Mindfulness and Breathworks can be used as a powerful counterbalance to many of the common after-effects of trauma, including avoidance of inner experiences, anxiety, reliving, numbing, and feeling easily triggered.
Mindfulness in particular has been studied since 1968 as a process of easing our response to stress and the after effects of anxiety, frustration, poor sleep and exhaustion.
Unbeknownst to many, mindfulness meditation can exacerbate symptoms of traumatic stress. Instructed to pay close, sustained attention to their inner-world, people struggling with trauma can experience flashbacks, dysregulation, or dissociation.
With a trauma-informed lens and a few relatively straightforward modifications, these practices can be much more accessible and effective.
Over time, these practices can even change or “heal” the brain, decreasing the size of the amygdala, and increasing the ability of the frontal lobes to do their job.
Thousands and thousands of research articles have highlighted how this truly life changing practice can ease your anxiety and response to stress, learn how to be embodied, be more compassionate and connected.
You don’t even need to be an amazing meditator to utilise and benefit from mindfulness and breathwork in a trauma informed way.
