Moving the body, or doing physical movements in general, can help a person find relief from their physical pains, emotional traumas, and symptoms of mental health illness. While movement groups will not heal those pains and negative experiences completely, they can help make people become more resilient. And as people become more resilient, growth and positive changes happen.
Start Your Recovery TodayTrauma can affect a person very deeply. It can change the way a person thinks, how they process their emotions, and how they behave. Trauma, whether experienced directly or witnessed from a distance, can stay with a person for a long time and transform their psyche. And with how information is readily available and easy to access thanks to the internet, people can be exposed to certain trauma almost every day.
A person who is afflicted with trauma can develop anxiety and deep fear, or feel moments of helplessness and depression. They may find their views or beliefs shifting because of their traumatic experience, resulting in them questioning their faith or having a sense of guilt or shame. Trauma can also cause some people to alter their outlook on life and change how they interact with others.
With Movement Groups, clients suffering trauma will be able to connect with themselves once more by learning how to move their bodies in various ways. These movements can be a dance or a part of an exercise, depending on the needs of the client and the plan of the therapist. While doing these movements won’t help a person fully recover from their traumas, they can help clients find relief.
A person who was deeply affected by trauma or was a survivor of a traumatic event will look at everything around them as dangerous. Their minds will then be filled with fear, forcing them to think and do things that will keep them safe from potential dangers. Actions include putting up emotional barriers, avoiding eye contact, or becoming anti-social. This can later lead to the development of severe mental health illnesses or worsening of current ones.
But why focus on the body with movement instead of the mind? While processing the feelings and emotions are central to any therapy process, these can be negatively affected by ‘sensations felt or remembered’ by the body. Thus, including the body in the therapeutic process will contribute to faster and more efficient healing in the long run. Clients will learn different approaches to help them alleviate the symptoms they may feel during traumatic exposure, such as:
By focusing on the body, clients will be able to reconnect with it. They will be able to learn and understand how their bodies acted or reacted when the traumatic event happened or when they remember it. And rather than let the trauma control them (in body, mind, and spirit), movement groups or movement therapy approaches will allow them to take control and let their healing move forward.
Don’t let your traumatic experiences disconnect you from your body. To help you heal and move forward, please get in touch with Innova Grace. We would be more than happy to assist you in your recovery.
Contact us today. All calls are confidential.