Integrative tools for healing the traumatized mind and body

• Combines cutting-edge Western cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and ancient Eastern wisdom to heal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Teaches Kundalini yoga practices specifically designed to reset parts of the brain and body affected by PTSD

• Presents a fast-acting, holistic, evidence-based, and drug-free program for eliminating PTSD symptoms and restoring health, vitality, and joy

Trauma, the Greek word for “wound,” is the most common form of suffering in the world today. An inescapable part of living, the bad things that happen to us always leave aftereffects in both body and mind. While many people experience these aftereffects and move on, millions of others develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)--a painful, chronic, and debilitating barrier to happiness.

Reclaiming Life after Trauma addresses both the physical and psychological expressions of PTSD, presenting an integrative, fast-acting, evidence-based, and drug-free path to recovery. Authors Daniel Mintie, LCSW, and Julie K. Staples, Ph.D., begin with an overview of PTSD and the ways in which it changes our bodies and minds. They present research findings on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and yoga, giving the reader insights into how these powerful modalities can counteract and reverse the physical and mental aftereffects of trauma.

The authors provide a suite of simple, powerful, and easily learned tools readers can put to immediate use to reset their traumatized bodies and minds. On the physical side, they teach four Kundalini yoga techniques that address the hypervigilance, flashbacks, and insomnia characteristic of PTSD. On the psychological side, they present 25 powerful CBT tools that target the self-defeating beliefs, negative emotions, and self-sabotaging behaviors that accompany the disorder.

Drawing on many years of clinical work and their experience administering the successful Integrative Trauma Recovery Program, the authors help readers understand PTSD as a mind-body disorder from which we can use our own minds and bodies to recover. Woven throughout the book are inspiring real-life accounts of PTSD recoveries showing how men and women of all ages have used these tools to reclaim their vitality, physical health, peace, and joy.

Daniel Mintie, LCSW, is a cognitive-behavioral therapist, researcher, and trainer with over 27 years’ experience healing trauma. Julie K. Staples, Ph.D., is the Research Director at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C. and a certified Kundalini yoga teacher. Together the authors developed their Integrative Trauma Recovery Program combining yoga and cognitive-behavioral therapy for healing PTSD. Both authors live in New Mexico and conduct mind-body wellness workshops at universities and training centers worldwide.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Roots of the Problem
2 Embodied Stress
3 Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
4 The Hidden Wisdom of Symptoms
5 Rewire Your Brain
6 Belief: The Heart of the Matter
7 Yoga: Embodied Wellness
8 Sleep Well
9 The Road Forward
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Authors