The body as a facilitator for healing
When traumatic events occur in our lives, we often disconnect, from society, from family, from friends, from our hearts, from our bodies, and ultimately from ourselves. This loss of connection to oneself and a disconnection from the body and from the present moment is what, international expert on trauma, Gabor Maté, believes is the essence of trauma. Maté believes that in order to heal from trauma, a reconnection to the self and to the body is required (The Wisdom of Trauma, 2021). Peter A Levine, developer of Somatic Experiencing, also acknowledges the body’s central role in the healing process (1997).
Why or how does the body play a critical role in healing? Daoists believe that there is a correlation between particular emotions and the organs of the body; grief is believed to be centered in the lungs, fear in the kidneys and anger in the liver. Our emotions may affect our organs leaving residual emotional wounds or scar tissue (Clark, 2019).The body is often described as a container for these unprocessed emotions; our issues get stored in our tissues, and as Bessell Van der Kolk describes it - our ‘body keeps the score’ (2014). Often the wounded part of ourselves is hidden under layers, or behind barriers and protective armours in our bodies. We therefore have to work through the body to access this part, to allow us to tune into it in order to process it, make peace with it, integrate it, respond to it or perhaps release it.
Yin Yoga, as a practice of interoception, does just that. Interoception involves tuning in to the body, noticing inner sensations, paying attention to the felt experience in the body and having an awareness of how our body feels on the inside. Becoming more attuned to how and what we are feeling is the first step to knowing why we are feeling a certain way (2014). According to Emily Lapolice, interoception goes beyond the ability to notice sensations; it also involves the ability to interpret what the sensations are communicating to us, and to recognize any associated emotions and feelings in order to be able to “inform decisions, respond and make choices, effect change and possess agency” (as cited in Turner, 2020, p.67). Thus, it can be said that through the practice of interoception, and therefore through the practice of yin, we gain a sense of agency over ourselves, something which trauma robs us of. We learn to believe and trust in ourselves and our choices, and in our ability to make changes, which are all essential for the path towards healing.
Interoception brings us ‘out of the thinking mind and into the feeling body’ (Lapolice, 2020, as cited in Turner, 2020, p.66). By feeling and staying with sensations in our bodies right now, we can come out of our past narratives and future worries or fears to become present. Being able to stay present and still in the midst of discomfort in our Yin practice is a tool which is transferable to difficult situations in everyday life. Yin teaches us to sit with discomfort, initially with the discomfort of the stress on our tissues but also with the discomfort of our emotions as they may rise. Feeling stress or tension in a target area whilst staying in a pose, followed by the eventual subsiding of sensation in rebound, somatically teaches us the notion of impermanence in the body. Just as physical sensations rise and fall, so too do our emotions; we learn that they are transient, helping us to develop resilience, to form a greater tolerance for emotional states, and a greater capacity for emotional regulation.
In David Emerson’s Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (‘an intervention based in and completely reliant on the body as an adjunctive treatment for individuals impacted by trauma’, 2015, p.xxii), the focus is not on aesthetics or on an external form or shape but on the internal experience of the practitioner, just like in Yin. When we learn to pay attention to our body during our Yin practice, and choose where to position limbs or props based on what feels appropriate for our individual body, we learn to have control over our experience. This paves the way towards healing, in that we regain a sense of empowerment, and reestablish ownership of our body, mind and ultimately ourself (2014).
‘The body always leads us home‘ (Ogden, citation date and source unknown). When we learn to tune in and decipher what our body is telling us we can access its inner wisdom and begin the healing process. By turning inwards and bringing the attention to our internal felt sense, we can begin to feel more at home in our bodies – more trusting of ourselves, of the choices we make and of our needs. ‘As we begin to re-experience a visceral reconnection with the needs of our bodies, there is a brand new capacity to warmly love the self’ (Cope, 2000).
References:
Clark, B. (2019) The complete guide to yin yoga. 2nd edn. Canada: Wild Strawberry.
Cope, S. (2000) Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. New York: Random House.
Emerson, D. (2015) Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the body into treatment. New York: W.W. Norton.
Levine, P. A. (1997) Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The innate capacity to transform overwhelming experiences. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.
Ogden, P. (Date and source unknown).
The Wisdom of Trauma (2021) Directed by Benazzo, M. & Z. [Film], USA: Science and Nonduality.
Turner, J. (Ed.) (2020) Embodied Healing: Survivor and Facilitator Voices from the Practice of Trauma-Sensitive Yoga. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.
Van der Kolk, B. (2014) The Body Keeps the Score. London: Penguin.
