By Michael Lear, Trager® Instructor
Written in 2019 as a chapter in a book about Veterans and PTSD
This article is Part 4 of Michael Lear’s 4 part series: Relieving Post Traumatic Stress Related Symptoms with The Trager® Approach and Trauma-Informed Yoga and Mindfulness.
Part 4
Much like the success of autogenic training in biofeedback, Mentastics® mindful movement utilizing self-inquiry can elicit new and more comfortable shifts in the musculature. Self-inquiries such as “What would feel lighter or freer, more fluid here?” or the visualization of something that embodies these qualities, can invite the body to follow the mind. This process is much like how a dancer or actor will take on the characteristics of the role they’re playing and, by getting in to character, they initiate change in their carriage, deportment and gestures, even tone of voice.
Our bodies are designed to get good at what we practice, even when we practice in our thoughts. All of us have been able to call on a memory and bring forth a physiological response with a recalling of the feeling. Perhaps too often we reflect on negative experiences rather than recalling and re-living positive, relaxing or soothing ones with the enjoyable feelings that accompanied them. We can go there too, but only through practice. By recalling the Trager® session where lightness and fluidity are experienced, one can begin to elicit similar muscular changes and comfort. For those suffering from trauma, this may present some challenges, but the Mentastics® process is gentle and patient. When practiced properly, Mentastics® does not re-traumatize the body mind but rather provides a safe movement experience.
The efficacy of Mindfulness practices, such as Mentastics®, is supported by the growing body of evidence-based research regarding the benefits of Mindfulness practices and Trauma-informed Yoga. Mindfulness implies keeping a moment-by-moment awareness of what is occurring within the framework of the body, our feelings, bodily sensations, surrounding environment (what comes through the five sense doors) and even our thoughts. An important component of this state of awareness is being equanimous with, or accepting of, what we observe as it is in particular physical sensations. In doing so we are in the present moment, not ruminating over the past or being anxious about the future and experiencing their associated emotional states. Coupled with curiosity, self-inquiry, these mindful movements have a capacity to reprogram our motor function to be more efficient, comfortable and easy. In addition to controlling heart rate variability, Mindfulness has been shown to result in a decrease of the grey matter of the brain’s amygdala, the region known for its flight or fight role in stress. This decrease of the amygdala allows for increased self-control as it decreases impulsivity allowing for more emotional resilience. These studies have also shown a beneficial thickening of the grey matter in the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for emotional control, awareness, concentration, problem-solving and planning. The hippocampus of the brain, which helps with memory and learning as well as emotion, also has been shown to have increased amounts of grey matter with mindfulness practices. This is especially important for those suffering with depression or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as the hippocampus is covered with receptors for the stress hormone cortisol which can be damaged by chronic stress such as those conditions may cause.
Additional evidence that Mindfulness and Trauma-informed Yoga can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression was reported in a research study found in the February, 2018 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. The study, “Mind-Body Therapy for Military Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review” was co-authored by Kathryn Braun, professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa and Robin Cushing, Army Physician Assistant. Braun and Cushing researched the effects of Mindfulness, mind-body therapy and Yoga on Veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and found a significant reduction in symptoms for all the Veterans studied who had participated in the Mindfulness, mind-body therapy and Yoga practices.
My own personal experience teaching Trauma-informed Yoga in prison and residential juvenile justice settings demonstrated the benefits of mindful movement practices with a breath awareness component. In these settings, many within the populations suffered from unresolved abuse trauma and PTSD that led them to engage in behaviors that resulted their incarceration.
Trauma-informed yoga, like the Trager ®Approach and its Mentastics® mindful movement component, focuses on greater body awareness, development of enhanced mind-body integration. Ensuring safety, predictability, consistency and choice, coupled with non-violent communication as well as meta-cognition techniques also facilitates favorable results.
Gains were noted in the empowerment of survivors by increasing emotional resilience, decreasing impulsivity and de-escalating hyper-vigilant nervous systems. Over the course of my career, whether as a Trager® Practitioner, a Trauma-informed Yoga Instructor or working with international relief efforts in disaster areas such as Sri Lanka and Haiti or in post-conflict regions such as South Sudan and Uganda, the creation of a safe environment for those affected by PTSD has been a priority as its benefits cannot be overstated. Until they can safely experience what is true for them in the moment, with a high degree of equanimity fostered by mindful breathing and movement practices, the potential exists for persons with PTSD to be governed by their symptoms, physical or emotional.
This holds true for everyone. Safety is paramount for the body to let go of protective and limiting patterns, whatever they may be. Both The Trager® Approach and Trauma-Informed Yoga with Mindfulness provide a safe context for the body to migrate back to balance and harmony, the place where it is designed to rest when given the proper support.
This article is Part 4 of Michael Lear’s 4 part series: Relieving Post Traumatic Stress Related Symptoms with The Trager® Approach and Trauma-Informed Yoga and Mindfulness.
For more information about The Trager® Approach, or to find a Practitioner in your area, please contact The United States Trager® Association.
United States Trager Association
3755 Attucks Drive
Powell, Ohio 43065
Tel: (440) 834-0308
Books on The Trager® Approach:
Trager® for Self-Healing: A Practical Guide for Living in the Present Moment -Audrey Mair
Mentastics: Movement As A Way to Agelessness, Dr. Milton Trager and Cathy Guadagno
Moving Medicine, The Life and Work of Dr. Milton Trager: Jack Liskin
Additional information can be found at. http://www.tragerfordailylife.com
For more information on Trauma-informed Yoga and Veterans PTSD, the following books and organizations may be helpful. It has been reported that Veterans tend to prefer Yoga teachers who are also Veterans as they better identify with those who have shared experiences.
It is always best to find a Yoga teacher with whom you resonate, one who is interested in empowering the student to perform on his or her own.
The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma - Bessel Van Der Kolk
Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the Body into Treatment - David Emmerson
Best Practices for Yoga with Veterans Editor: Carol Horton, Ph.D - Yoga Service
Council PublicationNon-Violent Communication: Marshall Rosenberg
The Pocket Guide To Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power Of Feeling Safe:
Dr. Stephen Porges, (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)
Organizations:
Veterans Healing Veterans from the Inside Out http://veteranshealingveterans.com/index.html
Veterans Yoga Project www.veteransyogaproject.org
Warriors at Ease http://warriorsatease.org/
About Michael Lear
Michael Thomas Lear is an internationally-recognized Senior Trager® Bodywork Practitioner/Instructor and Ashtanga Yoga Instructor with a client base spanning five continents and including a few Academy Award and Grammy winners as well as many figures prominent in business and industry.
For over 25 years, Lear has been at the forefront of mind-body medicine, yoga and meditation. He has studied Yoga with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the founder of Ashtanga Yoga, as well as with many of Ashtanga's foremost instructors. Holding a Yoga Alliance RYT 500 Certification, he teaches Yoga Anatomy for Yoga Alliance Teacher Certification courses and conducts workshops internationally.
Lear is also a seasoned Vipassana meditator in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Kin as taught by S. N. Goenka. He was recognized with a cover article in Massage Therapy Journal for his work introducing Trager® to physical therapists in post-tsunami Sri Lanka, which he also has done in Japan. Lear who is on the management team for Instructors for Trager® International, also holds Plant Based Nutrition certification through Cornell University, taught by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of “The China Study” and “Whole.”
While working as Director of International Relations for Real Medicine Foundation and working closely with UN Agencies and foreign governments, Lear was an integral part of many international relief programs to improve primary health care service in disadvantaged areas of post-conflict, disaster affected and poverty-stricken countries, including Sri Lanka, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Armenia and post-earthquake Haiti. South Sudan’s Medical Journal/JubaLink has cited Lear as a principal in establishing the country’s first College of Nursing and Midwifery.
In addition to his international service, Lear serves locally as a founding board member, trauma recovery yoga instructor, and lead trainer with The Shanthi Project a non-profit organization which conducts trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness classes at the county prison, juvenile justice center, Boys and Girls Club, and area school districts for grades K-12.
A life-long musician playing drums, Lear feeds his soul behind the kit. He has many years’ experience playing professionally and in a variety of genres. In addition to playing professionally, he developed an entire on-line yoga and mindfulness program specifically for drummers www.yoga4drummers.com to help them access their full potential. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Finance and International Management from Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. and has worked extensively in the corporate world. A native of Easton, PA, Lear makes his home on the East Coast when he is in the United States where he enjoys visiting with family, friends and his cat Sayagyi.