How Trauma is Held in the Body - and How EMDR Can Help
Trauma & EMDR Therapy in Colorado Springs
I remember a long time ago talking to a supervisor when I was just starting my clinical training, and I mentioned that I was having pain in my lower back and hips. She replied - oh, the hips are where we hold unprocessed grief. It fit - I was going through a significant loss at the time.
That was my first introduction to the way our bodies can hold and express emotional pain.
This experience reflects a broader understanding in trauma research - that emotional experiences can be held in the body and nervous system, not just remembered in the mind. Neuroscience and trauma research show that stress and traumatic experiences actually become encoded in the nervous system, shaping how the body reacts long after an event has passed. This often shows up as anxiety, hypervigilance, shutdown, unexplained pain, or feeling triggered in situations that don’t logically feel dangerous.
Our bodies don’t just carry us through experiences - they register and remember them
This body-based “remembering” comes up a lot in therapy - ranging from chronic health and autoimmune issues (often tied to past trauma), to seemingly random aches and pains (I have this weird spot in my shoulder that always aches… my feet feel like blocks of ice frozen in place), and sure enough, I’ve often seen that discomfort in the hips shows up alongside grief.
What’s especially remarkable is seeing how longstanding symptoms - things people have come to accept as “just how my body is” - can shift as trauma is processed and resolved. This can be surprising, particularly when someone feels they’ve already made sense of an experience intellectually. It’s often unexpected to realize that even when the mind has moved on, the body may still be holding on in ways that are very real - but also very resolvable.
Experiences that have been processed in the mind may continue to show up in the body
The reason this happens is that the body holds memories just like the mind does - but it can’t process memories or experiences in the same way. Very frequently the mind has processed and moved forward from something, but the body is still stuck in the past and has no idea it’s over. It’s like the mind has moved on and knows it’s 2026, but the body still thinks it’s 1985 (or whenever the event took place) and nothing has changed.
This disconnect can be deeply unsettling. When you know cognitively that something is over, yet your body continues to respond with fear, tension, or overwhelm, it can create an inner sense of conflict. This feeling of being at odds internally can spike anxiety and increase emotional overwhelm. It helps to know there’s a reason - it may be that the body still needs help to process what the mind has worked to come to terms with.
The body may still need help processing what the mind has worked to come to terms with
This is where somatic approaches to therapy offer an important framework. Somatic work centers the body as an essential part of healing, recognizing that many trauma responses live below conscious awareness and show up through sensation and instinct rather than words. By working directly with the nervous system and bodily responses, these approaches support change that doesn’t rely on insight alone.
While this can be a deep and nuanced process, there are a few practical elements I find especially helpful when working with trauma held in the body:
1. Nervous system resetting skills
We all have an optimal “window of tolerance” - the zone in which we can effectively manage stress, emotions, and challenges while still feeling grounded and present. Trauma stored in the body often pushes the nervous system into hyperarousal, leading to chronic fight-or-flight responses and a sense of living in survival mode. Life starts to feel like everything is happening outside of the window of tolerance, creating consistent high anxiety or overwhelm.
Simple skills that calm and reset the nervous system can pull you back into your window of tolerance. The more time you spend inside this window of tolerance, the more the body starts to relax and reorient to safety. Therapy can help to identify nervous system calming skills that work well for you, but some of the simplest things to use are deep breathing, grounding, resourcing, or tapping.
2. Direct communication with the body
I know this sounds odd, but it is surprisingly effective. Because the body doesn’t process information the way the mind does, it often needs help receiving the message that the threat has passed. I often see people experience a calming in their body by communicating with it directly, letting it know that it’s safe now, that the threat is over, and that it can relax. Pairing this mind-body communication with nervous system resetting skills can be especially supportive in reducing physical distress.
Here’s a simple thing to try… position your hands in a “heart hold” with one hand on your heart on one on your abdomen. Close your eyes and relax. Then let your body know something like, “It’s in the past, we’re safe now, you can rest, thank you for carrying me through.” Take some deep breaths and notice where it feels relaxed, or just neutral, in your body.
3. Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)
EMDR is a therapy approach designed to bridge the mind–body disconnect that often follows trauma. It recognizes that traumatic memories are stored in multiple ways - through images, emotions, beliefs, sensations, and bodily responses. EMDR works with all of these components, rather than focusing on just one, allowing processing to feel more complete.
This makes EMDR particularly effective for trauma that is held in the body, including experiences that are difficult to put into words - such as early preverbal trauma, or medical trauma that may have occurred during periods of unconsciousness.
Sometimes what our minds can understand, our bodies still need help releasing
The good news is that there are gentle, well-established ways to work with trauma held in the body. When the nervous system has the opportunity to process what it’s been carrying, symptoms can soften, reactions can settle, and a greater sense of ease often becomes possible.
