How Yoga Promotes Both Top-Down and Bottom-Up Regulation in Trauma Survivors

Trauma survivors have a hard time with top-down regulation of their autonomic nervous systems because their brain’s frontal lobe (the seat of rational thought) cannot communicate with their amygdala (the seat of fear and survival instincts).

The way to heal that connection is through bottom-up regulation, meaning they connect the body with the mind. A combination of simple yoga moves, connected with the breath, can help trauma survivors self-regulate so they can feel at peace in their bodies.

In this video Irina Diyankova, PhD, RYT-200 reveals how yoga stimulates both top-down and bottom-up regulation, and how you can use this in your practice to help your clients heal.