Is trauma stored in the body or nervous system?
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.
