By Orit Krug  |  June 17th, 2020

I’m genuinely surprised at how often I’m asked “Can trauma be stored in the body?”.

Why?

Because it is absolutely impossible for trauma NOT to be stored in the body.

The very triggers that cause our nervous system to react are all based on fragments of our sensations and memories of trauma which our bodies hold onto.

The science behind how trauma is stored in the body

When we experience trauma, the higher functioning part of our brain – the pre-frontal cortex which processes information and makes logical decisions – simply shuts down. Our traumatic memories are then stored within the amygdala and hippocampus; two areas of our brain that are responsible for recognizing similar events and expressing emotions.

This is why, if you’ve experienced a traumatic event, you might notice that some smells, sounds, tones, or even expressions, can trigger a response from your nervous system.

Even if you think some triggers are minimal or insignificant – maybe your partner lovingly sneaks up on while you’re doing the dishes –  your body has stored the trauma and your nervous system is responding to the memory because it believes the trauma is about to start all over again.

Trauma trapped in the body can also impact healthy relationships

It isn’t out of the ordinary for senses or memories from trauma to trigger nervous system responses within healthy, loving relationships. Our nervous systems are wired to remember the past trauma from childhood or ex-partners and so, seemingly fleeting moments, may result in you feeling like you’re under threat.

Your nervous system is wired to react this way because trauma that is still stored within the physical body has yet to be released.

Working to rewire your nervous system within a supported therapeutic relationship will help you to release the trapped trauma and work towards being able to stay present in your relationships and beyond.

This means that you’ll be more able to get through conflict with your partner, rather than you fighting back, running away, freezing, or completely shutting them out.

Get on the right path to healing trauma from your body and nervous system.

If you are drawn to dance movement therapy, working with an Embodiment Coach like myself can assist you to finally release the trauma stored in your body and rewire your nervous system for healthier responses to external triggers in your relationship today.

Many people spend decades and thousands of dollars in traditional therapies trying to heal their trauma. Unfortunately, even the most popular therapies are scientifically shown to be limited in accessing trauma stored in the non-verbal brain and body.

Even alternative approaches, such as EMDR and Brain Mapping, are often not enough to fully heal from the physical body or the nervous system.

This makes trauma healing a very frustrating journey for so many people. They often blame themselves for being “un-healable” and decide that they’re broken.

This is NOT true!

Every human being is 100% neurophysiologically capable of healing from the past, because we all have wiring and neural pathways that can be rewired from fear and overprotection, to love and openness.

My unique, scientific-backed process via Dance Therapy has helped hundreds of clients finally heal from past trauma and transform their relationship (even after decades of trying in other therapies).

You can heal too, but you need the right methodology.

Sign up for my online course (ranges from free to $20 USD) to begin a unique, body-based learning experience that will teach you:

• Science-backed education about how trauma is stored in your body and nervous system. You’ll gain an understanding why it has NOT been your fault you haven’t healed yet from past trauma.
• Gentle, guided body-based movement that is necessary for integrated healing. This is crucial if you want your mind’s intentions to match your body’s behaviors in relationships.
• An embodied approach to healing that has helped hundreds of clients break unhealthy relationship patterns and let in healthy, lasting love.

Click here now to sign up!

By Orit Krug  |  June 16th, 2020

Our bodies are amazingly accurate at telling us if we’re holding trauma within.

Do you often feel that you have a lot of tension and stress in your body – usually in your shoulders or neck?

Or perhaps you feel stiff all over with a tightness that just doesn’t seem to go away?

This tension or strain is often an early indicator that you might be holding trauma in the body. When you avoid feeling the emotions that are stored in your body, the signals get “louder” and manifest into aches and pains.

There are three other common ways to tell you’re holding trauma in the body:

1. You have unexplained physical pain without a medical diagnosis

If you’ve seen a lot of doctors for certain physical pain and you haven’t experienced any relief from treatments, then this could be a sign that your physical discomfort is stemming from trauma.

This is because your mind is wonderful at telling you that you’re fine, you’re safe, you’re good; there’s nothing to worry about (maybe because your trauma happened a long time ago).

But in fact, your body is holding the trauma and continues to register danger threats in your environment. This releases cortisol which increases your stress levels and weakens your immune system; inevitably making you sick.

2. Your anxiety levels don’t seem to reduce no matter what you try

Another way to tell if you’re holding trauma in the body is if you have anxiety that doesn’t seem to be alleviated no matter how many meditations or affirmations you do, or how much journaling you undertake.

You’re working hard to reduce your anxiety, but you’re still struggling with levels that don’t seem to have reduced at all.

The anxious feelings you’re experiencing are your nervous system trying to signal that something is not right. That there is unresolved trauma being held in your body that needs to be released and healed.

3. You tend to disconnect from your body

If you find that you tend to escape from or disconnect from your body, then this is a strong sign that you are holding trauma and you’re trying to feel safe by numbing yourself.

Because your body stores memories and emotions from traumatic experiences, a common coping response is to dissociate from your body when your nervous system gets triggered.

This is because when the original trauma occurred, your nervous system caused your body to numb or escape the situation in order to prevent you from the most possible pain. This is your body’s way of coping, and your nervous system continues to respond to similar situations today, in the same way. You don’t feel safe to remain present, so you disconnect from your body.

Get on the right path to healing trauma from your body and nervous system.

Many people spend decades and thousands of dollars in traditional therapies trying to heal their trauma. Unfortunately, even the most popular therapies are scientifically shown to be limited in accessing trauma stored in the non-verbal brain and body.

Even alternative approaches, such as EMDR and Brain Mapping, are often not enough to fully heal from the physical body or the nervous system.

This makes trauma healing a very frustrating journey for so many people. They often blame themselves for being “un-healable” and decide that they’re broken.

This is NOT true!

Every human being is 100% neurophysiologically capable of healing in a way that truly lasts, because we all have wiring and neural pathways that can be rewired from fear and overprotection, to love and openness.

My unique, scientific-backed process via Dance Therapy has helped hundreds of clients finally heal from past trauma and transform their relationship (even after decades of trying in other therapies).

You can heal too, but you need the right methodology.

Sign up for my online course (ranges from free to $20 USD) to begin a unique, body-based learning experience that will teach you:

• Science-backed education about how trauma is stored in your body and nervous system. You’ll gain an understanding why it has NOT been your fault you haven’t healed yet from past trauma.
• Gentle, guided body-based movement that is necessary for integrated healing. This is crucial if you want your mind’s intentions to match your body’s behaviors in relationships.
• An embodied approach to healing that has helped hundreds of clients break unhealthy relationship patterns and let in healthy, lasting love.

Click here to sign up now!

By Orit Krug  |  July 22nd, 2019

Trauma is stored in the body AND your nervous system.

Releasing trauma from the physical body is one of the biggest steps that people miss on their trauma healing recovery, which keeps them stuck in the same behavior patterns even after they rewire their nervous system.

While trauma is stored in our fight, flight, freeze and shut down responses of our nervous system, it’s also trapped in the muscles, movements and sensations of our physical body.

Our daily actions manifest from what we feel and do with our physical body. Old behaviors and habits don’t change unless we release trauma stored in the body.

So when you think, “I really don’t want to snap at my husband when he doesn’t help around the house” but you still do (even though you’ve practiced a script of nicer things to say), then that’s a good sign that your trauma is still stored in your physical body.

Even though the trauma is gone from your nervous system, the habit is still in your body.

As much as you tell your mind to do something different, you’ll continue to act as if your past trauma is happening today if your body is still holding onto old trauma.

My clients quickly realize how much old trauma they’re still storing in their bodies as soon as we start physically moving out of their comfort zone. That’s when memories suddenly start coming up from YEARS ago. Things that they thought were already resolved.

A lot of these memories go back to VERY early years. Because when we have little to no verbal vocabulary as babies, we store even more memories in our physical bodies because there’s literally no other language to remember them.

Think back to when you were a toddler. That’s likely when your first trauma happened and got stored beneath the trauma that you also experienced in unhealthy relationships.

When your body holds onto trauma for SO long, you develop behavior patterns that exist to protect you from hurt.

Perhaps you grew up with a narcissistic father. Since you were a child, your “freeze” response activated and your shoulders tensed up every time he neglected your feelings.

Or maybe you’ve had an overbearing mother who constantly invaded your privacy. Your “flight” response activated and your body hunched over in an effort to protect your space (since you couldn’t actually escape as a child).

Any situation today that slightly resembles those original traumas will trigger the same or similar physical responses in your body. It becomes SO automatic that you don’t even think about it, like brushing your teeth or riding a bike.

Your physical body needs to believe that the danger of the past is in the PAST.

Let’s take the example of the narcissistic father setting off a nervous system “freeze” response. The freeze is a more ancient reaction that creates A LOT of tension in our bodies to become less appetizing to predators who want to eat us (dad is the “predator” in this scenario).

If you have spent years freezing up whenever you get triggered, then that’s your body’s only understanding of how to respond to fear.

So when you want to speak up to your partner during an argument, you’ll still have that impulsive freeze response in your physical body, even if you’ve already released that pattern from your nervous system.

If all your body knows is tension, immobilization, and collapse during confrontation, then you have to PHYSICALLY learn new ways of being in order to BE a different way.

Release trauma stored in the body and learn new ways of responding with physical movement.

Every movement represents a physical behavior.

For example: to speak up during confrontation, your body needs to understand being direct, strong, and taking up space in movement, so that you can powerfully assert yourself without losing your sh*t.

The specific movements that you’ll need is unique to you, your specific patterns, and how you’re storing your past trauma in your body.

Sign up for my online course (ranges from free to $20 USD) to begin a unique, body-based learning experience that will teach you:

• Science-backed education about how trauma is stored in your body and nervous system. You’ll gain an understanding why it has NOT been your fault you haven’t healed yet from past trauma.
• Gentle, guided body-based movement that is necessary for integrated healing. This is crucial if you want your mind’s intentions to match your body’s behaviors in relationships.
• An embodied approach to healing that has helped hundreds of clients break unhealthy relationship patterns and let in healthy, lasting love.

Click here to sign up now!