This re-post is dedicated to all the active military and veterans who have suffered from anxiety and PTSD. Thank you for your service to our country. (Originally posted Veteran's Day 2008.)
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Music at the end of the audio: Migration
I'm reading,The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook: A Guide to Healing, Recovery, and Growthbecause a number of special people in my life have been afflicted with PTSD. I realize this is not light reading, however I am interested in learning about different treatments and I have a desire to effectively support people who have experienced PTSD.
I was expecting to learn all sorts of cutting edge psycho therapy techniques for helping people cope.
What I was not expecting from the book was that the first 3 chapters on managing symptoms discuss meditation, relaxation and deep breathing. Basically, what I teach in conjunction with yoga.
Certainly I've always believed these practices to be helpful...however I was struck by the magnitude to which they have been found to help even severe cases of PTSD.
Neither I, nor the book in any way suggest these to be the only forms of treatment or they can help all sufferers of PTSD.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation is one of the PTSD relaxation techniques found to be particularly effective in reducing symptoms.
It was developed by Dr. Edmund Jacobson in the 1920's. According to the PTSD Sourcebook, it is still used today and recommended for sufferers of anxiety, PTSD and I would add, those who are disconnected from their bodies.
The idea is to tense and then relax each major muscle group of our body to induce a state of deep relaxation. It helps draw awareness to the whole body in a systematic way.
At the top of this post, I've recorded my interpretation of Progressive Muscle Relaxation. It is 25 minutes, so may take a bit to stream or to download. If you plan to use it multiple times, I highly recommend downloading it onto your computer. It is an Mp3 file so should play on any media player.
I was expecting to learn all sorts of cutting edge psycho therapy techniques for helping people cope.
What I was not expecting from the book was that the first 3 chapters on managing symptoms discuss meditation, relaxation and deep breathing. Basically, what I teach in conjunction with yoga.
Certainly I've always believed these practices to be helpful...however I was struck by the magnitude to which they have been found to help even severe cases of PTSD.
Neither I, nor the book in any way suggest these to be the only forms of treatment or they can help all sufferers of PTSD.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation is one of the PTSD relaxation techniques found to be particularly effective in reducing symptoms.
It was developed by Dr. Edmund Jacobson in the 1920's. According to the PTSD Sourcebook, it is still used today and recommended for sufferers of anxiety, PTSD and I would add, those who are disconnected from their bodies.
The idea is to tense and then relax each major muscle group of our body to induce a state of deep relaxation. It helps draw awareness to the whole body in a systematic way.
At the top of this post, I've recorded my interpretation of Progressive Muscle Relaxation. It is 25 minutes, so may take a bit to stream or to download. If you plan to use it multiple times, I highly recommend downloading it onto your computer. It is an Mp3 file so should play on any media player.
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