How the Body Holds Trauma
As a therapist, I often hear clients say, “I thought I was over it,” or “Why do I still feel this way if it happened so long ago?” Recognizing that trauma doesn’t simple live in the mind or in our emotions, but that it lodges itself in the body can be important. Understanding how the body holds trauma is essential to healing, and recent advances in neuroscience and somatic psychology are helping us connect the dots between traumatic experiences and physical symptoms.
The Mind-Body Connection in Trauma
Trauma is any experience that overwhelms our ability to cope, especially when we feel helpless, threatened, or unsafe. As discussed previously in Healing Trauma, trauma can be broken down into three pieces: the traumatic event, the individuals experience of the trauma, and the individual’s response to the trauma. In therapy, the focus is often on the combination of the individuals experience of trauma and their response to the trauma. Cognitive forms of therapy often focus on how the traumatic event(s) impacted the individuals view of themselves and the world around them, where somatic therapies can help understand the internal response to trauma. A combination of both therapies is important to full healing for most individuals.
As Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., states in his book The Body Keeps the Score, “if the memory of trauma is encoded in the viscera, in heartbreaking and gut-wrenching sensations, in the dread you feel in the back of your throat, then silencing the story doesn’t work.” To break this down, we have to recognize that when a traumatic event occurs, the brain’s survival mechanisms activate. The amygdala sounds the alarm, the hippocampus may struggle to process the event into a coherent narrative, and the prefrontal cortex (the part responsible for reasoning, coping and impulse control) may go offline. The body’s autonomic nervous system responds with a flood of stress hormones (like cortisol and adrenaline), priming the body for fight, flight, or freeze.
If the trauma is not processed, this survival response can become stuck, causing dysregulation in the nervous system. Clients may present with symptoms like chronic tension, insomnia, digestive issues, autoimmune problems, or a heightened startle response. According to Peter Levine, Ph.D., founder of Somatic Experiencing, “Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.” His work emphasizes that trauma is stored in the body and must be released through physical sensation and movement and not just through talking.
Common Signs That Trauma is Stored in the Body
From a therapeutic standpoint, here are some common indicators that trauma may be residing in the body:
Chronic muscle tension and pain, especially in the neck, shoulders, back, or jaw
Sleep disturbances and fatigue without medical explanation
Digestive issues, often linked to the enteric nervous system, also known as the “second brain”
Somatic flashbacks or body memories without clear cognitive recall
Disconnection from the body e.g., numbness, dissociation, or inability to sense internal cues like hunger or fatigue
Unexplained emotional triggers that seem disproportionate to the situation
Therapeutic Approaches That Address Trauma in the Body
In clinical practice, I often use an integrative approach of both cognitive and somatic modalities to help clients process trauma. Some evidence-based therapies that work with the body include:
Somatic Experiencing (SE): Developed by Peter Levine, SE focuses on tuning into physical sensations and gently releasing pent-up survival energy. Some techniques that I have utilized within this modality include interoception (increased mindfulness to notice subtle shifts in sensation), pendulation (helping clients to move from activation to calm to help build the ability for internal emotional regulation) and titration (introducing trauma in small manageable doses to avoid overwhelm).
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Created by Pat Ogden, this method integrates somatic awareness with cognitive and emotional processing to track how trauma manifests physically. Some techniques that I have utilized within this modality include mindful movement and posture tracking, coupling dynamics (untangling thoughts, emotions and sensations experienced or dissociated during trauma) and relational repair (exploring early attachment wounds).
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): While primarily a cognitive therapy, EMDR includes elements of bilateral stimulation that can help the brain and body integrate traumatic memories more holistically.
Trauma-Informed Yoga and Mindfulness: These practices help clients reconnect with their bodies safely and rebuild a sense of agency and calm through breathwork and gentle movement. Trauma-Informed movement and mindfulness is my most commonly integrated somatic modality for most clients. Allowing clients full choice and autonomy in deciding which movements, breaths and pace are most helpful for them and building awareness of their breath, movement, posture, etc.
The Path to Healing
Healing trauma involves more than understanding what happened. It means learning to feel safe in your body again. For many clients, this journey starts with simple awareness: noticing where tension lives, how the breath feels, or when the body wants to move. As clients begin to build a compassionate relationship with their bodily sensations, they often report a newfound sense of empowerment and ease. Being able to regulate their nervous system in response to traumatic stressors can be a major point of the healing process.
As therapists, it is our role to guide this reconnection gently and at the client’s pace. Trauma is not a flaw or a weakness—it is a deeply human response to overwhelming circumstances. The good news is, just as trauma can be stored in the body, it can also be released from it.
If you're a therapist or a client navigating trauma recovery, remember: your body’s responses are not broken—they are adaptive. Healing is not about forcing the body to forget; it’s about creating space for it to feel safe again.
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References
Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.
Levine, P. (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. North Atlantic Books.
Ogden, P., & Fisher, J. (2015). Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment. W.W. Norton & Company.
Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures. Guilford Press.
Emerson, D. (2015). Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the Body into Treatment. W.W. Norton & Company.