Becky Thompson - Survivors on the Yoga Mat: Stories for Those Healing from Trauma

Survivors on the Yoga Mat demonstrates beautifully how yoga can provide a pathway from pain and isolation to wholeness. Stories from a multiracial, intergenerational, cross-cultural group of people reveal the healing powers of yoga as widely accessible. Sharon Salzberg , author of Real Happiness at Work and cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society

This is the book Ive been waiting for: a raw, real, and wonderful collection of stories to inspire all those who are on the pathway from trauma to transcendence. Nikki Myers , yoga and somatic therapist and founder of Y12SR: The Yoga of 12-Step Recovery

Most people assume that those of us that practice yoga are naturally calm and centered and have happened into equanimity in the same way that we might find a hundred dollar bill on the foot path. The truth is, many of us are drawn to yoga because of deep wounds and traumas that have not been resolved even after years of therapy. As Becky Thompson and her brave contributors relate, it is by entering into the world of body sensation, breath, and attention that we can move through and beyond the limited identity of a survivor into the truth of our boundless self. Donna Farhi , author of Bringing Yoga to Life

A truly inspiring, informative, and important book! The process of meeting oneself at ever-deeper levels requires us to listen and follow our inner voice, taking courage to dive into our own personal journey through our practice. Becky Thompson shows us how to do this with sensitivity, clarity, and heart, demonstrating how asana, breath-work, and meditation are helping trauma survivors recover their power, their boundaries, and their joy in living fully and creatively. Angela Farmer , world-renowned yoga teacher

For survivors and those who love us: This book brings to light the patterns of entrapment that we all get tangled in. Survivors on the Yoga Mat documents that our pain, trauma, and wounds can be spoken, cleansed, sweat out, and released. Survivors brings deeper understanding to the journey through hell into power. May we all learn to Walk in Beauty. Ana Tiger Forrest , author of Fierce Medicine

Telling truthful stories is an essential act of activism this book is full of them. Matthew Sanford , president and CEO of Mind Body Solutions and author of Waking

Yoga is for every bodyyoung and old, Black as well as white. In this lovingly rendered book, Becky Thompson shows us that there are no limitations on who needs this ancient healing art and who can benefit from it. Jan Willis , author of Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and BuddhistOne Womans Spiritual Journey .

It is rare to open a book and find stories that depict trauma as a great equalizer in the human experience. With the sterling voice of one who has been there, Becky Thompson has gifted us with fragrant balm for healing the soul. Whether or not we see ourselves as survivors of trauma, this book is a heartfelt guide to living awake in this body. At the end of a traditional Zen temple meal, we chant in gratitude, May we exist in muddy water with purity like a lotus, thus we bow to Buddha. I bow to Survivors on the Yoga Mat , a garden of lotuses blossoming. Rymon Hilda Gutirrez Baldoqun, Sensei; editor of Dharma, Color, and Culture: New Voices in Western Buddhism and cofounder of Two Streams Zen

Survivors on the Yoga Mat gives voice to those who, despite overwhelming odds, are choosing to return to Source moment by moment, breath by breath. These are stories of liberation in the deepest sense from extraordinary ordinary folks who are using the ancient technology of yoga to transform their inner landscapes and step more fully and courageously into their lives. Keval Kaur Khalsa , associate professor of the Practice of Dance Theater Studies and director of the dance program at Duke University

Everyone who has experienced tears and emotions on the mat will recognize themselves in this lovely book. Becky Thompsons tone is invitational; her language is soothing and clear; the wisdom she offers is affirming and validating. Survivors on the Yoga Mat will help students, teachers, and practitioners of all types of integrative therapies understand the the healing powers of a complete yoga practice. Kyczy Hawk , author of Yoga and the Twelve Step Path

In this genuine and personal account, Becky Thompson offers a variety of practical suggestions for using yoga as a companion to treatment for trauma. David Emerson , author of Overcoming Trauma through Yoga

I come from Sri Lanka, a land fondly remembered by its visitors as Paradise Island, but torn to pieces by thirty years of civil war and natural disasters such as tsunami. Reading Becky Thompsons Survivors on the Yoga Mat opens new horizons for my imagination, on how to live and work with the multiple survivors in my country, struggling to reach wholeness, but burdened with trauma. In Survivors , there is a thirst for holiness and wholeness, written by a human being with a heart for the universe, grounded on this common ground.

Sister Canice Fernando , Sri Lanka

eBook ISBN: 978-1-58394-827-9
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58394-826-2

Copyright 2014 by Becky Thompson. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmit-ted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Photograph of Matcha Pornin on by Shelley Poplak. All other photos in the text and glossary by Ernesto Galan. All photography used with permission.

Survivors on the Yoga Mat: Stories for Those Healing from Trauma is sponsored and published by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences (dba North Atlantic Books), an educational nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.

North Atlantic Books publications are available through most bookstores. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com or call 8007333000.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Thompson, Becky W.
Survivors on the yoga mat: stories for those healing from trauma / Becky Thompson.
pages cm

Summary: A collection of ninety true stories about how yoga can be used to work through past trauma; written by a trauma survivor and yoga instructor, designed as an inspirational guide for survivors practicing yoga as well as a resource for yoga teachers and therapists. Includes over 100 photos and descriptions of yoga postures mentioned in the book, as well as an appendix on the most popular schools of yoga and how their unique characteristics can be applied to psychological healingProvided by publisher.
ISBN 9781-583948262 (paperback)

1. Post-traumatic stress disorderAlternative treatment. 2. YogaTherapeutic use. 3. Psychotherapy. I. Title.
RC552.P67T525 2014
616.85210642dc23

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