Coming Back to the Body: Somatic Practice and Trauma Healing
Recently, I completed a certificate course with Linda Thai, and it has shifted the way I understand trauma in a way that feels both grounding and humbling.
For a long time, I understood trauma primarily through insight — through story, memory, cognition. And these insights, words, and being witnessed absolutely matter! But somatic work has reminded me that trauma is not just something we remember. It’s something we carry.
Not metaphorically. Physiologically.
Trauma Lives in the Body
One of the truths that keeps landing for me is this: trauma is not only the event that happened. It’s what happened inside us as a result.
It’s the survival energy that didn’t get to complete.
The fight that couldn’t fight.
The flight that couldn’t flee.
The freeze that kept us safe when nothing else could.
Our nervous systems are brilliant and adapt quickly to protect us. But sometimes those adaptations linger long after the danger has passed.
We might find ourselves:
bracing without realizing it
holding our breath
disconnecting when conflict arises
feeling flooded by emotion that seems “too big” for the present moment
chronically tense or chronically exhausted
These aren’t character flaws. They’re protective strategies.
Reading The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk was one of the first times I encountered this idea in a structured way — that trauma reorganizes the body and brain. Later, reading the work of Gabor Maté deepened that understanding, especially his exploration of how stress and suppressed emotion shape both our physiology and our sense of self.
Somatic practice brings these ideas out of theory and into lived experience. Instead of asking, “Why do I think this way?” we might ask, “What is happening in my body right now?”
And sometimes, that question changes everything.
What Is Somatic Practice?
Somatic practice is a body-based approach to healing that focuses on nervous system regulation and embodied awareness. Rather than processing trauma only through talking, somatic work invites attention to:
Sensations (tightness, warmth, tingling, heaviness)
Breath patterns
Posture and movement
Internal cues of safety or threat
The goal is not to relive trauma, but to gently support the nervous system in completing survival responses and increasing capacity for regulation.
Key principles often include:
Pacing and titration (working slowly, in small doses)
Resourcing (building internal and external supports)
Choice and consent
Tracking activation and settling
Healing happens not through force, but through safety.
The Body as a Resource, Not a Problem
Many of us were never taught to trust our bodies.
For some, the body felt unsafe.
For others, it felt overwhelming.
For many, it was simply ignored in favor of performance, productivity, or perfectionism.
What I appreciate about Linda Thai’s approach is how resourced and consent-based it is. There’s no pushing for catharsis. No diving headfirst into the most painful memory. Instead, there’s an emphasis on expanding capacity.
That might look like:
Noticing your feet on the ground
Feeling the support of the chair beneath you
Tracking a subtle shift in breath
Orienting to something neutral or pleasant in the room
These moments sound simple, by they are not. For someone whose nervous system has lived in survival mode, even a few seconds of settling can be profound.
Trauma as Dysregulation
One framework that has helped me is understanding trauma as nervous system dysregulation.
When we experience overwhelming stress without enough support, our system mobilizes. If escape or defense isn’t possible, it may shut down. These states — hyperarousal (anxiety, agitation) and hypoarousal (numbness, collapse) — are adaptive responses. The difficulty arises when we get stuck there.
Somatic healing is less about “fixing” and more about increasing flexibility. The ability to move between activation and rest. To feel emotion without being overwhelmed by it.
Not permanently calm or perfectly regulated. But more able to come back. More resilient.
The Slow Nature of Healing
One of the biggest shifts for me has been letting go of urgency. We live in a culture that loves dramatic breakthroughs. But the body responds to safety, and safety is built slowly.
It might look like:
Pausing when overwhelmed
Recognizing early signs of shutdown
Allowing sensation without immediately trying to eliminate it
Offering compassion to your system instead of criticism
In my own life, and in the therapy room, I’ve seen change show up quietly. Someone stays present in conflict 10% longer. Someone notices dissociation earlier. Someone experiences a moment of genuine softness where there used to be constant bracing.
These are not small things. They are nervous system shifts.
Grief in the Body
Somatic work has also deepened my understanding of grief. Often what lives in the body isn’t only fear, it’s unprocessed sorrow. The tears that weren’t safe to cry. The anger that had nowhere to go. The trembling that had to be contained.
When the body begins to feel safer, grief sometimes emerges. Not because something is wrong.
But because something is finally allowed. And when that grief is met gently, there can be a sense of completion. A settling. A quiet release.
It’s not dramatic. It’s biological.
Reclaiming Relationship With Ourselves
At its core, somatic practice feels like a return to relationship with our bodies, with our nervous systems, with ourselves.
It asks: Can you stay? Can you notice? Can you offer curiosity instead of judgment?
For many trauma survivors, the body became the site of overwhelm. So reconnecting must happen with consent and choice. And when it does, something powerful shifts.
People begin to trust their signals.
To recognize their limits.
To sense what feels safe.
To respond rather than react.
That isn’t just symptom reduction. It’s sovereignty. Healing isn’t about overriding the body. It’s about partnering with it. When we begin to listen — gently, slowly — the body often knows the way forward.
Resources for Further Reading
If you’re interested in learning more about trauma and the body, here are some foundational works:
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté
And for somatic-oriented therapy and education, the work of Linda Thai has been especially meaningful in my own learning.