Trauma can be defined as an event that causes severe emotional distress. It often overwhelms the individual’s capacity to cope or process what occurred. Common responses to trauma include fear, helplessness, confusion, dissociation, rage, shame, and depression.
Most people experience trauma, whether minor or massive, infrequent or repetitive. While no one would consciously choose it, there can be gifts and lessons during the healing process. But that does not mean it is fair or warranted. A red flag in many spiritual communities is the emphasis on past lives or karma as the alleged “cause” of trauma. While this concept may or may not be true in a cosmic sense, it is certainly not ethical to convey to trauma survivors. For more on this topic, read my blog here.
The impact of trauma is almost always lasting, and it is often “stored” in the body. The body, or similarly, the subconscious mind, may hold onto the pain or traumatic memory. This then disrupts natural equilibrium and causes symptoms – emotional, physical, spiritual, and/or energetic. Thus, releasing trauma from the body becomes important to restore balance. Part of restoration is a re-regulation of the nervous system. The nervous system is usually the most affected system of the body, and it often gets hijacked or stuck when there is a traumatic event. Childhood trauma can be particularly challenging.
The primal response to trauma usually involves the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for danger. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are other areas of the brain that might also “light up.” When this happens, the fight/flight response turns on, meaning you feel a compulsion to run away or attack. Freeze and fawn are the other primary psychological responses, which mean freezing in place or feeling paralyzed; or people pleasing, respectively. You may experience something called emotional flooding as well, where you are “flooded” with intense emotions and unable to function as usual. For more specifics on how to deal with trauma triggers, read this blog here.
As you can see, this strong cascade of reactions affects the mind and body – and soul. Read on for a practical guide on how to effectively release trauma from the body.
Be gentle with yourself through the process of trauma recovery. You have likely been through a lot, and self-compassion is a needed first step. Trauma often makes us blame ourselves for everything – including the event or events. The distorted thinking and perception of ourselves that trauma leaves in its wake is devastating in and of itself. You might consider counseling or cognitive behavioral therapy, aka CBT (working on changing your negative thoughts), to address this.
Learning about the signs of unresolved trauma is a good first step. It can help you understand if this phenomenon is relevant to you or people in your life. Then, we will cover some specific ways to release it from the body and experience emotional release and emotional healing.
Here are some common signs of unresolved trauma:
When trauma is unresolved, it usually means the person pushed it aside instead of dealing with it directly. This is very common, by the way, and understandable. When shocking, terrifying, or emotionally overwhelming events occur, we are often not equipped to process their enormity. The associated emotions and reactions can be suppressed and go latent. But they don’t just go away. They are stored in the body, and may come up at unexpected times.
Because unresolved trauma is lurking beneath the surface of conscious awareness, it can come out via overreactions to small things or physical or emotional symptoms, as mentioned above. It’s been said, famously by psychiatrist and author Bessel van der Kolk, MD, that “the body keeps the score.” That’s because our wounds and psychological experiences must go somewhere.
Our body “remembers” them, even if we have tried to forget. One of the main ways it does this is by the nervous system staying on high alert. Unconsciously (or consciously), the goal is to ward off potential future threats like the trauma that has already transpired. Unfortunately, the body and mind learned that threats are not out of the question, or maybe even likely.
Even if the body, mind, and soul have been injured by trauma, they can indeed heal. Here are 4 ways to start to release trauma from the body. Doing these will help you feel better and also decrease the chances of trauma developing into post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or prolonged grief disorder.
It may sound silly, but literally shaking your body can be powerful for releasing trauma and muscle tension. Emotions or energy trapped in the body need an outlet, and that can be both physical and emotional/spiritual. Shake your hands, legs, behind, head, or whatever floats your boat! You may be surprised how much better you feel afterward.
You don’t need to mentally understand how this is working. If you’re not drawn to shaking, running, dancing, or another movement practice (like yoga) can help. Let any bodily sensations you experience be OK. Signs your body is releasing include crying, laughing, and more.
Peter Levine, PhD, developed somatic experiencing or SE. It is a body-focused therapy that helps release traumatic shock. Through guiding people to become more aware of their bodily sensations, the SE client may gradually return to a state of calm and nervous system regulation. It is a gentle and somewhat indirect method to support trauma healing. Look into local resources if you’re interested.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, is a popular trauma healing modality, and for good reason. It is especially used to treat PTSD and involves bilateral stimulation while sharing with a therapist about traumatic memories. The most common type of bilateral stimulation is side-to-side eye movements. It is thought to help the brain process and “file away” the trauma so it doesn’t affect you as strongly anymore.
Deep breathing and grounding practices like earthing help you discharge excess emotion. They help bring you back into the present moment. Trauma hijacks the system into the past, but you can re-center through these techniques. Deep breathing helps you calm down by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for “rest and digest”).
Grounding refers to focusing your energy into your feet or the earth. Walking barefoot outside on the grass is ideal, but just sitting in a chair or on the floor and imagining a root going down into the center of earth or simply into your feet works too.
Finally, don’t be afraid to seek lots of support to move through your trauma recovery. The methods I shared here are often guided by a therapist, but even if they’re not, don’t hesitate to reach out. Trauma often brings a lot of shame, but it is misplaced. You have nothing to be ashamed of. This human experience is extremely intense, and we all need a little help sometimes.
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