(#98) The Body Keeps the Score: Understanding Trauma & Healing Through a Somatic Approach

In this powerful and informative episode of Somatic Healing for Wellness‑Focused Women, Rae dives deeper into the connection between grief, trauma, and the body—exploring how our nervous system, brain, and somatic awareness hold the key to healing.

Building on last week’s episode, Rae breaks down complex trauma science into simple, compassionate language you can understand. You’ll learn how trauma impacts the brain’s alarm system (amygdala), speech center, and body memory, why the body “keeps the score,” and how true healing begins when we involve both mind and body in the process.

Drawing from The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, her background in social work, and years of trauma‑informed practice, Rae shares somatic healing modalities—like breathwork, yoga, body awareness, creativity, and mindful connection—that help you move from survival mode to safety, empowerment, and integration.

Whether you’re personally healing from trauma or you support others on this path, this episode will help you understand what’s really happening in your body, why it makes sense, and how to start cultivating safety again from the inside out.

✨ In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What trauma really is and how it affects the brain and body
• Why the body “keeps the score” and how to release stored experiences
• Somatic modalities that support trauma recovery (breathwork, movement, art, EMDR, yoga)
• Four key themes for trauma healing: Safety, Connection, Empowerment, and Integration
• How to rebuild a sense of safety and trust in your body
• Why healing isn’t about being “fully healed,” but about expanding your capacity to feel safe

💌 Sign up for the Somatic Healing Newsletter to access Rae’s free breathwork + meditation resource library and stay connected to her latest offerings.

CONNECT
Work With Me
The Somatic Healing Newsletter
Instagram
Website
Subscribe & Review Apple Podcasts
Follow & Rate Spotify

Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast is intended to inspire, educate, and support you on your personal journey. It does not substitute for professional mental health advice. I am not a psychologist or medical professional. If you are experiencing distress, mental health challenges, or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified professional.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome, Intentions, And Scope
• 0:57 What Trauma Is: The Three E’s
• 3:50 The Body Keeps The Score Framework
• 4:03 How Trauma Rewires The Brain
• 6:33 From Disconnection To Embodiment
• 6:59 Somatic Practices For Healing
• 9:09 Safety, Connection, Empowerment, Integration
• 11:26 Progress Over Perfection And Support
• 13:41 Closing, Newsletter, Reviews, Social

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome back to the podcast. If you are new here, I'm Ray. I'm a somatic coach and breathwork facilitator. And if you aren't new here, welcome back. I'm so glad that you are tuning in to today's episode. So for today, we're going to be talking about the topic of grief and trauma. And so this is building off of last week's episode. And this is a super layered topic, but we're going to be doing the best that we can. I'll be sharing a lot of different material today just from studying and treating trauma for many years. My background is originally in social work, and I have taken quite a few trauma-specific certifications and also just through like reading and self-study and diving more into this topic of how you know somatic work and trauma and grief can all go together. So a lot of what I'll be sharing here is from the book The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Koalk. And we'll explore really, you know, what trauma actually is, how it impacts the brain, how it impacts the body, and how we can move closer towards healing. So whether you have experienced trauma for yourself or you support others in navigating trauma, or if you are just, you know, curious about the mind-body connection, this episode is going to really help you understand, you know, why our body holds onto things and moments and experiences that our mind can't always make sense of. So when it comes to understanding trauma, there are so many different aspects of it, so many different parts. And I like to break it down in this way where there are the three E's is what I call it. So the first E is uh, you know, it's it's an event that happens. And from this event that happens, there is an experience. So we have our experience of that event, which is what, you know, determines if it's a traumatic or not. And then we also have the effect of what that event and experience can be. So this can include, you know, physical, social, emotional, spiritual consequences from that event or experience. And there are, you know, so many different forms of trauma, and I won't go into all of them, but even if the event may be completed, the body can still perceive things to be a threat. And so oftentimes it leaves some sort of imprint on our body and our mind. And that can be reflected in our nervous system, in our posture, and even in our digestive system. So lots of times unprocessed trauma can reflect in other areas. And that is where this kind of quote or book title to bring it full circle comes to be, which is the body keeps the score. And what can happen in these moments of, you know, trauma where an event, an experience happens. Um, we can, in those moments, we're trying to survive. And so we can often get disconnected from the body and disconnected from emotion to survive. So this can be reflected in like numbness, disassociation, or feeling stuck. And what happens is oftentimes we try and navigate these experiences from a healing lens by trying to think our way out of these experiences. When in fact, when we invite the body into the conversation and not just the mind, both are so important. When we invite the body into the conversation as well, that's when we're really able to integrate and move forward and find safety. And so an excerpt that I want to share from uh the book, The Body Keeps The Score, but with Dr. by Dr. Bessel, the one that I uh referred to in the beginning of the podcast episode, is really how trauma affects the brain. And so there's four uh ways that I want to share with you that that trauma can affect the brain. The first is the brain's alarm system, which is the amygdala, and that be can become overactive. So, what that can look like is always scanning for danger, always on alert, definitely affects the nervous system and definitely becomes this constant state of you seeking safety because you're always looking for danger. Then we have the relational brain, which is the prefrontal cortex, and that can just go offline. And so when that goes offline, the rational brain, it is harder to feel safe, it's harder to feel calm, and it's harder to really meet with logic because again, we're trying to survive, something has happened, and now what happens with the brain is that it can completely just shut down and it's much harder to find safety. The third area is the speech center, and this also can shut down. So this can help when uh this can help explain when people struggle to find the right words when they're recalling a traumatic event, because the speech center in the brain just has completely shut down. And then the fourth area of the brain is the body's memory system. So this is somatic memory, and this is where we store sensation, emotions, responses. So even if the event can't be recalled in the mind, it can't be recalled consciously, it can be remembered in the body and stored in the body. And that is when we can do, you know, sensation awareness and somatic curiosity and follow different sensations in the body to see what might be stored there, what information might be there for us. And I think the information I've shared so far, you know, is a great foundation to really lead us into the practices that we do and why we do those practices, because there's this idea of embodiment, which is like having a felt sense in your body, a felt sense and awareness in the body. And in order for us to move forward, you know, past trauma and heal and integrate these parts that have been fractured and ruptured, is by feeling safe again in the body and having that sense of safety feel embodied, like feeling like a real sensation of safety in the body. So some of the ways that we can do this, and many of the uh other episodes I've talked about a bunch of these examples, but the first is gaining somatic awareness, so reconnecting and learning about the different sensations that are present in your body without judgment and with curiosity, and doing that in a way that feels safe, that feels um, you know, within your capacity and at your pace. And this is a great practice and a great way to really understand anxiety, understand grief, understand different sensations in the body that might come up that don't necessarily relate in the mind consciously, but when you actually sit with sensation and you understand it, it can provide you with so much insight and so much different understanding that maybe wouldn't have been there if you didn't approach it from that way. Another modality is yoga and somatic movement. So really allowing yourself to rebuild a sense of presence, rebuild a sense of autonomy, a sense of safety. So really being allowed to move your body in a way that feels good for you and brings you a sense of safety and peace. Another modality that I speak quite often about is breath work. Breath work is really helpful for calming your body's fight or flight, for regulating your nervous system, also for expanding your capacity to feel and to feel safe. So this kind of connects with the first modality of building somatic awareness. Breath work can help you to feel safe in your body, to feel sensation in your body, to feel different shifts and things happening in a place that feels really safe and empowering for you. And then two other modalities that I'll share with you EMDR and neurofeedback. These are two that I am not, I don't specialize in either of these areas, uh, but they do definitely help with processing from a somatic lens. They're both somatic processes. And then the last one that I would share is being able to express yourself in a creative way. So if we're looking to move through a traumatic event and integrate and heal from a traumatic event, we might not look outside of the box, so to speak, something like art therapy, writing, music, different creative ways that help us to express and integrate parts of the self that were fragmented or ruptured or separated from trauma. And when people are processing trauma, trying to really move forward, there are a few different themes that I think really are supportive for getting that somatic healing experience. And really what we're, I think, looking for a lot oftentimes when we're doing this kind of work. So the first is safety. You really want to create a place where the body no longer feels like it is in danger. So really feeling like you are safe in your experience, whether that's a physical, like somatic experience, but also that you're safe in the mind as well. So really regaining that sense of safety and healing helps with moving forward and finding that safer connection, which leads me to the second theme, which I think is connection. Really having relationships that feel safe, that feel attuned and supportive. And these are relationships that can be, you know, in your inner circle and also the relationship with yourself. So repairing that relationship with yourself and also um having strong, safe, supportive, and attuned relationships in your in your life. And the third theme that I would love to share with you is this sense of empowerment. So oftentimes with trauma, it can take away our sense of control. And so healing is an empowering process that allows you to gain your autonomy, to restore your own agency over your body and your choices. And so it's an empowering experience that I think really brings the sense of wholeness and integration. And then the fourth theme is integration. So the goal isn't necessarily to, you know, erase the past, uh, but it is to integrate it into your experience, into your story in a way that no longer feels, you know, dominating or feels um like it's robbing you of your set your presence and safety. And then one other thing that I like to mention before I sign off here is this idea of we need to do like all of this work and like all of these, you know, things in order for us to become quote unquote like healed. But there is, you know, something to be said about diving into all of this work, of course, when it comes to processing trauma. And I think that is extremely valuable. And nobody should really need to navigate any of these like harder experiences by themselves. I think that's part of, you know, reaching out and asking for support. And there's nothing wrong with that. And it's also not about, you know, becoming like the most healed person or like never getting triggered or never struggling or never feeling any kind of pain. And I think a lot of, well, at least I hope I do a good job of this, but a lot of what I talk about is really being able to build capacity to move through something that maybe previously would have felt like really overwhelming and really uncomfortable. And allowing ourselves to learn new ways to respond and choose new habits and feel, you know, less impacted by our past and relate from a place that feels safe instead of like survival. And so even after, you know, you do all of all of the things, all of the work and all of that, you know, you still might get triggered, you might get dysregulated, you might feel uncomfortable. Um, all of those things will happen. And then hopefully when those things happen, you'll have, you know, way more tools and capacity to navigate, navigate all of those different forms of terrain in life. So if you're feeling, you know, behind or anything like that, there's no such thing as being like ahead or behind. We're all on the path, we're all on the journey, just putting like one foot in front of the other, and we're all trying our best out here. So just keep going and yeah, reach out if you need any kind of support. And so that is what we have for today's episode. Let me know what your favorite takeaway was. If you would like to stay connected, you can sign up for the somatic healing newsletter. The link for that will be right in the show notes. And yeah, I hope that you enjoyed today's episode. I hope that you have an incredible rest of your day, an incredible rest of your week. And I will talk to you soon. Thank you for being here and tuning in to Somatic Healing for Wellness Focused Women Podcast. If you were moved or inspired by today's episode, please take a moment to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It truly helps the podcast grow and helps more people find me on their healing journey. Make sure to check out the show notes to sign up for the monthly newsletter, links to more resources, opportunities to work with me, and ways that we can stay connected. If we aren't already connected on social media, head over to Instagram to follow me at Ray The Systematic Coach. Send me a DM. I'd love to connect with you, and I answer each note that comes in. I am so happy you're here, and I cannot wait to talk with you on our next episode of the podcast.