When the Body Remembers Trauma: How Somatic Experiencing Helps the Nervous System Heal
Chloë Bean, LMFT is a licensed somatic trauma therapist based in Los Angeles, specializing in anxiety, burnout, trauma, and nervous system healing for high-achieving women. Her work integrates somatic therapy, EMDR, and IFS to support lasting regulation, resilience, and relational healing.
Why Trauma Lives in the Body, Not Just the Mind
Trauma is stored not only as memory, but as patterns in the nervous system that shape how the body responds to stress, safety, and connection.
Many people understand their trauma logically but still feel it in their bodies. They may know they are safe now, yet continue to experience anxiety, panic, chronic tension, or emotional overwhelm. This happens because trauma is not stored only as memory. It is stored as patterns in the nervous system that shape how the body responds to stress, safety, and connection.
Somatic Experiencing is a body-based therapy that helps address trauma at the level where it lives. Rather than focusing on retelling past events, this approach works with physical sensations, nervous system responses, and the body’s natural capacity to regulate and heal. By gently supporting the nervous system, Somatic Experiencing helps the body release stored survival responses and move toward a greater sense of safety and ease.
Understanding Trauma Through the Body's Lens
To understand somatic experiencing, we need to first understand what trauma actually does to our bodies. When we face a life-threatening or overwhelming situation, our nervous system activates one of three survival responses: fight, flight, or freeze.
In healthy situations, we mobilize these responses, deal with the threat, and then our nervous system naturally returns to a state of calm. Think of a gazelle being chased by a lion—if it escapes, it will literally shake off the excess energy and then go back to grazing peacefully.
But trauma disrupts this natural process. When we can't fight or flee—perhaps because we're too young, too small, or the threat is someone we depend on—we often freeze. This survival energy gets trapped in our bodies, creating what we experience as trauma symptoms: hypervigilance, panic attacks, chronic tension, digestive issues, sleep problems, and that persistent feeling that something is "wrong" even when we're objectively safe.
What Makes Somatic Experiencing Different
Traditional therapy focuses primarily on the mind—understanding what happened, processing emotions, and changing thought patterns. Somatic experiencing, developed by Dr. Peter Levine, works directly with the nervous system to help complete those interrupted survival responses.
This approach recognizes that:
The body holds wisdom. Your nervous system is constantly scanning for safety and threat. Sometimes it knows things before your conscious mind does. Those "gut feelings" or inexplicable anxiety responses might be your body trying to tell you something important.
Healing happens through felt experience, not just understanding. You can intellectually know you're safe while your body remains in a state of high alert. Somatic work helps bridge this gap between knowing and feeling.
Small movements can create big changes. Unlike some therapies that encourage dramatic emotional release, somatic experiencing works with subtle sensations and gentle movements. This prevents re-traumatization and honors your system's natural pace of healing.
The body wants to heal. Just like a physical wound naturally moves toward healing, your nervous system has an innate drive toward balance and health. Sometimes it just needs support to remember how.
What Happens in a Somatic Session
If you've never experienced somatic work, you might wonder what actually happens in a session. Unlike traditional talk therapy where you might spend the entire hour discussing your thoughts and feelings, somatic experiencing involves paying careful attention to what's happening in your body moment by moment.
We might notice:
Where you feel tension or tightness
Areas of warmth, coolness, or tingling
Your breathing patterns
Impulses to move in certain ways
Sensations of expansion or contraction
For example, you might be telling me about a stressful situation when I notice your shoulders rising toward your ears. I might gently point this out and ask what happens if you let them drop. Sometimes this simple awareness and movement can shift your entire nervous system state.
Or we might explore a feeling of anxiety by locating it in your body. Where do you feel it? What does it want to do? If it could move, how would it move? Often, allowing these natural impulses helps discharge trapped survival energy.
The Science Behind Somatic Healing
This isn't just New Age philosophy—there's solid science behind somatic approaches. Research in neuroscience has shown us that trauma affects areas of the brain responsible for memory, emotion regulation, and body awareness. The brainstem and limbic system, which govern our survival responses, can remain activated long after the original threat has passed.
Somatic experiencing works with these primitive brain areas through the body's sensory systems. When we slow down and pay attention to sensations, we're communicating directly with the parts of our brain that hold trauma, often bypassing the cognitive mind that can sometimes get in the way of healing.
Studies have shown that somatic approaches can be particularly effective for:
Chronic pain conditions
Autoimmune conditions
Sleep disorders
Who Can Benefit from Somatic Work
You don't need to have experienced "big T" trauma to benefit from somatic experiencing. Our bodies store all kinds of stress and overwhelm, from ongoing relationship difficulties to work pressure to the collective trauma we've all experienced in recent years.
You might find somatic work helpful if you:
Feel disconnected from your body or emotions
Experience chronic tension, pain, or illness without clear medical causes
Have difficulty regulating your emotions
Feel stuck in therapy despite years of talking about your issues
Experience panic attacks or anxiety that seems to come from nowhere
Have trouble sleeping or relaxing
Feel hypervigilant or constantly "on edge"
Struggle with boundaries or saying no
Have a history of trauma but find traditional therapy overwhelming
Common Misconceptions About Somatic Work
"It's too touchy-feely for me." Somatic experiencing isn't about forced emotional expression or dramatic catharsis. It's actually quite gentle and respects your pace entirely. You remain fully clothed, and physical touch, if used at all, is minimal and always with explicit consent.
"I need to relive my trauma to heal." This is absolutely not true. In fact, good somatic work specifically avoids re-traumatization. We work with what's present in your body right now, not with forcing you to re-experience past events.
"It's not real therapy." Somatic experiencing is a legitimate, evidence-based therapeutic approach. Many therapists integrate somatic techniques with traditional talk therapy for a more comprehensive healing experience.
"I have to be spiritual or believe in energy work." While some people find spiritual meaning in somatic work, it's fundamentally based in biology and neuroscience. You don't need any particular beliefs to benefit from it.
Integrating Body and Mind in Healing
In my practice, I often combine somatic techniques with traditional therapy approaches. This integration can be incredibly powerful because it addresses trauma on multiple levels simultaneously.
We might spend part of a session talking about a current relationship challenge, then notice how discussing it affects your body. Do your shoulders tense? Does your breathing become shallow? Does your stomach tighten? These bodily responses give us valuable information about what this situation means to your nervous system.
Sometimes clients discover that their body has wisdom their mind hasn't accessed yet. A woman might realize that her chronic shoulder tension is connected to feeling like she's carrying everyone else's burdens. A man might notice that his jaw tightness relates to years of holding back his true feelings.
The Gentle Path of Healing
One of the most beautiful aspects of somatic work is its gentleness. Unlike approaches that might push you to "break through" resistance, somatic experiencing honors your system's protective mechanisms. If part of you isn't ready to feel something, we respect that. If you need to go slowly, we go slowly.
This approach recognizes that the same nervous system that holds your trauma also holds your healing capacity. By working with your body's natural wisdom rather than against it, healing can happen in a way that feels safe and sustainable.
What Healing Looks Like
Somatic healing often happens in layers and waves rather than dramatic breakthroughs. You might notice:
Feeling more grounded and present in your body
Improved sleep and digestion
Less chronic tension or pain
Better emotional regulation
Increased capacity to handle stress
A sense of feeling "at home" in your body
More intuitive awareness of your needs and boundaries
The changes can be subtle at first—maybe you sleep a little better, or you notice you're not holding your breath as much. Over time, these small shifts accumulate into significant transformations.
Finding Your Way Forward
If you're curious about somatic experiencing, trust that curiosity. Your body might be telling you it's ready for a different kind of healing. This doesn't mean abandoning other forms of therapy—somatic work often enhances and deepens the benefits of traditional approaches.
Remember that healing isn't linear, and there's no "right" way to heal from trauma. Some people benefit from talking extensively about their experiences. Others find that their bodies need attention first before they can access their emotions or memories. Many people find that a combination of approaches works best.
The most important thing is listening to what feels right for you. Your body has been with you through everything—it deserves to be part of your healing journey too.
If you recognize yourself in this, there is nothing wrong with you. Your body has been doing its best to protect you, even if those patterns no longer feel helpful.
Healing does not have to mean pushing, reliving, or forcing yourself to move on. With the right support, it is possible to listen to what your body has been holding and begin to feel more grounded, regulated, and at home in yourself.
If it feels supportive, you are welcome to reach out and see if somatic therapy feels like a good next step. I offer trauma-informed Somatic Experiencing therapy in West Los Angeles and online throughout California.
Chloe Bean is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist practicing in Santa Monica, California. She integrates somatic experiencing with traditional therapeutic approaches to support comprehensive healing from trauma, anxiety, and relationship challenges.
Frequently Asked Questions About Somatic Experiencing and Trauma
What does it mean when people say the body remembers trauma?
When people say the body remembers trauma, they are describing how overwhelming experiences can leave lasting patterns in the nervous system. Even when the mind understands that a threat has passed, the body may continue to respond with tension, anxiety, shutdown, or hypervigilance. These responses are not conscious choices. They are survival patterns the nervous system learned in order to stay safe.
How is Somatic Experiencing different from traditional talk therapy?
Somatic Experiencing is a body-based approach to trauma healing that focuses on nervous system regulation rather than retelling past events. Instead of analyzing experiences, the work gently tracks sensations, emotions, and physiological responses in the present moment. This allows the body to release stored survival energy and restore a sense of safety without forcing emotional processing before it feels supportive.
Do I need to relive my trauma for Somatic Experiencing to work?
No. Somatic Experiencing does not require reliving or retelling traumatic experiences in detail. The work moves at your body’s pace and emphasizes choice, consent, and safety. Many people find this approach helpful precisely because it does not involve re-exposure to overwhelming memories.
What kinds of symptoms can Somatic Experiencing help with?
Somatic Experiencing can support people experiencing anxiety, chronic stress, panic, emotional overwhelm, numbness, difficulty relaxing, sleep issues, and trauma-related responses in relationships. It is especially helpful when symptoms persist despite insight or years of talk therapy.
How long does somatic trauma healing take?
Healing timelines vary and there is no single “right” pace. Somatic trauma work is often gradual and nonlinear, focusing on building capacity and safety rather than rushing toward resolution. Many people notice subtle shifts first, such as feeling more grounded, present, or regulated, before larger changes emerge over time.