There are a lot of ways that your mind and body react to situations that evoke traumatic events, including physical, psychological, and physiological reactions. Now, you need to know that these changes are signs that your body is releasing and healing that trauma.
For example, whenever I am going through something tough, I cry and shake. One thing I am sure to feel afterwards is better. Crying is my way of processing, letting go of, and trying to heal from previous trauma.
Physical trauma cannot be discussed without addressing psychological and emotional trauma.
You can not ignore their connection. Usually, therapists realize the link and won’t undertake healing without taking the psychological and emotional effects into account, even holistic-healing chiropractors and emergency department doctors. Understanding exactly what trauma means is necessary before you can truly understand the signs that your body is releasing it.
What Is Trauma?
Trauma refers to a deeply distressing or disturbing experience that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope and leaves a lasting impact on their mental, emotional, and sometimes physical well-being. Usually, It affects the victim’s responses or expectations towards related situations, triggers, or ways of thinking.
One of the fundamental components of trauma is the fear-based response that the incident will happen again.
At least 70% of Americans experience trauma. It is a severe and sometimes lethal illness that frequently causes mental health problems, distorted perceptions, suicidal thoughts, and Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (“PTSD”).
How and Why the Human Body Stores Trauma
The human body clings to the trauma or the memory of the trauma, anticipating its reoccurrence. So most of the time, your trauma is not based on what happened, but on the fear that the incident is going to happen to you again. It accumulates in the form of negative consequences that you can feel and sense and can manifest physically, mentally, or emotionally. Here are some of the signs that your body is storing trauma
Physical Symptoms
- Fatigue
- Easily Startled
- Concentration problems or brain “fog”
- Chest tightness
- Heart palpitations
- Insomnia and nightmares
- High blood pressure
- Anxiety and Jitters
- Unexplained aches and pains
- Stress and muscle tension
- Headaches like migraines
- Suffering illnesses too often
- Twitches, quirks, or shakes
- Sweating profusely
Psychological and Emotional Symptoms
- Shock, disbelief and Denial
- Resentment
- Feeling overwhelmed easily
- Anger, irritability, erratic mood changes
- Confusion
- Increased forgetfulness
- Anxiety, stress, and fear
- Guilt or shame
- Avoiding people
- Depression
- Self-sabotage
- Dissociation
- Numb emotions
- Grief
- Thoughts of self-harm
Why the Body Needs to Release & Heal Trauma
Always bear in mind that It is crucial to release and heal stored trauma from your body. When your body stores trauma, it can lead to dissatisfaction, fear, problems in personal and professional relationships, physical and mental problems, and a poor quality of life.
Also, It can lead to social withdrawal (which is different from being introverted), bad attitude, rejection of good energy, and self-depreciation. Likewise, It can also make you isolate or remove yourself from others. In essence, it ends up causing more damage to your mental health than the actual experience.
Now that you have a better understanding of what trauma is, how the body stores it, and why it is crucial to release and heal it, let’s look at some signs that your body is releasing trauma.
Signs Your Body Is Releasing Trauma
Remember that these are only a few of the signs that you are letting go of and recovering from trauma. Furthermore, you can not release without additional intervention, so you’ll need extra support and assistance to tackle this. The best approach is to meditate and pay attention to how your body and mind are feeling.
As soon as you accept that it is happening, you’ll notice the improvements and experience relief. Here are some signs that your body is releasing trauma:
1. Your feelings are intensely felt.
The mind typically uses emotion suppression as a coping mechanism for the hurt caused by trauma. You’ll discover that you can feel your emotions more fully while you’re releasing trauma. You’re able to categorize your emotions and appreciate their nuance before letting them go.
You will recognize the usefulness of emotions as a guide without condemning or attempting to suppress them.
2. You can express your feelings.
Frequently, people express their emotions as a means to let go of the trauma energy. A traumatized person might better understand their trauma by expressing their emotions The unfinished traumatic incident in their psyche is now complete. Writing, art, music, and talking to someone are all examples of emotional expression. Being able to express yourself through these activities shows that you are getting over the experience. Some of the greatest works of art and music were produced by people trying to resolve their trauma.
3. Crying.
Crying is one of the most obvious signs that your body is releasing trauma. The most prominent display of grief and sadness is crying. When you weep, you release the energy that keeps your trauma bound to your psyche. Therefore, It may be quite soothing. It works in opposition to repression. It shows that you are processing what you went through, and the good part of it is that you always feel calm afterwards.
4. Moving around feels amazing.
As humans, We are meant to be mobile. Whenever we exercise, we feel terrific. However, when a traumatized person moves, you feel even heavier due to the pent-up emotions within.
You are discharging traumatic energy from your body when moving, which makes you feel terrific. There are a lot of exercises that can help you release traumatic energy, and they include dancing, yoga, walking, martial arts, and boxing.
Sometimes, People who take up martial arts or boxing tend to have a history of trauma. You can tell that they have a lot of anger stored within them. For them, fighting is a tremendous kind of release.
5. You take a deep breaths
The calming effects of deep breathing are well known. You don’t tell stressed-out people to “take a deep breath” for no reason. Taking deep breaths has a way of relaxing tensed muscles. Stress and anxiety are alleviated by deep abdominal breathing, when you take deep breaths you feel calm afterward.
Minor traumas might be thought of as small, daily pressures. They induce the body to accumulate energy, which you can release by sighing or even yawning.
6. You tremble
Shaking is the body’s way of releasing the trauma’s built-up energy. Animals carry it out on instinct e.g. Dogs. After a conflict, you’ve undoubtedly seen animals physically “shake it off.” When people become agitated over anything, they are instructed to shrug it off as well. For example, before any exercise session, my coach tells me to shake my body, and it helps me release tension because I always feel lighter.
7. You seem at ease with yourself.
Most times, we blame ourselves for the traumatic experience we went through, we go through random ‘what ifs’ and ‘had I known’s’. You become uncomfortable in your skin and take self-destructive measures because you believe that you are to blame for your experience.
Unresolved trauma is likely the cause of tense body language that the scenario cannot explain. Shame from prior trauma drags a person down, and their body language shows it. A person who is open and at ease has either recovered from trauma or is trauma-free.
8. You’re in good health.
The immune system is weakened by stress and trauma. Your immune system improves and you are less likely to experience physical health problems when you experience emotional healing.
9. You feel lighter and free.
As I said earlier, trauma has a way of making you feel heavy. It drains mental & physical energy because energy is bound in trauma, and Intense mental effort is required to bind energy.
Your mental abilities and energy will become heavily focused on the trauma itself. Once you start your healing journey, you tend to release all that unhealthy energy.
10. You’re not as angry as you used to be:
I will let you know that you strain a lot more muscles when you are angry than when you are happy. The energy that traumatized people retain in their brains is comprised of rage and resentment brought on by the trauma. If another person was responsible for your trauma, One of the ways of releasing that pent-up anger is by forgiving them, exacting justice, or comprehending why they acted the way they did. It is not easy, but as time goes on, you begin to notice that you think less about the event, which is a criterion for moving on.
11. You don’t overreact:
A traumatic person has the likelihood of going through intense mood swings now and then. This is because they feel their emotions deeply, which can be overwhelming and may lead to overreaction in certain situations. When you no longer overreact, and you begin to respond very little to things that used to trigger you, you are recovering from your trauma.
12. You acknowledge love.
Childhood abuse and emotional neglect have an impact on our adult capacity to develop wholesome and safe relationships. You grow up believing that you are not capable of giving & receiving love or that anyone you love will die, depending on your traumatic event. When you let go, you become more receptive towards affection and more yourself as you let go of trauma.
13. You make wise choices.
Generally, Emotions specifically trauma can impair judgment. It alters the way we see the world, so it can provide us with narratives about the outside world that aren’t always accurate. When you are living through your trauma, you make decisions based on it, which is not going to help you move on with your life.
Now, when you recover, you alter your perspective. This aids in making decisions that are reasonable and logical for your growth and well-being.
14. You don’t self-destruct:
Shame brought on by trauma might result in restrictive ideas that lower your potential. You’ve probably seen individuals who have a thing for self-sabotage. They ruin their achievement as soon as they experience it. This happens when you tell yourself that you do not deserve positive things in your life.
A ceiling has been established for what or how much you can do due to your restrictive beliefs.
The fact that you no longer undermine your triumphs is a huge indicator that you’re recovering from trauma. You sense and believe that you deserve success.
15. Heartbeat Slows, Blood Pressure Decreases
As previously discussed, there can be several heart-related problems when you store trauma in your body, including high blood pressure, a racing heart, etc.
Although prolonged fear brought on by trauma might raise the likelihood of developing high blood pressure, it can also be inherited genetically.
Trauma survivors are more prone to have a racing heart when triggered.
In contrast, both acute and persistent cardiac conditions become better as you release trauma from your body. Racing heartbeats and extreme stress become less common.
Consequences of Not Healing & Letting Go of Trauma
The body won’t allow for full recovery when you store trauma or the memory of trauma in it. It acts like an old scar on your body that has been sore for a long time, storing the stress and preventing a full recovery. This is also possible both Psychologically and emotionally. As trauma increases so does the brain’s release of dangerous cortisol levels, it is one of the main causes of physical sickness and disease. With more stress, it rises to deadly levels from low starting points.
Here are a few possible negative effects of putting up resistance to trauma healing and release:
- Increased usage of drugs and alcohol
- high blood pressure
- Suicidal ideas
- migraines or headaches
- Cancer
- Stroke
- Chronic Heart condition
- serious organ conditions
- cardiac arrests
- Digestive problems
How Do You Know Your Body Is Releasing Trauma?
There are some behavioural signs that you may notice when your body begins to release trauma, such as:
Ability to Experience Feelings, Thoughts, and Sensations Simultaneously
The ability to keep together numerous experiences is an important indicator of post-traumatic healing and progress. For instance, you might feel both love and connection to an abusive parent as well as contempt, despair, and estrangement towards them. One emotion or experience does not invalidate another. Acknowledging that they may coexist side by side is a necessary part of healing.
Experiencing Body Security
There is a reason why trauma therapists believe that “safety and stabilization” define the initial stage of trauma treatment. The basis of the healing home is safety. The other forms of healing can’t be performed until you feel secure. It will be obvious that you are recovering from trauma when you begin to feel safe in your body more frequently.
Avoiding Trauma Triggers (Persons, Places, Objects) Is No Longer a Need for You
The fact that avoidance feeds anxious tendencies is one of the defining characteristics of exposure treatment. Exposure lessens the connection between the trigger and the response by removing the fear reaction.
Trauma-focused therapy can be viewed as assisting patients in identifying various approaches to dealing with their trauma and moving past it. You can discover several techniques for discussing, thinking about, and getting over trauma with the help of your therapist.
Thus, avoiding trauma triggers becomes less and less important over time. Trauma cues no longer activate us as much. A healing cycle becomes more of a routine as you can withstand them more easily.
You Stop Blaming Yourself for What Happened to You
When your body is healing, you begin to understand that you were a victim in that situation and it was not your fault. Also, being a victim is not bad, and it does not define who you are.
You Are Interested in Forming Relationships With Other People
This refers to the previous indication of healing. The perception of when to seek protection and when to interact with others is rewired by trauma therapy, you see yourself avoiding all sorts of relationships with people both new and old. It may be okay to rekindle ties if the thought of mingling with people is less upsetting. We start to feel more at ease looking for partnerships with others as we feel safe.
What to Do When You Need Help Releasing Trauma
We can all agree that a little push can go a long way when we are already making an effort. Here are some suggestions to serve as a guide in releasing trauma:
- Working out/ Exercising is a great way to start
- Connectivity promotes recovery. Take part in social activities, seek treatment, or meet new people.
- Use attentive breathing to meditate on your nervous system while keeping an eye on sensory input and being in the now.
- Create a Gratitude Journal. Each day, you should find something to be grateful for. It is a great form of release and a way of building self-esteem.
- Make a conscious effort to better your health. Eat well, get enough sleep, and unwind frequently.
- Take a break for yourself. When you allow yourself to experience the feelings before you let them go.
If you want further assistance, speak with a nearby therapist who can assist you in getting better. As always a therapist goes a long way, They have good resources and treatment alternatives.
Conclusion
Deciding to release trauma stored within is no easy task, and doing the actual work can be mentally grueling. Most of the time, you might see yourself falling back into that mental mud. But it takes a great resolve to choose to stop being a victim and to be at the mercy of the trauma. Finally, bear in mind that you are not alone and all you have to do is to reach out, there will always be people willing to help.
