Trauma trapped in the Body

Our bodies are a wealth of information.  Our body signals us when something is right and when something is wrong.  Although I have minimal training in bodywork, I do refer to several trauma therapists and wellness practitioners.

Mary Byrne Hoffman was a spiritual director and wellness practitioner. According to her studies, research has shown that trauma is stored in the limbic brain located at the lower back of the head.  The limbic brain stores and processes both emotions and memories. When a person is abused, that experience becomes lodged in the limbic brain which governs major physiological functions: the heart, the immune, digestive, reproduction and hormonal systems.

The result is that stored trauma not only has emotional, psychological, and spiritual consequences, it also affects our physical well-being since the limbic brain doesn’t access language or rational thinking. Talk therapy has a limited long-range success with trauma. Both the spiritual, creative practices, and incorporating the body, will help bring about a more complete, long-range healing.

Women have shared in group how they can feel emotions trapped in their body. Julie felt rapid heart beating when being with God in silence and solitude. She was raped at gun point in a place that was silent.

Vivian shared how she cringes when people touch her. Being a survivor of incest, she knew that trauma was trapped in her body and desired to be healed. 

Maddison could not do any practices that imagine sitting on God’s lap as that is how she was molested by her perpetrator. She learned the truth that our bodies were made for pleasure. Guilt and shame dominated her reactions since the sexual assault brought pleasure even though this was abusive.

Pamela shared how she hated sex and had to work through that as she did want to have an intimate relationship with her husband. Her father forced her to give him oral sex when she was a little girl.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) with a licensed therapist helps with trauma trapped in the body. Other types of body healing include myofascial therapy, tapping, Havening Technique, somatic experiencing, and aroma therapy. Even massages help release tension.

Listen to your body. It is trying to tell you something. You are not crazy. And you are definitely not alone.