Healing Trauma: How Your Body Remembers and How You Can Heal

Have you ever had a strong emotional reaction to something that didn’t seem to warrant it? Maybe a certain smell, sound, or situation triggered an intense response, leaving you feeling anxious, unsettled, or disconnected. If so, it’s a common experience. Trauma doesn’t just live in our minds—it stays in our bodies, shaping the way we think, feel, and react long after the event itself.

In his groundbreaking book The Body Keeps the Score, psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk explains how trauma is stored in the body and how we can begin to heal. If you’ve ever felt stuck in cycles of stress, anxiety, depression, or emotional pain, understanding this mind-body connection can be the key to reclaiming your wellbeing.

How Trauma Affects the Body

Trauma isn’t just a memory—it’s an experience that changes how our brains and nervous systems function. Research shows that prolonged stress or trauma can rewire three key areas:

• Amygdala (the fear centre): Becomes overactive, making us more reactive to stress and perceived threats.

• Hippocampus (the memory processor): Struggles to distinguish past trauma from present safety, leading to flashbacks or emotional triggers.

• Prefrontal cortex (the rational mind): Becomes less effective, making it harder to regulate emotions and make clear decisions.

This explains why trauma survivors often feel constantly on edge, experience unexplained physical symptoms such as chronic pain, fatigue, or digestive issues, and struggle with anxiety or depression. The body holds onto trauma, even when the mind wants to move forward.

How Stress Lives in the Body

When you're under stress—whether from a recent event or long-buried memory—your body activates the fight, flight, or freeze response. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline flood your system. While helpful in true emergencies, chronic exposure wears the body down.

Chronic stress impacts nearly every system in the body. It can:

• Tighten muscles, leading to headaches, jaw clenching, or neck and back pain

• Disrupt digestion, causing bloating, nausea, or irritable bowel symptoms

• Weaken immunity, making you more prone to illness

• Disturb sleep, leaving you wired or exhausted

Over time, this toll doesn’t just affect the body—it can also contribute to mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression.

Many people don’t even notice they’re carrying tension until it becomes unmanageable. Emotional pain that isn’t expressed or processed often gets internalised—and the body becomes the storage unit. For Australians raised with the “soldier on” mentality, acknowledging vulnerability may feel uncomfortable, but ignoring it often leads to greater physical and emotional strain.

Can You Really “Think” Your Way Out of Trauma?

Traditional talk therapy can be very supportive, but healing trauma often requires more than talking. Because trauma is stored in the body, effective recovery means working with both the mind and body together. Somatic therapies, mindfulness, movement, and breathwork have all been shown to help release stored trauma and restore balance.

Think about it—when you’re stressed or anxious, do you notice yourself tensing your shoulders, clenching your jaw, or holding your breath? These physical responses aren’t just habits; they’re your body’s way of protecting you. The good news? Just as trauma can be stored in the body, it can also be released.

Practical Steps to Begin Healing

If you're ready to begin your healing journey, here are some evidence-based practices that support both emotional and physical wellbeing:

• Mindfulness and Meditation: Regular practice reduces symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression by helping regulate the nervous system.

• Breathwork: Deep, conscious breathing (like diaphragmatic or box breathing) calms the stress response and creates a sense of safety.

• Movement-Based Therapies: Yoga, tai chi, walking, or gentle stretching reconnect you with your body and release tension.

• Progressive Muscle Relaxation: Gently tensing and releasing muscle groups builds awareness and reduces stored tension.

• Creative Expression: Art, music, and journaling help process emotions that may be too overwhelming for words.

• Body Scans: A mindfulness practice that identifies areas of tension, increasing self-awareness of what your body is holding.

• Therapeutic Support: Working with a trauma-informed counsellor provides a safe space to explore experiences and develop a personalised plan for recovery.

  
  

Start Listening to the Whispers

Our bodies are always speaking—sometimes in whispers, sometimes in shouts. Learning to tune into these signals can feel unfamiliar, especially if you’ve been taught to “push through.” But noticing your body’s cues is one of the most powerful steps toward healing.

You don’t have to wait until the whispers become screams. And with the right support, change is possible.

Rebuild From the Inside Out

Healing from trauma isn’t about “getting over it” or forgetting—it’s about learning to feel safe in your body again, regaining control, and embracing life with greater ease and confidence.

At Rebuild Counselling, Pam provides compassionate, trauma-informed support that honours your whole self—mind and body. Whether you’re feeling stuck, anxious, depressed, or disconnected, counselling can help you gently release what you’ve been carrying and reconnect with the life you want to live.

Ready to take the first step? Reach out today and begin your journey toward healing and emotional freedom.

Free Consultation