How Trauma Is Stored In The Body (Talk)

Learn the neuroscience behind how trauma is stored in the body, plus 3 signs that you might be holding trauma in yours. The biggest sign of all? Despite being in therapy for years, meditating, doing yoga, or practicing affirmations: you still feel stuck in unhealthy patterns, disconnected from your life, and/or your body is in pain. In this talk, you'll learn why it is NOT your fault if you're experiencing this cycle, and the essential steps to take next in order to resolve it.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Orie Krug,

Board certified dance movement therapist and trauma and relationship expert.

Today let's talk about how trauma gets stored in your body and what to do next in order to start healing.

When you think of trauma,

You might think of more quote unquote obvious traumas like sexual abuse or domestic violence.

And there are lots of traumas that we are aware of,

But there are also a lot of traumas that are more subtle and sneaky.

Perhaps you grew up in a loving home,

But your mother was depressed and she was not emotionally attuned or supportive to the extent that you needed.

In some cases,

This means that you have been emotionally neglected and that is a form of trauma.

But it can be so hard to realize that because you think that I had a great family who loved me.

They took care of me.

They raised me in a nice home,

But nevertheless,

There are unintentional ways that the people who love and care about us the most can also create traumatic experiences.

If you grew up in a family where you're one of eight siblings,

There may have simply not been enough time to give you the level of attention and care that you needed.

Or maybe everything was good enough at home,

But when you went to school or in your external environment,

You experienced bullying.

And it doesn't have to be a bullying that's very violent.

If you go every day and experience a little bit of bullying,

If you feel like an outsider,

These are things that can feel and very well be experienced as trauma in your nervous system and your body.

But not everyone may experience trauma in all of these situations because trauma is any event that leaves a prolonged negative imprint on any aspect of our lives,

Both physically and psychologically.

And for some people,

These unpleasant experiences pass by without making much of a dent.

And for others,

These unpleasant experience create trauma and can induce traumatic effects,

Which can negatively affect our ability to create and maintain healthy,

Lasting,

Loving relationships.

You're probably here because you either suspect or you have a very strong knowing that you did experience trauma in your past.

But maybe you're wondering if that trauma is still stored in your body.

Maybe you know,

You have an inner knowing.

There's something that feels off in your physical body,

In your life that makes you wonder if you are storing trauma in your body.

First I'd like to share with you three common signs that you are storing trauma in the body.

And then we can get more into the neuroscience behind why this is happening and why it's not your fault.

And additionally,

How you can release it in a safe way that is not as complicated or needs as much time as most people assume.

The first sign that you have trauma stored in your body is that you have unexplained physical pain without,

Or maybe even with a medical diagnosis.

If you've seen a lot of doctors for physical pain or fatigue 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 incredible at telling you that you're fine,

You're safe,

You're good.

There's nothing to worry about.

And maybe that's because your trauma happened a long time ago.

Maybe that's because you're downplaying what happened to you in your past,

Or you've been in talk therapy or other therapies for so long that you've done a pretty good job at this point at convincing your mind and your intellectual brain that everything is okay while your body keeps suffering.

Because in fact,

Your body does continue to hold the trauma and register danger threats in your environment,

Even when your mind says that,

I'm grateful,

Everything is good.

Or,

You know,

You're repeating affirmations like I am worthy of love.

Your body and your nervous system are really smart and they can't be tricked.

And if you've read the book,

The Body Heaps the Score,

This is what Dr.

Bessel van der Koch talks about that your body will continue to register danger threats,

Release cortisol,

Increase your stress levels and weaken your immune system,

Which inevitably makes you sick.

This can happen if you don't have a medical diagnosis,

But this also tends to happen for a lot of my clients who do have medical diagnoses.

They may have some sort of autoimmune disorder.

They may have fibromyalgia.

They may have some digestive disorder that really isn't getting better with treatment.

And despite the diagnosis,

Things aren't getting better.

And if this is something that you've experienced,

You can maybe make a hypothesis that this is due to trauma because it's not scientifically proven.

So a lot of doctors will be skeptical about this,

But if you have a sense that you're storing trauma in your body and that's what's making you sick,

I think it's a great idea to trust yourself about that.

The second sign that you're holding trauma in your body is that your anxiety does not seem to reduce or alleviate no matter what you try.

Even if you have experienced temporary relief,

In general,

Your baseline is having very high anxiety and possibly near panic or panic attacks.

No matter how many meditations or affirmations you practice or how much journaling you do,

Your anxiety is like your body constantly telling you,

Yelling at you,

There is something wrong.

There is something unsafe.

It generally feels unsafe to be living in your body.

And even though you may be working really hard to reduce your anxiety,

You're still struggling and it seems like it's so hard to get relief,

Especially lasting relief.

These anxious feelings are actually your nervous system trying to signal that something isn't right,

That there is unresolved trauma being held in your body that must be accessed and resolved.

Now the third sign that you're holding trauma in your body is that you tend to disconnect or dissociate or check out from your body and from your life and your relationship.

So if you find that you tend to escape or disconnect from your body or parts of your life,

Then this is a sure sign that you are holding trauma in your body and you're trying to feel safe by numbing yourself because your body stores memories and emotions from traumatic experiences,

Which we'll get more into in a moment.

A common coping response is to dissociate from your body when your nervous system gets triggered.

This is because when your original trauma or traumas occurred,

Your body stopped you from being present so that you could feel safe.

You know,

If you stayed in your body while you were experiencing some kind of abuse,

You would feel that pain more.

So your body's actually quite intelligent by helping you dissociate or disconnect from those really painful feelings.

This is your physical body's way of coping and today your nervous system continues to respond to similar situations in the same way,

Even if there isn't a real actual physical or psychological threat,

Your body is automatically wired to continue coping this way.

And it feels too threatening to stay present,

So naturally you will numb and disconnect from your body.

So take a moment to breathe in and breathe out because maybe you resonated with one or more of those signs and just by hearing the description about it,

It may feel triggering,

It may feel uncomfortable,

It may make you want to escape or numb from your body in this very moment.

But as I was sharing before,

I want to remind you again that these signs,

They're not your fault.

These behaviors,

These patterns,

They are not your fault.

Again,

Your body is so brilliant,

Your nervous system is incredible and this is just how it's wired right now because trauma is stored in the body and it's the only way it imagines it can keep you safe.

Not that nervous systems can imagine or consciously decide anything,

But for the sake of explanation,

That's just how I've described it in this moment.

So let's talk more about why this is not your fault and why these are habitual responses that you absolutely can release and rewire.

When we experience trauma,

The left hemisphere of our brain that includes the prefrontal cortex,

It shuts down,

It often goes offline and even if it doesn't go as far as shutting down,

It is the less dominant hemisphere of our brain when we're experiencing trauma.

And this is important because this part of our brain is the part of our brain that understands language and logic and makes sense of any situation that we experience.

It remembers our memories in words.

It's the part of our brain that we use to talk about our memories,

To talk about our reflections and our feelings,

Yet it is also the same part of the brain that mostly goes offline during trauma.

So these trauma memories and these feelings associated with your trauma,

They are more primarily stored in the nonverbal parts of your brain,

Such as the amygdala and the hippocampus,

As well as your nervous system.

So this is what it means overall when we say trauma is stored in your body because those memories and those feelings associated with your trauma,

They are stored in these nonverbal parts of your brain and body in fragments of sensation like touch,

Smell,

Sight,

Sound.

That's why a lot of the times we maybe watch a movie and we see a vet trying to live their regular life walking down the street and bam,

There's a loud noise and you see them automatically having a flashback even though everything was fine just a minute ago because that fragment of sound may remind them of an explosion that they experienced out in war.

This is common amongst many trauma survivors,

Not just army veterans.

If you experienced sexual abuse and your abuser wore a certain cologne,

Then any fragment of that smell can put you right into a flashback or trigger your system so much to the point of having an irrational trauma response.

And by irrational,

I don't mean to express judgment,

But let's say that you're currently in a healthy,

Loving relationship with a partner who has never maliciously hurt you.

Of course,

We are always with partners who may unintentionally hurt us sometimes,

But you're with a partner who is healthy,

Not abusive and not toxic.

But one day they get a new cologne and some part of that cologne resembles the smell of your abuser's cologne.

And so your partner comes home,

Comes to hug you and all of a sudden you are having a panic attack and it seems like it's come out of nowhere,

But the reality is it's not out of nowhere.

It triggered the fragment of memory that is stored in your body.

Now those are examples of how trauma is stored and potentially triggered from your nervous system within your body,

But trauma gets stored also in your physical body as well.

So let's say that for as long as you can remember,

Whenever you experience conflict in relationships,

You freeze up.

A freeze response is one of the four primary survival responses to keep you alive or keep you safe,

Even if in reality there is no real threat.

But let's say you have consistently reacted in a freeze response where not only does your nervous system make you freeze like an animal trying not to get eaten,

But your whole body tenses up as well.

So imagine all of those years,

All of those interactions where you froze up and your body created such tension.

And this is actually an evolutionary response where the reason why animals freeze,

One of the main reasons is because it creates such tension in their physical body and muscles that they become unappetizing to eat.

And that's how much tension is needed to save their lives.

And though we're not wild animals anymore,

This is the same evolutionary response that we continue today,

Especially when our old trauma is triggered.

If you've gone all of this time experiencing so much tension in your body,

And I bet that if you do,

You are doing it even more than you may realize or catch yourself.

A lot of people hold so much tension just being at their computer for work all day because work itself feels like such a threat and such a trigger to old trauma.

So that trauma is stored in your physical body,

That tension that you're holding,

The pain that it's creating,

The fatigue,

The exhaustion that it is creating as well.

And so it's important that we also not only rewire the nervous system to not react to those fragments of sensation in a fight,

Flight,

Freeze,

Or shut response,

But to also let the body learn and feel safe to not react with such a physical unhealthy response as well.

So if that sounds familiar to you too,

That is another really strong indication that you are actively holding trauma in your body and you are actively being triggered consistently to the point where,

Yeah,

It's creating a lot of pain and tension and anxiety and fatigue.

And not to mention irritability and reactiveness and impulsivity that really impacts your ability to love and let love in.

And I consider this talk just a introductory episode into the whole science behind how trauma is stored in your body and the different parts of the brain that it affects and the more of the process of what needs to happen to rewire and release for a lasting,

Sustainable and effective change.

So if you enjoyed this talk and you want to dive deeper with me into the neuroscience,

The latest research on brain imaging,

On how trauma really interacts with our own bodies and relationships,

Then come sign up for my Insight Timer online course.

It is called You Are Worthy of Love Healing from Trauma.

And while this course isn't actually designed or intended or possible to heal trauma,

You will learn new information about what truly needs to happen to heal trauma from your body in order to have healthy,

Lasting love.

I hope you join me in my Insight Timer course and until next time,

You deserve to be able to let healthy,

Lasting love in.

Reviews

Amazing 👏🏻

Great talk. Thank you!

Really made sense of whats going on with me right now thank you 🥰

Amazing session and lovely explained in a short way and clear wording, thank you 🙏🏼🫶🏾

Useful.
In the UK, many have heard the term "Guarding" a defensive body reaction to physical pain. Very few have heard the term "Armouring", which has plagued me for two decades and more. It is a physical reaction to Emotional Pain, and is part of Numbing out.
I try and use the word, especially with health professionals, as often as I can, as that one powerful symptom is utter misery.

I know it is related to my CPTSD, I haven't joined all the many dots I have accumulated over the last decade.
This really helped get me going again, after a bad period. I will check out your course soon. Thank you. Rob

Hi Orit, thank you so much 🥰. This was such an incredibly important topic to discuss and you covered it so well 🥰. I think openly discussing this is the most important thing, and thank you for being vulnerable and open, and sharing these insights. I love the statement ‘it’s not your fault’. Thank you 🥰🥰🥰