By Raquel Issenberg
In the dynamic realm of psychotherapy, the recognition that the journey to healing extends far beyond the confines of verbal expression is steering a transformative evolution.
As mental health professionals and their patients navigate the intricacies of trauma, it becomes evident that some wounds run deeper than the reach of the spoken word alone. In response to this profound understanding, a groundbreaking shift is persistently making its way – an evolution that calls for the integration of yoga and movement into psychotherapeutic practices, ushering in a new era of holistic healing.
Ruthie Duran Deffley, the voice of the month, is a Clinical Social Worker and Mental Health Therapist in the Savannah community who seamlessly blends her expertise in trauma counseling with her passion for yoga.
“I started to practice yoga in my early twenties, especially once I finished college. I moved to San Francisco in early 2000 and there were a lot of yoga studios in the city. I got into hot yoga, called Bikram yoga at the time, I enjoyed its rigor and it was a good balance to all the running I was doing. However, it was not a spiritual practice at the time, I mainly did it for its stretching and flexibility benefits. It wasn't until my 30s that I started to practice yoga more for its spiritual and mental benefits.”, Duran Deffley recalled.
The subtle cues
Psycotherapist and yoga teacher Ruthie Duran Deffley has a clear goal – to empower individuals to develop a heightened awareness of their internal experiences and, ultimately, to release the grip that trauma may have on their lives.
Her dedication to holistic healing stems from a deep understanding of the interconnectedness between mental and physical well-being, which aligns with her own experiences.
“I really fell in love with gentle yoga while pregnant with my first child. I practiced prenatal yoga in this amazing yoga studio in Minneapolis, Blooma. It focused on prenatal and postnatal yoga and most of the instructors were also midwives or doulas. It was an incredibly nurturing and supportive space that encouraged us to connect with our bodies and the little human growing inside us.”
Raised in Mexico, Duran Deffley returned to the United States at the age of 18 to pursue her studies. Her journey led her to live in D.C., Minnesota, and California. Eventually, she relocated to Georgia, where she established her home with her family and continued her professional endeavors.
“As I developed my professional career, I found myself drawn more and more towards trauma work. The works of Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk and Dr. Peter Levine, along with others, have greatly impacted my practice as a psychotherapist. When I discovered David Emerson's work in Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY), I felt like I could combine both my passion for working with trauma and my love of yoga. I enrolled in the 300 hr Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Certification program in 2021 and completed it in the Spring of 2022.”, she recounted.
Ruthie, as she is known in town, currently enriches her therapy sessions by incorporating Trauma-Sensitive Yoga and Mindfulness Self-Compassion classes, aiming to empower her patients with a journey towards self-discovery and trauma release.
“Since September of this year, I have been offering TSY classes in my office. These classes are offered in a closed group setting, meaning the class goes for six consecutive weeks and once the group starts meeting, no one else can join the group. This is to increase the sense of safety and predictability for the group members. Participants can re-enroll as many times as they choose. This offering will be ongoing and everyone is welcome to participate, no yoga experience is required.”
By intertwining her therapeutic techniques with the ancient wisdom of yoga, Ruthie creates a unique space where her clients can explore the intricate relationship between their minds and bodies. These classes are offered separately from her talking-therapy sessions, as an integrative tool beyond traditional approaches.
“We know now that our bodies remember at cellular level what has happened to us and that preverbal trauma is trauma that occurred to us before we were able to speak and remains locked in our bodies until we can release it. ”
“I appreciate Dr. Bessel A. Van Der Kolk’s definition of trauma: “not the story of something that happened back then, but the current imprint of that pain, horror, and fear living inside [the individual].” And this imprint includes the physical aspect of trauma. We know now that our bodies remember at a cellular level what has happened to us and that preverbal trauma is trauma that occurred to us before we were able to speak and remains locked in our bodies until we can release it. This is one reason why we sometimes have involuntary reactions to people, places, or things that we can't rationally explain. It's incredibly fascinating.”, she expounded.
Therefore, the heart of Ruthie's methodology lies in the cultivation of a mind-body connection that empowers individuals to notice and understand the subtle manifestations of trauma within their physical and emotional landscapes.
About her yoga-based clinical intervention, she explained that “TCTSY (Trauma Center-Trauma Sensitive Yoga) invites participants to safely connect with their bodies. A few key principles of TCTSY is that it is always non-coercive, meaning that participants have full autonomy over the decisions that they are making the entire time, this aligns with one of the 8 limbs of Yoga- one of the five Yamas, Ahimsa (Sanskrit for Non-violence).”
Ruthie, who also serves the Hispanic local community as a native Spanish speaker, professionally delves into the compelling reasons behind the imperative for psychotherapy to evolve.
“TCTSY also invites interoception, that ability to notice what is happening inside the body, which is sometimes considered to be the sixth sense.”
Through this process, she guides her clients toward a grounded path of self-discovery, resilience, and ultimately, healing.
“A third principle is that of taking effective action which means doing something with your body that you notice results in feeling better physically. Traumatized individuals can struggle with the ability to choose what to do with their bodies once they feel something and to take an action based on what they feel in their bodies.”
The TCTSY methodology draws from key elements of Hatha yoga, involving participants in a sequence of physical forms and movements, usually adapted to enhance feelings of empowerment and foster connection with one's body.
“This is from David Emerson's book Trauma Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: ‘To make this leap from feeling something and/or choosing something to doing something, one must trust one's body as a useful, functional thing. But, as we have seen, to be traumatized is to live in a body that is more likely to feel useless, and ineffectual’.
“It is here that TCTSY distinguishes itself from other interventions in psychotherapy- individuals are having an embodied experience IN THE PRESENT MOMENT that helps overwrite the layers of trauma in their minds and bodies. It is not about what they are thinking, it is about what they are feeling and sensing in their bodies.”, Ruthie elaborated about Emerson’s work.
In each session, Duran Deffly guides her patients through trauma-sensitive yoga practices, carefully tailored to foster a safe and supportive environment. The integration of the Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) program further enhances the therapeutic experience, encouraging individuals to develop an acute awareness of their internal states. A heightened awareness becomes a powerful tool in the journey toward releasing accumulated trauma.
“Mindful Self Compassion was developed by Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Christopher Germer and is a practice of turning towards self with kindness in the present moment. It involves three main concepts- Self-Kindness, Mindfulness, and Common Humanity.
“Self-kindness is pretty self-explanatory, but it means showing yourself the kindness you would show a beloved family member, your child, your best friend. Mindfulness is being present, in the moment without judgement or criticism. And finally, and my favorite aspect of MSC, is common humanity, it's recognizing that we are all in this together and that you are not the only one feeling....fill in the blank. It is through connecting to our shared experience of being human that we reduce our internal shame.”, she described.
Ruthie’s commitment to bridging the gap between psychology and yoga not only provides a unique avenue for healing but also fosters a sense of empowerment in those seeking to overcome the challenges of trauma.
“I weave elements of MSC into my yoga practice to invite participants to turn towards self with kindness and to create a space where judgement of Self is suspended and we can move away from the binary of good/bad; right/wrong and hold space for what is and accepting that in this moment that is how it is in our bodies.”, she finalized
Ruthie’s work is a testament to the transformative power that emerges when passion, expertise, and innovation converge in the pursuit of holistic well-being.
If you want to practice yoga with Ruthie, contact her directly via email or visit her website Healthy Mind/Mente Sana to learn more about her services.
