Trauma is Not What Happened to You—It’s Your Body’s Response to What Happened to You
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You don’t have to go through war, abuse, or some life-shattering event to have trauma. Trauma isn’t just the big things—it’s also the moments that reshaped you in ways you didn’t even realize. The times you felt unseen. The times you had to be too strong. The times you learned that trust wasn’t safe, that your feelings weren’t welcome, or that being small kept you protected.
Trauma isn’t about the event itself—it’s about what happened inside you because of it. It’s the way your nervous system learned to brace for impact, to shut down, to survive. It’s why you flinch when someone raises their voice, why your stomach knots before a difficult conversation, why you feel anxious in moments that should feel safe. Your body doesn’t work off logic—it works off experience. And if you've ever felt stuck in patterns you don’t understand, it’s not because something is wrong with you. It’s because your body is still carrying the story.
Trauma Lives in the Body, Not Just the Mind
If trauma were just a bad memory, we could think our way out of it. But trauma is stored in the body, in the nervous system, in the way you instinctively brace when someone raises their voice or how your stomach knots before confrontation. It lives in the flinch, the freeze, the way you can’t relax even when you should feel safe.
Trauma is a physiological imprint. It’s the way your body learns to anticipate danger, even when none is present. But it doesn’t just shape the way your body reacts—it shapes your unconscious. Your nervous system stores past experiences in implicit memory, meaning your reactions aren’t always based in conscious awareness—you don’t always know why you feel anxious, shut down, or on edge. Your body is working off past experiences, reacting as if an old threat is still present, even when your mind doesn’t recognize it. This is why certain situations trigger overwhelming reactions that seem disproportionate to the present moment. It’s not just about what’s happening now; it’s about what has already happened—the past replaying itself in the background, outside of your awareness.
This is why traditional talk therapy—while incredibly valuable—sometimes isn’t enough. You can’t logic your way out of a nervous system response because trauma isn’t just a story you tell—it’s a pattern your body holds. Healing requires more than understanding. It requires working with the body, accessing what the mind alone cannot reach, and gently reprogramming the unconscious patterns that keep you stuck.
How Trauma Shows Up in Daily Life
Trauma responses aren’t just panic attacks and PTSD. They can also show up as:
Chronic fatigue and burnout
Hyper-independence ("I don’t need anyone")
Difficulty setting boundaries
People-pleasing and fawning
Emotional numbness or dissociation
Explosions of anger or irritation
Deep shame and self-doubt
An inability to fully relax, even in safe situations (feeling jumpy, on edge, or like you always have to be "on," even when nothing is wrong)
These aren’t personality traits. They’re nervous system adaptations. They’re proof that your body found a way to survive, even if that survival mechanism isn’t serving you anymore.
Healing Trauma Means Working With the Nervous System
Because trauma is stored in the body, healing has to include the body. Somatic work, breathwork, movement, and nervous system regulation techniques are key to unwinding trauma responses. Here’s where to start:
Learn to track your nervous system – Notice when you feel hyperactivated (anxious, restless, overwhelmed) or hypoactivated (numb, disconnected, exhausted). Awareness is the first step.
Practice co-regulation – Healing doesn’t happen in isolation. Safe, supportive relationships help retrain the nervous system to experience connection without fear.
Engage in somatic work – Practices like breathwork, grounding exercises, shaking, and movement help discharge stored survival energy and create a new baseline of safety.
Give yourself permission to heal at your own pace – There is no timeline for trauma recovery. Your body will heal when it feels safe enough to do so.
Remember: Trauma isn’t about the event—it’s about how your body responded to it.
It’s how your body adapted to survive. And because it lives in the body, healing must also happen in and through the body. Your nervous system is waiting for permission to feel safe again. Healing is not about "getting over it"—it’s about building safety in the present and learning to be with your system as you re-pattern.
If this resonates, and you’re ready to explore somatic healing, let’s connect. I work with clients to help them understand their nervous systems, release stored trauma, and build real, embodied safety. Reach out here to learn more!
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