD is often expressed in symptoms such as those listed below.
Any of these symptoms may or may not be experienced by a particular individual:
- Sleep Problems
- Nightmares
- Flashbacks
- Anger and Irritability
- Trouble Concentrating
- Jumpiness
- Feeling Tense and On Guard
- Avoidance Of Reminders Of The Event
- Trouble Experiencing Positive Feelings
Now the good news: PTSD can be healed – without drugs or years of expensive psychotherapy. My colleagues and I have conducted outcome research1 on our 8 week Integrative Trauma Recovery protocol and found it significantly reduces PTSD symptoms in all five symptom clusters. Though some patients had suffered for decades from the disorder, within a 2 month period they too began experiencing not only symptom relief but the return of long-lost positive feelings like peace, joy and hope for the future.
Your next step
If you are suffering from the aftereffects of trauma please consider scheduling an appointment with me today. It will be my honor to share with you the CBT and yoga therapy tools countless others before you have utilized to reclaim life after trauma.
1. Staples JK, Mintie D, Khalsa SBS, Evaluation of a combined yoga and cognitive behavioral therapy program for posttraumatic stress disorder. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. June 2016. 22(6): A94.