Relaxation, Resilience and Recovery: Take a Deep Breath and Change Your Brain

Did you know that just learning to relax is key to trauma-informed intervention, resiliency and recovery from a variety of disorders? Dr. Roger Klein, expert on the impact of relaxation training with children and adolescents, presented a workshop “Helping Children and Teens Self-Regulate Using Imagery and Relaxation” at a recent trauma conference. In this presentation, Klein underscores that that there are many ways children and teens can learn to regulate their responses to stress and traumatic events. Additionally, using imagination along with relaxation activities and resilience-focused thinking, young people can learn to minimize their responses to every day stress and traumatic experiences.

Relaxation is a state of being in which there is an absence of tension and hyperarousal, two common reactions to stress or traumatic events. Roger Klein and other experts on trauma propose that practicing relaxation skills over time is a highly effective way to mediate and reduce the effects of stress on the body and mind. Without the ability to relax, we may stay locked in a “fight or flight” response; the latter leads to chronic feelings of anger, depression, panic, and burnout and even stress-related medical conditions. In other words, there are many benefits to practicing relaxation including reduced susceptibility to disease, improved concentration and most of all, increased happiness and life satisfaction.

Meditation is one form of relaxation and is often defined as a form of mindfulness, the bringing of one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis. Mindfulness meditation has been studied for several decades and has proven to be effective in the treatment of pain, anxiety, stress and even addictions. Many trauma specialists now regularly apply some form of mindfulness practice in work with clients of all ages, including children, because of the outstanding evidence indicating that meditation actually “changes” our brains in positive ways. Mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn developed a now widely used protocol called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to treat chronic stress and the illnesses that repeated exposure to psychological trauma causes, including high blood pressure, heart disease and weakened immune system functioning.

Just recently researchers at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) found that certain areas in the brains of individuals who meditated for many years were larger than those individuals who did not engage in regular meditation. They also found that those people who meditate have more gray matter and show less age-related brain atrophy (weakening), suggesting that meditation may be good for everyone because our brains naturally shrink in size over our lifespan. In follow-up studies, these researchers found that the benefits of meditation are not isolated to one part of the brain, but involve many parts including the cortex, limbic system and brain stem.

When it comes to children, some readers may ask, “Well, how do we successfully adapt what is known about meditation, mindfulness and relaxation to young people?” One popular technique I have used with children for many years is called “Lion’s Breath” and uses an imaginative metaphor (the lion’s roar) to help young people learn the same relaxation skills that teens and adults may learn through traditional methods and yoga breathing:

“I am going to teach you about a way to let go of worries or thoughts that might be bothering you. It’s called the Lion’s Breath and I want you to imagine you are a lion. Remember, a lion has a really, really big roar—can you roar? Now I want you to sit up with your legs crossed; if you feel more comfortable sitting up against a wall with your legs crossed, go ahead and do that (some children feel safer with their backs against a wall). Now, get ready to make your roar! Let’s try one all together as a group (we all roar in unison).

Before we roar again, let’s all think of a worry that we would like to let go off.  For a minute I want you to watch me and see how I roar. First, I am going to take in a really, really deep breath through my nose and then let my roar out through my mouth, sticking my tongue out at the same time and stretching out my arms out as far as I can in front of me. Let’s all try it together, okay?” (Leader and children perform the breathing and roaring together, sticking out their tongues and stretching out arms) (Malchiodi, 2000, p. 14).

Repeat this activity several times; inevitably the deep breathing, roaring and stretching lead to a child-friendly (and fun) form of relaxation. For more information on relaxation with children and teens, visit Roger Klein’s website.

Be well,

Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC

References

Malchiodi, C. (2000). Creative activities manual for children from violent homes. Salt Lake City, UT: WIJ Publications.

Thoughts on Japan, Disaster Relief and Resilience

The recent and ongoing disaster in Japan once again brings up the question– just how do helping professionals assist children after an acute traumatic event like an earthquake or tsunami? Here are some recommendations:

Establish and maintain close relationships with trusted adults. Even under the most adverse circumstances, most children and adolescents can cope as long as they have connections to adults, including helping professionals and caregivers. Young people who have someone they know is concerned about their well-being, provides them with guidance, structure and information, and spends frequent time with them do better than those who do not have such relationships. While parents are usually the source of support, others (counselors, teachers, childcare staff) can also supply a sense of meaningful connection.

Insure a sense of safety. All children need to feel safe, but particularly those under stress. In acute trauma situations like disasters, sharing knowledge of what is being done to help everyone be safe and secure is important. Many individuals have a tendency to worry more than usual after a catastrophe or negative event; for example, some children believed that airplanes could hit their homes after the events of September 11, 2001. Helping professionals and caregivers can assist them by providing age-appropriate and realistic information to reduce undue fright, anxiety or obsessive thinking. Monitoring children’s exposure to violent images or reports of death or disaster will also reduce feelings of vulnerability and the sense that “it is happening again” when, in fact, there may no longer be a threat.

Practice self-regulation techniques. Knowing a method or two to relieve emotional and physical tension can enhance and build resilience over time. Play is a natural form of self-regulation if it calms and relieves the individual. Talking, drawing, making music or physical activities or sports can help, too. For children and adolescents who are anxious or showing signs of hyperarousal, many of the more well-known self-regulation activities and strategies (breathing, mindfulness, and muscle relaxation) are useful; mastery of a “resilience-building” skill also is positive resilience factor, in and of itself.

Encourage optimism. Traumatic events like disasters make it difficult to feel positive about the world; even children and adolescents who have a natural tendency to see a positive future can be emotionally shaken by certain events. Those individuals who believe that these events are temporary will do better than those who obsessively belief that things will not change for the better. It is extremely important that helping professionals and parents help children and adolescents develop a sense that they can effectively deal with stress.

Identify values and beliefs. Commonly used lists of resilience factors include several concepts that underscore the importance of values and beliefs in trauma informed practice. Individuals who are altruistic, for example, and seek to help others in need build personal resilience and reduce depression and anxiety in the process. Values that involve connection to others are particularly important because they reinforce connection to a larger group and emphasize the welfare of others. After a traumatic event, beliefs about religion or spirituality are also a source of resilience for some individuals; trauma informed practitioners can help identify these beliefs within a framework of cultural sensitivity for individuals’ and families’ preferences for sharing information on religious or other practices.

Practice all of the above. This list of recommendations began with the importance of relationships in resilience-building after a traumatic event, underscoring that one of the most significant factors in resilience and trauma recovery is a meaningful relationship with either a parent or a helping professional. In order to make that possible, parents and professionals must be able to be available and supportive. Practitioners must make sure that they are feeling safe, calm, well-rested, and in good emotional health in order to implement the resilience-building strategies in this list. Practitioners can also help parents/caregivers understand and practice these same principles so that they can be available and supportive to their children.

Finally, it is important to look for any trauma reactions even months after exposure to an acute event; it is common for individuals of any age to begin experiencing symptoms 2 to 3 months after the occurrence. Anxiety, depression, avoidance of certain situations, problems with cognition and concentration and irritability can signal that some resilience-enhancement is in order. If reactions persist, professional assessment may be appropriate to make sure children and adolescents retain the ability to function at home, school, and with peer groups.

Be well,

Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, LPAT

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