Do you sometimes feel disconnected from your body, your emotions, or even your sense of self?
This disconnection is common, especially when we carry unresolved trauma or difficult life experiences. These unprocessed emotions often manifest through physical symptoms, tension, fatigue, chronic pain, or even illness. When we ignore or suppress these signals, the gap between mind and body widens, leading to emotional and physical suffering.
But your body is not the enemy.
It’s not just a vessel, it’s a living, breathing aspect of who you are, holding wisdom, memory, and the capacity for healing. Every cell contains stories of your lived experience, and to truly heal, we must listen.
Trauma and the Body
Trauma isn’t just something that happened, it’s something that lives inside us.
When we experience trauma, our nervous system adapts to help us survive. But those survival patterns can linger in the body, long after the event has passed leading to anxiety, chronic pain, numbness, or reactivity.
This is why trauma healing must include the body.
Somatic therapy offers a way to bridge the mind-body gap. It helps us access the imprints of trauma through physical sensation, movement, breath, stillness rather than only through words. In somatic work, the body becomes both the guide and the site of healing.
Reconnecting With Your Body
Healing is not about fixing your body, it’s about forming a new relationship with it, one based on presence, compassion, and respect. Here are gentle ways to begin:
1. Practice Mindful Body Awareness
Start by noticing your body without judgment. What sensations are present right now, tightness, ease, warmth, numbness? This simple act of noticing helps rebuild connection.
2. Engage in Somatic Movement
Gentle movement like yoga, tai chi, or mindful walking helps you feel your body from the inside. These practices support the release of stored tension and bring ease back to your system.
3. Try Breathwork for Reconnection
Breath is the bridge between mind and body. Deep belly breathing or alternate nostril breathing can calm the nervous system and reconnect you with the present moment.
4. Journal Somatically
After breathwork or movement, take a moment to journal. Ask: What did I notice in my body? What emotions surfaced? Where did I feel tension or relief? This helps track patterns and release insight.
5. Shift from Criticism to Compassion
Many of us have internalised harsh narratives about our bodies. Begin to speak to your body with care. Try affirmations like:
– “My body is wise.”
– “I trust my body to guide me.”
– “I don’t need to be perfect to be whole.”
6. Seek Professional Somatic Support
A trauma-informed somatic therapist can guide you safely through reconnection and release. Working with someone trained in body-based approaches creates space for deep and supported healing.
Reflective Questions to Support Healing
Let these gentle questions guide your journey:
• What is my body trying to tell me right now?
• Where am I holding tension, and what might be the story behind it?
• What does my body need today, rest, movement, stillness, expression?
• How can I thank my body for what it has carried?
• How does my breath feel and what is it asking for?
The Journey to Wholeness
Healing your relationship with your body isn’t linear, it’s cyclical, layered, and deeply personal. But with every moment of listening, every breath of compassion, you move closer to wholeness.
Your body is not broken.
It is a wise and loving partner in your healing.
And it remembers not only the pain, but also the way home.
Thank you for reading this post.
With love, Sahar Zadah
