The Brain, the Body, and How to Release Embodied Trauma
- Pamela Ruiter -Feenstra
- Jul 30
- 12 min read
In the past four blogs, Alexandra Ruiz Costas wrote about “The Cost of Being a Victim,” and explained how certain media sources and curious people continue to cause harm to survivors and even to the memory of loved ones lost to femicide, as is the case with Andrea Ruiz Costas (1985–2021), Alexandra’s sister. I described the 5 Physical Responses to Trauma, How they feel and how they’re misunderstood, and subsequently, the 5 Physical Responses to Trauma: How They Feel, Part II. Alexandra followed up with descriptions of How to Treat Survivors with Respect and Compassion–the dignity they deserve. We invite you to read the previous blogs for context. In this blog, I talk about what happens in our brains when we encounter a situation that causes fear.
This humorous-looking brain image illustrates what happens to the brain when a person experiences trauma. The trauma activates the amygdala, the primitive part of our brain that alerts us to danger. This image shows the eyes seeing something scary–a spider. The visual communication network–eyes to visual thalamus to visual cortex to the amygdala–is just one of many sensory inputs the brain receives from the body. That brain input can occur through any of the senses: feeling something physical such as burning or pain sensations, hearing something frightening such as footsteps behind us, smelling a particular scent that gets imprinted on the memory, or tasting something specific. Our bodies contain many more senses than the five primary senses I just listed. Most people have experienced the creepy sensation of being watched, the high-alert feeling of imminent danger, the gut feeling that you can’t trust a certain person, the sense of relief of being in a safe space, or the whole body exhale feeling when you’re with someone who truly listens to you, believes you, cares about you, and has your back.
The amygdala helps us sense real danger.
Back to the brain. The amygdala is important because it helps us to sense real danger. But the amygdala isn’t able to discern whether this sense of danger is immediate and in the present or if it’s a memory of trauma that was ignited by hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling, or sensing something now that was associated with past trauma. For example, if someone was in a car accident, that was a real and present danger. If the person in the car accident immediately smelled gasoline leaking at the accident site, that smell of gas could potentially activate the sense of danger in other circumstances. The next time they fill up their tank at the gas station, they might suddenly feel in danger as they encounter the smell of gasoline, even though the danger isn’t present at the gas station.
Trauma or danger activates the amygdala.
However, the amygdala doesn’t discern past trauma or danger from present circumstances.
The amygdala activates the body to choose a protective response,
or it re-ignites past trauma responses.
Both feel and act the same way.
However, they don’t function in the same way.
In the two blogs I wrote about the 5 Physical Responses to Trauma, I dissected the freeze, fight, flight, fawn, and fake responses. If the real embodied trauma that caused those physical responses to trauma remains unresolved, it can cause health, work, and relationship issues. That’s why it’s important to have strategies to disrupt and release the re-ignited trauma response. Below, I’ll dive deeper into each of the trauma responses and dissect more layers. I’ll
Name each trauma response,
Discuss what was protective about that response
Demonstrate how those originally protective responses can re-ignite to cause unhealthy behavior (particularly when the trauma was not processed and remains unresolved), and
Provide some strategies that have worked for other people to break out of the amygdala trauma brain state.
IMPORTANT TIP on how to break out of that amygdala trauma brain state:
Engage the senses through arts, nature, naming, and movement.
Trauma Response 1: Fight
PROTECTIVE: A fire started on Armando’s stove, and his brain signaled danger. Armando’s brain went into fight mode: he grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the fire. With help from the amygdala, Armando’s fight response was protective and helpful.
RE-IGNITED: In childhood scenarios, Armando was bullied repeatedly on the playground. As a result Armando responded with uncontrolled fury at someone in the office who made a suggestion that he perform a task in another way. This reactive response signals that Armando has unresolved trauma and transferred it to someone who was not the source of the trauma.
STRATEGY: Fight mode can also indicate that Armando may be feeling angry or fearful. He might feel angry with a family member or work colleague because his trauma came up when they were talking about someone else's trauma. Instead of taking it out on himself or anyone else, Armando can learn to process it with a therapist, and then verbalize it and physicalize it in safe ways so re-ignited trauma responses don’t isolate him from colleagues, friends, and family, and so he doesn’t cause harm to himself or others. He can go for a run. Do pushups or jumping jacks. Go swimming or take and shower and physically push the trauma off his body in the water. Punch a pillow. Stomp his feet. Yell, scream, moan, or hum to release the trauma. Journal or draw what makes him angry or fearful. Tear up or burn the sheet of paper to release the trauma. He can try two sensory exercises at the same time, such as walking and humming to override invasive thoughts. It's important to externalize the anger or fear so it doesn't build up inside or become self-destructive. With a therapist, Armando can name the pain to tame the pain, process and separate it from present circumstances, and replace old trauma reactions with healthy behavior.
Trauma Response 2: Flight
PROTECTIVE: When Mekele heard on the news that a tornado was spotted near her home, she ran to a sheltered place in her basement. This protective flight response is helpful. The amygdala communicated danger and Mekele responded protectively.
RE-IGNITED: In childhood scenarios, Mekele’s father was frequently angry and abusive. She learned to retreat to her bedroom as a protective measure. Later, when she met a friend for coffee and the friend expressed anger over a work miscommunication, Mekele’s trauma ignited. She didn’t feel safe, so she ran out of the coffee shop–regressing to flight mode from her childhood.
STRATEGY: Working with a trauma therapist could help Mekele separate out her past trauma from current situations, and allow her to engage in a full range of emotions, communicative expressions, and boundaries with friends. Mekele can talk about the trauma with a therapist: name it to tame it, and to separate past trauma from present events. She can go somewhere to ground herself. Create a song or listen to a favorite song to calm herself. Walk in the woods, hug trees, place her feet right up against the bottom of the trunk and feel the root system beneath her, grounding her. She can touch grass or walk barefoot in sand. Focus on letting her body feel the sensations.
Trauma Response 3: Freeze
PROTECTIVE: Penelope’s mother’s partner routinely came home after work drunk and irrational. He’d yell at anyone near him, and even physically hit them. As a child, Penelope was trapped. She would often freeze in place, unable to escape. Her amygdala generated freezing as a means of self-protection.
RE-IGNITED: When Penelope took a new job, she discovered her new boss frequently exploded with loud accusations. His explosions re-ignited Penelope’s childhood sense of being trapped, and her body automatically froze. Penelope deserves to feel safe.
STRATEGY: Working with a trauma therapist could help Penelope re-program her body to discern real, immediate danger from past trauma. It could also help her discern whether it’s healthy for her to work with a boss with anger management issues, and whether her best options are to find support from Human Resources to report the boss, to find a new job with an even-tempered boss, maybe even start her own company or urge her current company to establish Community Standards.
When Penelope feels a freeze response, she can journal about it, talk about the trauma with her therapist: name it to tame it and build strategies that help her agency and empowerment grow. She can unfreeze by gently swinging her arms back and forth and taking deep breaths in through her nose, out through her mouth, counting to 4 for each inhalation and exhalation. She can walk slowly at first, and gradually pick up the pace, maybe eventually turning her movement into a dance to music that represents thawing and feeling–breaking out from the freeze response. Focus on letting her body feel the sensations. With practice, Penelope can create sensory movement of her own choice to reclaim her agency.
Trauma Response 4: Fawn
PROTECTIVE: Fawning is a self-protective technique of trying to soothe, praise, or calm someone down or shower a perpetrator with compliments, promises, or platitudes to redirect the perpetrator away from violence.
When Percy was a child, their mother would verbally criticize and physically abuse Percy and their sister. Percy would try to make deals to calm her down: “I promise I’ll be good,” “I promise I’ll help,” “I promise I’ll be quiet,” “I promise I’ll do the dishes….” Percy fawned to their mother so that she wouldn’t hurt them. Like Percy, children are frequently trapped without the option of fighting or fleeing.
RE-IGNITED: When Percy was an adult, their boxer partner unexpectedly became verbally, then physically abusive. Percy knew that the boxer held the advantage of strength. They would try to talk him down from his irrational state by fawning: complimenting his looks, praising how well he repaired the car, spotlighting how good he is at his work, etc. Percy is no longer a child and trapped without options, even though it feels like it because of how trauma re-ignites.
STRATEGIES: In the re-ignited case, Percy is in true physical and emotional danger. Their first priority is to create a safety plan to leave the situation and find a safe space. In those circumstances, they can seek help by making a 911 call, contact police with a domestic abuse call, contact a local shelter or healing center that specializes in abuse cases, and ask for a case manager and social worker to help access services and protection.
Fawning is often accompanied by the mistaken assumption that what happened is our fault. Percy can say aloud over and over, "It's not my fault. It's not my fault. I didn't deserve it. I didn't cause it." Sing our Healing Bells chorus, “It’s Not My Fault!” Then, Percy can follow up with their therapist to reprogram their brain from fawning to creating boundaries, standing up for themself, building a supportive and trusted community, and gain empowerment by working with other like-minded people to fight against domestic violence.
Trauma Response 5: Fake
PROTECTIVE: Elaine’s spouse came home in a rage most nights. He was verbally abusive to her, and physically abusive to the three oldest children. Elaine was afraid of him and went into self-protective mode by trying to make external factors of the home, meals, and children perfect, and faking that everything was fine. She neither named the abuse nor confronted him about it. Instead, she normalized the abusive behavior, another faking response. She was determined to show that everything was fine–that they had a perfect family. She ignored the loud beatings he gave to the children and didn’t try to intervene. She insisted on taking multiple family photos of everyone smiling each year to prove that they were a happy family. Her faking started as a protective mechanism so as not to ignite an abusive response from her spouse. Gradually, her faking became a defense mechanism of denial. The more she pretended the abuse wasn’t true, the more she believed she was raising a perfect family. She practiced faking and denial so much, she convinced herself the beatings never happened, and told her oldest daughter Susana that the beatings didn’t happen, which exacerbated the trauma Susana already experienced. She was abused by her father, witnessed him abusing her brothers and tried to intervene to no avail, and was neither believed nor protected by her mother–multiple layers of betrayal.
RE-IGNITED: Elaine’s youngest daughter Ana was not beaten by the father. Although Ana witnessed some of the verbal abuse, she learned from her mother Elaine to fake it and deny the abuse. When her oldest sister Susana named the abuse to break the cycle of trauma and release it, Ana became furious and screamed and swore at Susana. She continues to accuse and blame Susana for things Susana didn’t do. This is an example of Ana’s amygdala responses re-igniting from unresolved childhood trauma caused by the father’s abuse and mother’s denial. As long as Ana can’t or won’t deal with the root of the trauma (perhaps not wanting to admit that the parents weren’t perfect), she will fiercely believe that the trauma was indeed caused by her sister Susana–an irrational displacement or transference response that creates intergenerational trauma, ruptures familial connections, and prevents healing to occur.
Sometimes, people believe that their traumatic experiences won’t bother them, and therefore, they don’t seek the help of a therapist or health care practitioner. Here’s what happens: Unresolved trauma can either become
Inward-directed in which a victim blames themself for the harm a perpetrator did, and lives with a lot of guilt and shame; or
Outward-directed, such as when Ana falsely blames her older sister Susana for the trauma, displacing and transferring the traumatic results of the father’s abuse on Susana and adopting the mother’s denial rather than facing the truth and seeking help to resolve and release the trauma. Ana’s position will be difficult to dislodge until she chooses to get the help she needs.
Unresolved trauma:
Inward directed = self-destructive
Outward-directed =
false accusations; unwarranted attacks, displacement, transference
Unresolved trauma can cause health, relationship, and work issues.
STRATEGIES: In the case above, Susana initially became inward-directed with the abuse, believing it was her fault, and feeling particularly guilty for not being able to protect her younger siblings, no matter how hard she tried (it was an impossible task). Susana repeated part of the family dynamic by marrying someone who defaulted to faking and denial like her mother. She mistook what was familiar for what was love. At the same time, Susana knew that the abuse was wrong and vowed to break the multi-generational cycle. Susana sought help from a trauma therapist who taught her to name the abuse and unpack the unhealthy family dynamic. Susana journaled and created mantras to help her transform the trauma into empowerment. She walks in nature, hugs trees, swims to brush off trauma and cut the trauma cords, bikes, talks with close friends, creates mantras, music and lyrics, and is gradually learning to love herself, create boundaries, release the fear and trauma from her body, claim her true identity, and forge a path to a new, healthier life.
FAQs
How can someone tell the difference between an actual danger or a re-ignited trauma?
Trauma is stored in the body. If someone experiences trauma but chooses not to seek help to calm the trauma and build strategies to release it, that person will likely have difficulty understanding the difference between actual danger and re-ignited trauma, because in their body–the two experiences feel the same. Well-trained, experienced, and empathic therapists can offer multiple techniques for people who are motivated to work hard to address their trauma. With help, a person can get to the point that they still feel a trauma alert (we want to keep our protective mechanisms in place), but can rationally discern whether they are experiencing a new threat, or if the past trauma re-ignited during a non-threatening situation.
What can they do once they realize it’s a past trauma re-ignited?
It’s always important to name what happened to tame what happened. A war veteran can say to themself, “When I was in combat and someone approached me from behind, it was a real threat. When my spouse or another family member approaches me from behind, it is not a threat.” They will likely talk with family members and ask them not to approach from behind. They can go through cognitive behavioral therapies where they practice desensitizing themself to being approached from behind. They can work with EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) to calm the brain and reframe the trauma. Engage in movement, music, and mantras.
After people work with a therapist, what else can they do?
It is important for each person to feel empowered to self-determine their path to healing. Because trauma is stored in the body, sensory engagement combined with reframing their stories can help people release trauma.
Here are several choices that engage the senses:
VISUAL: draw, sketch, paint, doodle, work with clay, make jewelry, make a collage.
AURAL: listen to, play, or compose music; listen to birdsong, ocean waves, forest and nature sounds, children playing, a baby laughing.
TACTILE: move to music or dance; hum, wail, moan; journal, write poetry, write letters to yourself from different perspectives (the child you, from you to Shame, etc.); all types of movement: swim, walk, run.
OLFACTORY (SMELL): smell calming herbs such as lavender or eucalyptus; bake bread, muffins, or cookies; smell the air before and after it rains, smell the forest scents, flowers.
MULTI-SENSORY COMBINATIONS: take nature hikes and identify 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell, and one thing you can taste.
At Healing Bells, we combine sensory engagement with reframing stories of trauma into empowerment. We develop supportive communities and co-create new music, dances, poetry, theatre scripts to tell our stories and claim our power. Learn more by signing up for our Compose for Change: Healing Arts classes!
These strategies to deal with trauma in the moment have worked for a number of people. Note that these strategies are not medical or psychological advice. For deeper help to process your trauma, please seek out a therapist and health care professional. As you saw in the Forms & Agreements, our roles at Healing Bells are not as therapists or health care practitioners. We cannot diagnose or treat issues and are not liable for them. See also the extensive list of Resources on our website.
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