In an Unspoken Voice

1. Trauma is stored in the body and can be released through somatic awareness

"The mind has forgotten but the body has not—thankfully."

Trauma impacts the body. When overwhelming experiences occur, they get stored in our physiology as unresolved energy and tension patterns. This leads to symptoms like hypervigilance, numbness, and dysregulation. However, the body also holds the key to healing.

Somatic awareness allows release. By tuning into bodily sensations and allowing natural processes like trembling and shaking, we can discharge trapped trauma energy. This restores regulation to the nervous system. Specific techniques like "tracking" internal sensations and completing thwarted defensive responses help integrate traumatic memories.

Examples of bodily trauma release:

• Trembling and shaking to discharge activation
• Completing fight/flight movements that were inhibited during trauma
• Pendulating between activation and settling to build resilience
• Titrating exposure to traumatic sensations to avoid overwhelm

2. The polyvagal theory explains our nervous system's response to trauma

"When acutely threatened, we mobilize vast energies to protect and defend ourselves. We duck, dodge, twist, stiffen and retract."

The polyvagal theory provides a neurobiological understanding of how our autonomic nervous system responds to safety and danger. It outlines three key states: social engagement (safe), sympathetic arousal (fight/flight), and dorsal vagal shutdown (freeze/collapse).

Trauma disrupts nervous system regulation. It can leave us stuck in sympathetic hyperarousal or parasympathetic shutdown. This leads to symptoms like anxiety, hypervigilance, numbness, and dissociation. Understanding these states allows targeted interventions.

Key aspects of polyvagal theory:

• Social engagement system promotes safety and connection
• Sympathetic activation prepares for defensive action
• Dorsal vagal shutdown is a last-resort survival strategy
• Neuroception is our unconscious assessment of safety/danger
• Co-regulation through safe relationships helps restore balance

3. Embodiment and awareness are key to healing trauma and living fully

"The Body is the Shore on the Ocean of Being."

Embodiment means inhabiting our bodies fully. Many people, especially those with trauma, are disconnected from their physical experience. Reestablishing this connection is crucial for healing and living with vitality. It allows us to feel grounded, present, and alive.

Awareness is the foundation of change. By cultivating moment-to-moment awareness of our bodily sensations, emotions, and thoughts, we can start to shift ingrained trauma patterns. This awareness gives us choice and agency where we were previously on autopilot.

Practices for deepening embodiment and awareness:

• Body scans to map internal sensations
• Mindful movement practices like yoga or tai chi
• Breathwork to regulate the nervous system
• Tracking subtle shifts in body states during daily activities
• Pausing to notice physical sensations before reacting

4. Emotions are bodily responses that can be transformed through containment

"Nothing that feels bad is ever the last step."

Emotions have a physical basis. They arise from our bodily preparation for action in response to environmental cues. Fear, for example, comes from the thwarted impulse to flee. Understanding this embodied nature of emotion is key to working with them effectively.

Containment allows transformation. Rather than immediately expressing or suppressing emotions, we can learn to "hold" them with awareness. This creates space for the emotion to shift and evolve. Through containment, even intense emotions like rage or terror can be metabolized into more manageable feelings.

Steps for emotional containment and transformation:

1. Notice the physical sensations of the emotion
2. Breathe and create space around the sensation
3. Allow the sensation to be there without acting on it
4. Observe how the sensation changes and shifts
5. Notice new sensations or impulses that arise

5. Our primitive instincts and rational mind must work together for wholeness

"We are more than speaking animals; we are language creatures."

We have multiple "brains". The triune brain model describes our reptilian (instinctual), mammalian (emotional), and neocortex (rational) brain layers. Each plays an important role in our functioning and survival. Integration of these systems is key to wellbeing.

Trauma disrupts this integration. It can leave us stuck in primitive survival responses or cut off from our instinctual wisdom. Healing involves reestablishing communication between our rational and instinctual selves. This allows for more flexible, adaptive responses to life.

Ways to foster brain integration:

• Mindfulness practices to observe thoughts and sensations
• Somatic practices to reconnect with instinctual wisdom
• Cognitive reframing to shift limiting beliefs
• Creativity and play to engage multiple brain systems
• Relational experiences that engage social circuits

6. Trauma therapy should focus on bodily sensations, not just talk or catharsis

"Insight, while important, has rarely cured a neurosis or healed a trauma."

Traditional talk therapy has limitations. While understanding our trauma story can be helpful, it often doesn't lead to deep physiological change. Cathartic emotional release can also be retraumatizing if not properly contained.

Bottom-up processing is key. Effective trauma therapy starts with the body, working with sensations and impulses before moving to emotions and cognitions. This allows for gradual nervous system regulation and integration of traumatic experiences.

Elements of body-based trauma therapy:

• Tracking internal sensations and subtle shifts
• Completing interrupted defensive responses
• Pendulation between activation and regulation
• Titration to avoid overwhelm
• Building internal resources and capacity
• Integrating new experiences of safety and empowerment

7. Self-regulation and social engagement are crucial for trauma recovery

"To become self-regulating and authentically autonomous, traumatized individuals must ultimately learn to access, tolerate and utilize their inner sensations."

Self-regulation is the ability to manage our internal states. Trauma disrupts this capacity, leaving people feeling out of control or shut down. Rebuilding self-regulation is a key goal of trauma recovery. It allows for greater resilience and adaptability in the face of stress.

Social engagement promotes healing. Safe relationships help co-regulate our nervous systems. The ability to connect with others is both a goal and a means of trauma recovery. It provides a sense of safety and belonging that is essential for healing.

Practices for enhancing self-regulation and social engagement:

• Breathwork and meditation to calm the nervous system
• Mindful movement to increase body awareness
• Gradual exposure to triggering situations with support
• Practicing social skills in safe environments
• Developing secure attachments in therapy and relationships

8. Understanding the body's innate wisdom allows for natural trauma resolution

"Biology is on our side."

The body knows how to heal. Just as our bodies naturally heal physical wounds, they have innate mechanisms for resolving trauma. This includes involuntary processes like shaking, trembling, and spontaneous movement. Trusting and allowing these processes is key to healing.

Therapists guide, rather than fix. The role of the trauma therapist is to create a safe container and facilitate the body's natural healing processes. This involves tracking subtle cues and supporting the client's emerging impulses and sensations.

Ways the body naturally resolves trauma:

• Trembling and shaking to discharge activation
• Spontaneous movements to complete defensive responses
• Shifts in breathing patterns to regulate the nervous system
• Changes in muscle tension to release held patterns
• Pendulation between activation and settling

9. Titration and pendulation techniques help process traumatic experiences safely

"Trauma is transformed by changing intolerable feelings and sensations into desirable ones."

Titration involves gradual exposure. This technique allows clients to approach traumatic material in small, manageable doses. It prevents overwhelm and retraumatization while building capacity to tolerate difficult sensations.

Pendulation builds resilience. This involves alternating between states of activation and regulation. It helps clients develop confidence that they can move through difficult experiences and return to safety. Over time, this expands their window of tolerance.

Steps for using titration and pendulation:

1. Identify a traumatic activation
2. Approach it in small increments (titration)
3. Oscillate between activation and resource states (pendulation)
4. Build capacity to tolerate larger doses of activation
5. Integrate new experiences of safety and empowerment

10. Awareness of premovement impulses can break compulsive trauma cycles

"As they go in, so they come out."

Trauma creates reactive patterns. People often find themselves caught in compulsive behaviors or emotional reactions triggered by reminders of past trauma. These can seem automatic and out of control.

Premovement awareness allows choice. By tuning into the subtle impulses that precede action, we can interrupt automatic reactions. This creates a window of opportunity to respond differently. Over time, this breaks ingrained trauma patterns.

Practices for developing premovement awareness:

• Mindfulness of subtle body sensations and impulses
• Slowing down reactions to notice preparatory movements
• Pausing before acting to check internal states
• Exploring alternative responses to triggering situations
• Gradually building new, more adaptive patterns of response

11. Positive emotions and sensations of goodness are essential for healing trauma

"The paradox of trauma is that it has both the power to destroy and the power to transform and resurrect."

Trauma constricts our capacity for pleasure. It can leave people feeling numb, disconnected, or only able to experience negative emotions. Reconnecting with positive sensations and emotions is crucial for full healing.

Goodness anchors new experiences. Cultivating sensations of safety, pleasure, and wellbeing provides a contrast to traumatic activation. It gives the nervous system a new reference point and expands capacity for joy and aliveness.

Ways to foster positive experiences in trauma recovery:

• Mindfully savoring pleasant sensations
• Engaging in activities that bring joy and flow
• Practicing gratitude and appreciation
• Cultivating self-compassion and kindness
• Building secure, nurturing relationships
• Celebrating small victories and progress in healing

Last updated: August 8, 2024