AOBTA.org

A Body-Oriented Approach to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

With

Iona Teeguarden

AOBTA members - $150. Non-members - $200.

This workshop will describe the effects of trauma on the brain, as well as on the meridian system. Participants will have the opportunity to experience a simple body-oriented form of trauma work that can be used during point work, to help clients access inner resources.

The Su Wen says: “During shock, there is no home for the Spirit.” Shock disturbs the Shen. Shock trauma means that the organism enters a state of shock and is physiologically altered by it. Often, problems can be traced back to a time when an intense shock disturbed the bodymind system.

In working with trauma survivors, it is essential to avoid retraumatization, because further shocks can prolong or intensify the hyperarousal (or difficulty in moderating arousal) which is the key characteristic of PTSD. Symptoms include sleep disorders, chronic tension and fatigue, memory impairment, irritability and emotional numbness.

Remembering or reexperiencing the traumatic event can bring up the same feelings one had at the time. Therefore, to avoid feeling overwhelmed and retraumatized, it is important to feel how it feels in the body, and then to “switch channels” and focus on feelings of competence.

Iona Marsaa Teeguarden, Dipl. ABT, M.A., L.M.F.C.C.

Iona has been a licensed psychotherapist (LMFT) for 25 years and is the founder and director of the Jin Shin Do^® Foundation for Bodymind Acupressure^® — an international network (see www.jinshindo.org). She has taught throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe for nearly four decades, and is the author of: The Acupressure Way of Health: Jin Shin Do^®, The Joy of Feeling: Bodymind Acupressure, and the Revised Complete Guide to Acupressure — the last chapter of which is “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.”