The Mind-Body Connection: How Your Body Holds onto Trauma
And How Somatic Therapy Can Help.
Trauma isn’t just a story stuck in the past - it is something your body remembers long after the event has passed. When faced with trauma or chronic anxiety, the nervous system often remains in a state of heightened alert. This creates physical tension, pain, or discomfort, even when there is no immediate threat. Understanding this mind-body connection is crucial for true healing.
Your body can hold trauma in subtle ways, including shallow breathing, tight muscles, digestive issues, or unexplained tiredness and bone weary exhaustion. These physical manifestations of inner pain are the body's way of signalling an unresolved internal conflict.
It’s not simply “in your head” - it is deeply felt through your entire body.
Why We Experience Physical Symptoms
When we go through an experience that is stressful or traumatic, our nervous system activates the body's survival mechanisms. You might hear me refer to this in session as ‘being activated’. Your body literally activates the release of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, preparing you to run away, if it can’t do that it’ll prepare you to fight, and if that doesn’t work, it’ll make you freeze.
Remember, these are physiological responses to a very stressful situation. Honed over millions of years of evolution. They are not in your conscious control. Although bringing awareness to when we feel activated helps us notice the response, and use somatic approaches to calm ourselves down again.
Physical symptoms - such as a rapid heartbeat, muscle tension, gastrointestinal discomfort, or headaches - are your body's way of mobilising resources to deal with these perceived threats.
These responses, while absolutely essential in short bursts, can become problematic when the nervous system remains in a heightened state due to chronic stress or unresolved trauma. The body holds on to this tension and hyperarousal, leading to persistent symptoms like chronic pain, fatigue, digestive issues, or even immune system dysfunction.
By understanding how the nervous system influences these physical manifestations, somatic therapy supports healing by helping the body release stored tension and return to a state of regulation.
What we are trying to achieve is nervous system flexibility, not to always be in a state of calm. That is an impossible goal and actually to be avoided. We need our body to be responsive to be able to sleep, exercise, and engage with other people. And to move fluidly through the states of parasympathetic and sympathetic activation.
This mind-body approach recognises that trauma is held not just in the mind but deeply within the body’s nervous system, emphasising the importance of addressing physical sensations alongside thoughts and emotions to create lasting healing.
Signs of Trauma or Chronic Anxiety
Recognising the signs of trauma or chronic anxiety is the first step towards healing. These experiences often manifest both physically and emotionally, reflecting the deep connection between the mind and body.
Physical Signs
Persistent tension in the body, especially in the neck, shoulders, or jaw which can lead to all kinds of discomfort and pain. We can end up with chronic headaches. Some people fear they are having heart problems due to the over-activation of key muscles around the ribcage.
Chronic fatigue despite adequate rest, leaving you with brain fog and a lack of motivation.
Digestive issues such as nausea, bloating, or irregular bowel movements due to the amount of cortisol and adrenaline that is flowing around the body. Some cortisol is needed in the body to prevent inflammation, but too much closes off the feedback loop that tells the body when to stop producing cortisol, leading, ironically, to more inflammation. Also, when we are in a state of stress, the body diverts blood away from the gut to the muscles in the arms and legs to prepare us to run away or fight back.
Increased heart rate or palpitations without clear cause. Which has the added stressor of making us feel like there is something seriously wrong with us.
Difficulty breathing or feeling short of breath which is directly related to our heart rate. Or can be because you are breathing high up in the chest and not from the diaphragm.
Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or restless sleep because your cortisol levels are out of whack. For restful sleep to occur, we must get our cortisol levels down to a sufficient level at bedtime and not spike during the night instead of in the morning when they naturally increase.
Heightened startle response or feeling constantly 'on edge'. This is particularly uncomfortable. You may notice jumping in shock from simple noises, or you could find your family’s usual exuberance or noise completely intolerable.
Emotional and Cognitive Signs
Intrusive thoughts or memories related to past trauma. We would call these flashbacks.
Feelings of numbness or emotional detachment. This is a very useful tactic of the mind to help us cope day to day - by stopping us feeling anything, the logic of the brain is that we can carry on as normal. While some people can and do carry on for years in this state, this numbing of pain actually also numbs all our other emotions, including happiness and pleasure, leading us to feel depressed or dissatisfied with our lives.
Excessive worry or fear about everyday situations can leave you with chronic anxiety - worrying about worrying. You start to go down rabbit holes of ‘what if’s’, leaving you exhausted and in constant fear that something bad is going to happen, irrespective of the evidence in front of you. This is not your fault and isn’t a weakness. You need to speak kindly and patiently to yourself if this is something you are experiencing.
Difficulty concentrating or making decisions as our alert systems of the brain are prioritised over our reasoning and planning centres of the brain. Trauma literally changes the physiology of the brain. (But can be changed back the other way - neuroplasticity really is genius).
Mood swings or heightened irritability, making you feel like a horrible person which compounds the situation. You might find yourself snapping at your partner or children more often, or more intolerant of people at work than you used to be.
Avoidance of people, places, or activities that remind you of trauma. Or because you are feeling more irritable. This leads to a kind of self-imposed isolation which makes things worse in the long term.
Sense of doom or overwhelming hopelessness which can lead us to seek dissociative activities such as drinking, over-eating, or doom scrolling.
Behavioural Signs
Withdrawal from social interactions makes it easier to ‘manage’ your ‘weakness’. If people don’t see you not coping, this can help you feel more in control. Or you can pretend that you’re fine. Please remember that you are not weak for having strong emotions and associations with a difficult experience. You are a human that needs compassion, understanding, and your experiences validated and heard.
Difficulty trusting others. It is natural to not be able to trust people if your experience is that you’ve been constantly let down.
Overworking or perfectionism as a way to control anxiety. Makes sense doesn’t it. If we can prove that we are perfect, then we can avoid criticism - from others and by ourselves!
Self-soothing behaviours which may include substance use or overeating, or scrolling through social media, and binge watching TV. Anything that helps us shut off from difficult feelings and emotions.
If you notice some of these signs in yourself or a loved one, it’s important to remember that it’s possible to become whole again.
Somatic therapy offers a gentle, body-centered approach to understanding and healing these patterns by working directly with the nervous system. Through this approach, you can reconnect with your body in a safe way and begin to release the hold of trauma and chronic anxiety.
How Somatic Therapy Helps
Somatic therapy focuses on directly engaging with the body’s wisdom. By tuning into bodily sensations and the nervous system’s responses, somatic therapy offers a pathway to release stored tension and cultivate safety within the body. Techniques may include breathwork, mindful movement, and gentle self-touch such as tapping - all designed to help the nervous system reset and restore balance.
Incorporating approaches like Internal Family Systems therapy alongside somatic practices can further support healing by addressing the emotional and psychological parts of trauma. Together, they empower you to feel grounded, present, and connected both internally and externally.
What To Do Now
If you’re ready to break free from the grip of past trauma, embracing somatic therapy can be transformative. It’s about honouring your body’s messages and creating a lasting sense of ease and self-love from the inside out. Your mind and body aren’t separate—they heal best when they heal together.
If you’re interested in working one to one, drop me an email or use the button below to book a free consultation.
