A Thousand Joys

Ten-year-old David* lives in a domestic violence shelter with his mother and three younger siblings. Every night he suffered nightmares as he relived the trauma of abuse and of leaving his abuser. Individual and cognitive therapies did little to help, and David would act out in order to avoid his therapy sessions. David’s therapists joined (ATJ’s Peace and Release Program) and learned to integrate movement into his trauma work. David learned specific yoga based stretches to relax his central nervous system, and he saw an immediate reduction in the frequency and severity of his nightmares. This enabled him to feel safe and deal with his trauma history during individual therapy sessions. Today, David coaches his younger siblings on how to use yoga-based stretches and breathing to reduce their own stress.

Ana*, a 35-year-old single mother from Mexico, moved with her four young children to a domestic violence shelter after the children’s father made multiple attempts to kill them. Expressing a desire to parent her children violence-free, Ana took parenting classes and graduated from her treatment program. But she still had difficulty regulating her emotions and would often hit her children in anger, after which she expressed guilt. Ana began participating in ATJ’s Coping Skills Program, where she learned movement and breathing techniques that she could later apply in specific parenting situations. She now knows how to control her breath and movement in ways that calm her mind and body. And she has gained a better understanding of how the body reacts during and after a traumatic experience. This has empowered her to release her guilt and take responsibility for her previous parenting mistakes. Ana now reports feeling “in control” of her body and emotions, even when angry, and she has been successfully applying violence-free parenting.

Lucia*, a 23-year-old single mother, lives in a domestic violence shelter with her children, a toddler and two preteens. Traumatic experiences in her past left Lucia struggling with flashbacks that triggered frightening and overwhelming memories. She joined ATJ’s yoga-based coping skills program and learned how to use breathing techniques and yoga poses to bring herself back to the present whenever a flashback occurred. Lucia reports that even at highly stressful times, she is able to manage her flashback experiences.

Violence in the home and parental neglect left nine-year-old Samuel* an anxious, fearful child who had trouble focusing and concentrating in school. He attended ATJ’s school-based yoga coping skills group, where he learned specific skills to reduce school-based anxiety. Samuel then successfully applied the active movement meditations to manage his worries at home by calming his mind and body, enabling him to vocalize his concerns for safety, and in turn enabling caregivers to take action and keep him safe.

Ruth* is the director of a mental health agency where she manages a staff of five. Daily, she contends with stressful situations, challenging reports and time-sensitive deadlines. Ruth attended an ATJ-sponsored yoga stress management training session where she learned to apply simple neck stretches to relieve her work-related stress. By using these techniques, Ruth was able to reduce the irritability she often experienced at work. Being able to manage her stress had other benefits, too: Ruth found that she could communicate more effectively and derive greater satisfaction from her work.