When Your Body Remembers What Your Mind Wants to Forget: Somatic Tools for Trauma Recovery
Estimated Read Time: 6 minutes
You're doing everything right. You're going to work, showing up for your family, keeping it together on the outside. But your body tells a different story. Maybe it's the tightness in your chest when someone stands too close. The way your heart races in the grocery store for no reason. How you can't seem to relax, even when you're finally alone.
If this sounds familiar, you're not broken. Your body is actually doing exactly what it's supposed to do after trauma. It's protecting you. The problem is, it doesn't always know when the danger has passed.
Why Your Body Holds Onto Trauma
When something traumatic happens, whether it's sexual assault, domestic violence, or another overwhelming experience, your body prepares to fight or flee. Your heart races. Your muscles tense. Adrenaline floods your system.
But here's what often gets missed: when you can't fight and you can't flee, all that energy gets stuck. Your nervous system pressed the gas pedal hard, but never got to release it. So your body stays revved up, sometimes for months or years after the actual danger has passed.
This is why trauma survivors often feel:
Constantly on edge or hypervigilant
Unable to fully relax, even in safe situations
Disconnected from their bodies (numbness or dissociation)
Sudden waves of panic or anxiety that seem to come from nowhere
Your nervous system is still trying to complete a response that got interrupted. And until you help it finish that cycle, your body will keep sending alarm signals.
The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique (Try This Right Now)
When you're feeling triggered or disconnected from your body, this simple exercise can help bring you back to the present moment. It works by engaging your five senses, which tells your nervous system you're here, now, and safe.
Here's how to do it:
Look around and name out loud:
5 things you can see (the lamp on your desk, a picture on the wall, your coffee mug)
4 things you can touch (actually touch them: the chair beneath you, your shirt fabric, the cool surface of your phone)
3 things you can hear (the hum of the refrigerator, cars outside, your own breathing)
2 things you can smell (if you can't smell anything nearby, name two scents you like)
1 thing you can taste (take a sip of water or notice the taste in your mouth)
Do this slowly. Really notice each thing. This isn't about rushing through a list. It's about pulling your awareness out of the past or future and anchoring it in right now.
I recommend keeping this technique in your back pocket for grocery stores, work meetings, or anywhere you start feeling that familiar tightness creeping in.
Body Scan for Trauma Release
Your body knows where it's holding trauma. The trick is learning to listen without judgment. This practice helps you reconnect with physical sensations in a gentle, controlled way.
Start with just 5 minutes:
Lie down or sit comfortably. Close your eyes if that feels safe (if not, keep them open with a soft gaze downward).
Begin at your feet. Notice any sensations there. Tingling, warmth, tension, numbness? Don't try to change anything. Just notice.
Slowly move your attention up through your body:
Your calves and shins
Your knees and thighs
Your hips and pelvis (this is where a lot of trauma gets stored)
Your stomach and chest
Your shoulders and arms
Your neck and jaw
Your face and head
When you find areas of tension or discomfort, breathe into them. Imagine your breath flowing directly to that spot, creating a little more space there.
Important: If at any point this feels overwhelming, stop. Open your eyes. Use the 5-4-3-2-1 technique above. You're in control. You can always come back to this practice another day.
The Shake It Out Method
Animals in the wild do this instinctively after a threat passes. A deer escapes a predator, then stops and literally shakes its whole body, trembling for several minutes. This releases all that survival energy from its nervous system.
Humans need this too, but we're taught to "pull it together" and "be strong." So we hold it in. This simple practice lets you release that stored energy.
Here's what to do:
Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Start bouncing gently on your feet, letting your whole body shake. Your arms can hang loose and floppy. Your jaw can be loose. Let yourself look ridiculous. Nobody's watching.
Start slow, then pick up the pace. Really let your body move. Shake your hands. Roll your shoulders. Let out sounds if they want to come (groaning, sighing, even yelling if you're somewhere private).
Do this for 2-3 minutes. Then stand still and notice how your body feels. You might feel tingling, warmth, or suddenly very tired. All normal.
This is especially helpful after a nightmare, a triggering encounter, or when you notice that wound-up, jittery feeling taking over.
Box Breathing for Nervous System Regulation
Trauma survivors often breathe shallow and fast without realizing it. This keeps your nervous system in fight-or-flight mode. Box breathing helps activate your parasympathetic nervous system (the "rest and digest" mode).
The pattern is simple:
Breathe in for 4 counts
Hold for 4 counts
Breathe out for 4 counts
Hold empty for 4 counts
Repeat
Visualize tracing a square as you breathe. Up the left side as you inhale. Across the top as you hold. Down the right side as you exhale. Across the bottom as you hold empty.
Do this for 5 rounds minimum. You can extend the count to 5 or 6 as it gets easier, but start with 4.
This technique is gold for moments when you feel panic rising. In your car before walking into a situation that makes you nervous. At night when your mind won't stop racing. Before having a difficult conversation.
Using Utah's Landscape as Part of Your Healing
One advantage of living in Utah is having incredible access to nature. Research shows that time outdoors, especially in natural settings, directly impacts your nervous system's ability to regulate.
You don't need a big hiking trip. Even 10 minutes sitting by a creek or walking through a park helps. The key is to engage your senses (like in the 5-4-3-2-1 technique):
Notice the feeling of sun or wind on your skin. Listen to birds or rustling leaves. Look at the details of a flower or the pattern of bark on a tree. If you're near water, watch how it moves.
Nature gives your nervous system permission to slow down. There's something about being around things that grow and change slowly that reminds your body it doesn't have to be on high alert every second.
What to Do When These Techniques Aren't Enough
These tools work. I've seen them help countless clients create more space between trigger and reaction. But here's the honest truth: sometimes DIY techniques can only take you so far.
If you're noticing that:
These exercises help in the moment, but the underlying anxiety or hypervigilance isn't decreasing
You're avoiding more and more situations because of triggers
Sleep is still a major struggle
You can't be intimate with your partner without flashbacks
You feel numb or disconnected more often than not
Then it might be time for deeper therapeutic work. EMDR, somatic experiencing, and other trauma-focused therapies can help your nervous system actually reprocess the stuck trauma, not just manage the symptoms.
The techniques I've shared here aren't a replacement for therapy. They're tools to use alongside it, or while you're building up the courage to start. They're practices that give you some control back, which is often the first step toward healing.
Start With One
Don't try to do all of these at once. Pick the one that resonated most with you and practice it daily for a week. Just that one. Notice what shifts.
Maybe it's the 5-4-3-2-1 technique every morning. Maybe it's shaking it out every time you get home from work. Maybe it's box breathing before bed.
Small, consistent practices create big changes over time. Your nervous system is learning that you're safe. That takes repetition.
Your body has been working so hard to protect you. These tools help you work with it instead of against it.
Need support beyond self-help techniques? We specialize in trauma recovery for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence throughout Utah. We offer sliding scale rates and understand that healing isn't one-size-fits-all. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to see if holistic therapy might be right for you.