Severe trauma, especially trauma involving physical violation, can leave someone unable to tolerate ordinary physical sensation or touch — a bodily dysregulation that exists somewhat independently of conscious, narratable memory, and which talk therapy alone, focused on verbal processing, often can't fully address. Body-based approaches like yoga work directly on this physical dimension, gradually rebuilding a person's capacity to tolerate and even feel safe within their own physical sensations.
Controlled research on this approach has found it isn't just subjectively helpful — it produces measurable improvements specifically in arousal regulation and body awareness, distinct from and complementary to what verbal therapy addresses, which is part of why trauma treatment increasingly combines both rather than treating them as competing alternatives.