An interview with yoga teacher and author, Dave Emerson, who co-wrote, Overcoming Trauma through Yoga about the development of “trauma-sensitive yoga.”  Dave begins by talking about how trauma is held in the body, and can be addressed through the body, often in conjunction with talk therapy. Dave talks about the many ways yoga teachers and therapists at the Trauma Center in Boston collaborated to modify traditional yoga to make it safer for trauma survivors.  He discusses four themes that guide their work, each of which has been deeply shaken by trauma and each of which can be directly impacted by the practice of yoga:  making choices based on listening to the body, present moment awareness, feeling effective and developing ways to be in rhythm with others. Lastly, Dave talks about their research showing that yoga is so effective a treatment that after two months, patients who previously had PTSD, and did trauma-sensitive yoga, no longer meet the criteria for the diagnosis!

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