"Yoga can make a big difference for trauma survivors like Elaine, and we are beginning to see more research that backs up her experience. A three-year NIH-funded yoga and trauma study conducted at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts, with women who have treatment-resistant complex PTSD, has shown promising results. Bessel van der Kolk, MD, the study’s principal investigator, and his colleagues presented preliminary findings at the 2010 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference in Montreal last November. Initial study results revealed that participation in trauma-informed gentle yoga leads to a significant reduction (over 30 percent) in symptoms of post-traumatic stress, including fewer intrusive thoughts and less dissociation from the body. By the end of the study (after only 10 weeks of yoga) several women in the yoga group no longer met diagnostic criteria for PTSD...."
http://yogainternational.com/article/view/transcending-trauma-how-yoga-heals
Bessel van der Kolk is mentioned throughout this article as is David Emerson who runs the yoga program at The Trauma Center at JRI.
See also:
Blog posts:
Frontiers publishes systematic review on the effects of yoga on major psychiatric disorders
Why the Military Uses Yoga to Treat PTSD, plus more
http://acesconnection.com/profiles/blogs/why-the-military-uses-yoga-to-treat-ptsd-plus-more
Books:
Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body by D. Emerson & E. Hopper (2011)
Authors' Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtgv6wJNuAo
Yoga for Emotional Trauma: Meditations and Practices for Healing Pain and Suffering by NurrieStearns (Jul. 2013)
Videos
A Trauma Sensitive Yoga Practice (4 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2mBSrpl8go
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