Interoception & Yoga

” The great challenge in treating people [is] to help them to be focused and to be present in the here-and-now. And talking alone, generally, does not do that. […] A major avenue was learning about yoga […] and learning about practices that have to do with interoception – noticing yourself, feeling yourself and helping yourself to quiet down.
Yoga enables you to notice and not dissociate, so you become aware of what goes on in your body. So it’s learning to notice yourself and trust yourself, but this will happen if you do it with the guidance of somebody who trusts that you can establish that sense of ownership over your own body.”

Bessel van der Kolk is a pioneer in research on how trauma is stored in the body. His best-known book “The Body Keeps the Score” (see in amazon.com or Βιβλιοπωλείο Πολιτεία), changed the way we understand trauma and its effects, as well as approaches to alleviating it.

You can read more of Anetta’s reflections in her blog, Freedom in Awareness