How Trauma Lives in the Body - And How We Can Release It

Trauma isn’t just something that happens in our minds. It isn't just a memory that we either have or don't have. Sometimes, especially when the traumatic event occurred early on in your developmental years or was perhaps ongoing over an extended period of time, there may not be much memory of the trauma at all. Even without direct memory though, trauma lives in our bodies. Long after a painful or overwhelming experience has passed, its imprint can remain — not only in our memories, but in our muscles, our breath, our heartbeat, and our nervous system.

For many people, trauma shows up in subtle and persistent ways: chronic tension, fatigue, digestive issues, or the inability to feel truly safe or settled, even in seemingly calm environments. You may find yourself constantly alert, emotionally reactive, or completely shut down a good bit of the time. These are biological responses to unresolved trauma.

Understanding Trauma and the Nervous System

When we experience something traumatic — whether it’s a single event like an accident or a chronic experience like childhood physical or emotional neglect — our nervous system responds to protect us. This might look like fight (anger, action), flight (running away, avoiding), freeze (numbing, dissociation), or fawn (people-pleasing, appeasement).

These responses are not conscious choices; they are automatic, wired into our biology for survival. While these patterns are ways that our brain and body work together to keep us protected, they can become a problem when they become "stuck." Our nervous system may continue to fire as though the threat is still present, even when it isn’t. This is why someone can feel unsafe, anxious, or disconnected long after the trauma has ended.

The body holds onto trauma because, at the time, it wasn’t fully processed or discharged. This can especially be the case when the trauma occurred in childhood and there wasn't a healthy adult caregiver present. This incomplete survival response remains trapped in the nervous system, manifesting as physical tension, emotional reactivity, or a general feeling of being "off."

Symptoms of Trauma Stored in the Body

Everyone’s experience of trauma is different, but here are some common signs that unprocessed trauma may be living in the body:

• Chronic muscle tightness, especially in the shoulders, neck, or jaw

• Digestive issues or chronic gut discomfort

• Headaches or migraines

• Difficulty sleeping or feeling rested

• Hypersensitivity to noise, light, or touch

• Anxiety, panic attacks, or persistent low-level dread

• Emotional numbness or difficulty feeling joy

• Feeling disconnected from your body or surroundings

• Cycles of burnout or emotional overwhelm

These symptoms often don’t respond well to logic or willpower alone. That’s because they aren’t rooted only in the mind — they’re coming from the body’s unfinished attempts to protect itself. While traditional "talk therapy" alone can be helpful in understanding parts of a person's relationship with trauma, it most often doesn't fully remove the root.

Why Talk Therapy Isn’t Always Enough

It can be useful for gaining some insight, developing emotional support, and even building some tools for your toolbox. It helps us name our experiences, understand patterns, and create new narratives. But for many trauma survivors, talking alone doesn’t resolve the body’s deeply held distress.

This is because trauma is a bottom-up process. It begins in the lower, more primitive parts of the brain (brainstem and limbic system) and only later engages the thinking brain (prefrontal cortex). When we try to reason our way out of trauma responses, we may hit a wall.

Somatic therapy acknowledges that healing often needs to start with the body. By accessing the nervous system directly — through awareness, movement, breath, and sensation — we can begin to complete those old survival responses and restore regulation.

Somatic Approaches to Releasing Trauma

Healing trauma in the body isn’t about reliving the past. It’s about giving the body a new experience: one of safety, choice, and connection. Here are a few of the somatic modalities used in trauma therapy, and specifically at Woven Wholeness:

Brainspotting: Brainspotting is a powerful method that uses the visual field to access unprocessed trauma in the brain and body. By identifying "brainspots" (eye positions that correlate with emotional and physical activation), clients can process deep trauma in a contained and mindful way. The therapist holds a supportive space while the body does the work of releasing and integrating.

Somatic Experiencing: Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, Somatic Experiencing focuses on helping the body complete the natural fight/flight/freeze responses that were interrupted during trauma. Through slow, gentle awareness of bodily sensations, clients are guided to build capacity and discharge stuck energy.

Polyvagal-Informed Therapy: Based on Dr. Stephen Porges’s Polyvagal Theory, this approach helps clients understand and work with their nervous system. By learning how to move from a state of survival (fight/flight/freeze) into a state of connection (ventral vagal), clients gain tools for greater self-regulation.

Movement and Breathwork: Sometimes, trauma needs to move. Gentle movement, dance, yoga, or expressive arts can help release stored tension and support emotional expression. Breathwork, when guided carefully, can support nervous system regulation and emotional release. Trauma Sensitive Trauma Centered Yoga (TSTCY) is one trauma specific method that Woven Wholeness utilizes with clients to help them move out some of what's stuck.

The Role of Safety and Connection in Healing

One of the most important factors in trauma healing is co-regulation — the experience of feeling safe and connected with another person. Many traumatic experiences involve relational ruptures, so healing often happens in the context of safe, attuned relationships.

This is why a trauma-responsive therapist matters. A therapist trained in somatic work and bottom-up approaches understands how to pace the work, track your nervous system, and offer consistent support as you build the capacity to feel and process what’s been stuck.

Healing trauma is not about digging up the past; it’s about restoring connection to yourself in the present. That includes helping your body feel safe again.

What Healing Trauma in the Body Can Feel Like

Trauma healing is not linear. It doesn’t always feel like a breakthrough or a big emotional release. Most often it looks a lot more like:

• Realizing you can breathe more deeply

• Feeling calmer in situations that used to trigger you

• Noticing more sensation in your body (in a good way)

• Laughing more easily

• Setting boundaries without guilt

• Sleeping more soundly

These are quiet signs that your nervous system is coming out of survival mode and into regulation.

If you resonate with any of this — if your body feels like it’s still carrying something heavy, or if you’re tired of feeling stuck in patterns you can’t think your way out of — you don't have to be stuck there anymore.

At Woven Wholeness, we specialize in trauma-responsive, body-based therapy that supports you at your pace. We believe that your body holds wisdom and that healing is possible when you have the right support.

Whether you’re curious about Brainspotting, somatic therapy, or simply want to explore what it might mean to feel safe in your own body again, we’re here for you.