How Somatic Therapy Can Help Heal Trauma: A Personal Journey
Trauma doesn’t just live in the mind—it lives in the body. Every sensation, every tight muscle, every flutter of the stomach, and every aching joint can be a doorway into the story your body has been holding for you. Somatic therapy is a way of helping you hear that story, understand it, and ultimately, heal from it.
When we think about trauma, we often imagine it as something that happened in the past—something that we think we’ve already processed or tried to forget. But trauma isn’t something that can be locked away in the mind; it’s something the body carries with it, often for years after the event itself. That’s where somatic therapy comes in.
Somatic therapy is a body-based approach to healing that helps you access the deeply held sensations and emotions locked in your body. When you experience trauma, your body responds in ways that go far beyond the mental and emotional realms. Trauma can leave behind physical imprints—tension, constriction, pain—that can affect your life in ways you may not even realize.
In this post, I’ll share my personal experience of how somatic therapy has helped me—and so many others—heal trauma by focusing on the body, not just the mind.
The Body Knows What the Mind Can't Remember
For years, I carried a deep sense of unease in my body. I didn’t have a clear memory of the trauma that caused it, but I felt it in my muscles, my joints, and in my gut. It was a kind of silent, persistent anxiety that I couldn’t name. In my mind, I thought I had moved on from the experiences that caused it—but my body knew better.
When I first encountered somatic therapy, I was skeptical. How could paying attention to the body heal something so deep? But what I quickly realized is that the body holds the keys to understanding and releasing trauma in ways that the mind simply can’t. Through body-centered practices like deep breathing, gentle movement, and touch, somatic therapy helped me release the tension that had been stored in my body for years.
The Healing Power of Awareness
Somatic therapy isn’t about talking through your trauma; it’s about sensing it, feeling it, and giving your body the space to release it. Often, this involves tuning into subtle bodily sensations—sensations that have been ignored or suppressed. By bringing awareness to these sensations, you create the conditions for healing to unfold.
For me, it started with noticing the way my breath would catch when I thought about certain experiences. From there, I could begin to understand where the tension in my body came from—and how it related to past events. With the support of a skilled somatic therapist, I was able to move through these sensations, releasing the physical blockages and emotional pain that had been holding me back.
Moving Beyond the Story
One of the most beautiful aspects of somatic therapy is that it moves beyond the intellectual story of trauma. It’s not about figuring out why you were hurt, but rather about understanding how your body has carried the imprint of that hurt. And through that awareness, transformation can occur.
As you move through the body, you don’t need to relive traumatic events or memories in the traditional sense. Instead, you begin to release the stored energy and emotions that are held in your muscles and tissues. The story may not need to be retold in words; it simply needs to be felt and acknowledged. When you give it the space to be felt, it starts to shift.
Healing Is Not Linear
In my journey, somatic therapy didn’t provide a magic fix, but it gave me a tool to work with my trauma in a more embodied way. Healing took time, patience, and a willingness to feel uncomfortable sensations that I’d spent years avoiding. But with each session, I felt more grounded, more at home in my body, and more free from the grip of past trauma.
If you’re struggling with the weight of unresolved trauma, somatic therapy can help you find your way back to yourself. It’s a process of listening to your body and allowing it to speak. The journey may not always be easy, but it can be deeply transformative.
Conclusion
Somatic therapy offers a powerful way to heal trauma by focusing on the body’s wisdom. It allows you to move beyond the stories of the mind and into the deep sensations and emotions that your body has been holding onto. Whether you’re dealing with past trauma or simply feeling stuck, somatic therapy offers a pathway to healing that acknowledges the deep connection between mind and body. It’s a journey of rediscovering the wisdom within, and of allowing your body to be the guide back to wholeness.
