Hi, my 2 cents: it does not matter what kinds of yoga or types of therapy at this stage. Find a good therapist, find a yoga/meditation and/or exercise that you can follow regularly. that's it. We like to think about oh CBT is better on my anxiety, but EMDR is better on my Trauma, hey yoga nidra is better but vipassana is more comprehensive etc. these are overthinking, our brain is doing this for a cheap dopamine shots. Start somewhere, do regularly. thats all.
I appreciate the spirit of this comment, but I have to disagree on a few key points.
The kind of meditation is very important. There are some meditation practices that therapists urge people with trauma history to avoid, and Vipassana is the specific type of meditation that is recommended because of the clarifying nature of the practice. This is the type of meditation that has been subject to studies with positive outcomes.
Other forms of concentration practice may be a stepping stone to Vipassana if they help someone with concentration, but can also be a gateway to less ideal experiences for someone with trauma history. It can also be a path to nowhere if you stay on these other practices without understanding the differences between them.
Regarding therapy, the type of therapy matters too, and will depend on your history. EMDR is not widely accepted as treatment for trauma, and is not for everyone. I’ve experienced the power of EMDR directly and it helped me reduce the effects of more recent events (I was in a car accident that deeply unsettled me for a time), but trying to apply therapy to other events that had even tangential connotations with my past resulted in getting completely stuck during EMDR sessions. My current therapist fully supports the use of EMDR but has cautioned me against it for complex trauma history and my personal experiences confirm that this is good advice for me.
I think the most important thing here is that YMMV and do what works for you, but be thoughtful about it and understand the key differences between available treatment.
But even though therapy modalities can vary greatly depending on your past experiences, the recommended gateway into meditation is consistently Vipassana and from what I can tell this is for a good reason. This isn’t to say other forms can’t be useful and another comment pointed out some useful resources above, but there are definitely some paths that will lead nowhere.
