Why Talking About It Isn't Enough: Moving Through Trauma
Estimated Read Time: 6 minutes
You've been in therapy for months, maybe years. You've talked about what happened. You understand the patterns. You can explain your triggers. You know intellectually that it wasn't your fault.
But you still feel stuck. Your body still holds the same tension. You still react the same way when you're triggered. The anxiety, the hypervigilance, the feeling of unsafety in your own skin hasn't changed.
If this sounds familiar, you're not failing at therapy. Your trauma just isn't stored in the part of your brain that processes words and logic. It's stored in your body. And your body speaks a different language.
Where Trauma Actually Lives
When something traumatic happens, your brain's alarm center (the amygdala) takes over. It bypasses the thinking parts of your brain entirely. Your body prepares to fight or flee: heart races, muscles tense, breath quickens, blood flow increases to your limbs.
But if you couldn't fight and couldn't flee, all that survival energy gets trapped. Your muscles prepared for action that never happened. That incomplete response stays stored in your nervous system, in your fascia, in the chronic tension you carry.
This is why you can understand your trauma perfectly and still feel terrified when someone touches you unexpectedly. Why you can know logically that you're safe now, but your body doesn't believe it.
Your thinking brain got the memo that the danger is over. Your body is still waiting for permission to complete what it started.
The Shake and Release
Animals in the wild instinctively know how to release trauma from their bodies. After escaping a predator, they literally shake it off. Trembling, shaking, releasing all that pent-up survival energy.
Humans have the same mechanism, but we're taught to suppress it. "Pull yourself together. Stop shaking. Be strong."
This exercise gives you permission to complete that natural release.
Here's what to do:
Stand with feet hip-width apart, knees slightly soft. Start by gently bouncing on the balls of your feet. Let your body move how it wants to move.
Now add shaking. Start with your hands. Shake them vigorously like you're flinging water off.
Add your arms. Let them flop and swing. Don't try to control the movement.
Let the shaking move through your whole body. Your shoulders, your torso, your legs. You might make sounds. Let them come. Groans, sighs, even yells if you're somewhere private.
Do this for 3-5 minutes. Really let yourself go. Look ridiculous. Nobody's watching.
When you stop, stand still for a minute. Notice tingling, warmth, or suddenly feeling more present in your body. Your nervous system just completed something it's been trying to finish for a long time.
Trauma-Informed Yoga Poses You Can Do Anywhere
Regular yoga can sometimes be triggering for trauma survivors. Being told to "surrender" or "let go" when your nervous system is screaming danger doesn't work.
These poses are specifically chosen because they create a sense of groundedness and control.
Mountain Pose (with weight awareness): Stand with feet hip-width apart. Press all four corners of your feet into the ground. Feel your weight distributing evenly. Imagine roots growing from your feet deep into the earth.
Stand here for 2 minutes. Just feeling your weight, your connection to the ground, your stability.
Warrior II (for building power): Step one foot back, front knee bent. Extend your arms out to the sides at shoulder height. Look over your front hand.
This pose isn't about flexibility. It's about feeling strong, stable, and powerful in your body. Hold for 30 seconds each side. Feel your legs working. Feel your strength.
Child's Pose (with modifications): Kneel on the ground, sit back on your heels, fold forward. But keep your eyes open if you want. Use a pillow under your forehead. Put your arms alongside your body instead of reaching forward if that feels safer.
This pose should feel like a safe cave, not like you're trapped. Adjust however you need to feel protected, not vulnerable.
Legs Up the Wall: Lie on your back with your legs extended up against a wall. This gentle inversion calms your nervous system without feeling out of control.
Stay for 5-10 minutes. This is excellent for winding down at night or when anxiety is high.
The Push-Back Exercise for Reclaiming Power
This exercise is specifically for survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence who feel powerless in their bodies.
You'll need a wall:
Stand facing a wall, about arm's length away. Place your palms flat against the wall at shoulder height.
Push. Push hard, like you're trying to move the wall. Feel your muscles engage. Feel your power. Feel your strength.
Push for 10 seconds, then release. Take a breath. Do it again.
Each time you push, you can say (out loud or in your head): "No." "Stop." "Get away from me." Whatever words you needed to say then, say them now.
This completes the protective response your body wanted to do but couldn't. You're giving your nervous system permission to finish the fight response.
Do this exercise when you feel powerless, small, or frozen. It reminds your body that you have strength now. That you can push back.
Dance Like Nobody's Watching (Because They're Not)
Dance is one of the most powerful trauma release tools, but not the kind of dance you're thinking of. Not performance. Not pretty. Not following steps.
This is intuitive movement. Your body moving however it needs to move.
Here's how:
Put on one song. Something with a good beat, or something slow and emotional, or whatever calls to you today.
Start moving. It might be small at first. Swaying. Tapping your foot. Let it build.
Move however feels right. Shake. Twist. Reach. Curl up. Stretch out. Jump. Sway. Fall to the floor if you want.
Don't think about what it looks like. This isn't for anyone but you and your body.
The key is following your body's impulses instead of your brain's instructions. Your body knows what movements will release stuck energy. It's been waiting for permission.
Do this once a week at minimum. You'll be surprised what comes up and what moves through.
Breath as Movement
Your breath is the most accessible movement tool you have. And trauma almost always disrupts breathing patterns.
Most trauma survivors are chronic shallow breathers or breath-holders. You're not letting life fully in, and you're not fully releasing.
The conscious breathing practice:
Set a timer for 5 minutes. Sit or lie comfortably.
Breathe in through your nose for 4 counts, filling your belly first, then your ribs, then your chest.
Pause at the top for 2 counts.
Exhale through your nose for 6 counts, emptying your chest, then ribs, then belly.
Pause at the bottom for 2 counts.
Repeat.
This isn't about forcing anything. It's about retraining your body to breathe fully. To take in what you need and release what you don't.
Notice where you hold tension during breathing. Your shoulders? Your jaw? Your belly? Can you soften those places just a little?
The Grounding Walk
Walking is movement, but most of us walk on autopilot, barely present in our bodies.
This practice turns walking into a trauma release and grounding tool.
Here's what to do:
Start walking at a normal pace. Now slow way down. Like, ridiculously slow. Each step should take 3-5 seconds.
Notice everything: Your heel touching the ground. Your weight rolling through your foot. Your toes pushing off. The other foot lifting. The moment of being balanced on one foot.
Feel your legs working. Feel your arms swinging. Feel the air on your skin.
Do this for 5-10 minutes, either outside or inside.
This practice pulls you into your body and into the present moment simultaneously. It's almost impossible to dissociate while doing this kind of mindful movement.
Use this when you notice you're drifting out of your body, when anxiety is high, or anytime you need to feel more grounded.
When Movement Feels Unsafe
Some trauma survivors find that movement, especially in their hips or torso, brings up intense emotions or flashbacks. This is because body movement can unlock stored trauma.
If this happens:
Stop the movement
Use the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique (from Week 1's post)
Remind yourself out loud: "I'm here. I'm safe. That was then, this is now."
Try a gentler movement or work with a trauma-informed therapist
Movement should help you heal, not retraumatize you. If certain movements consistently bring up overwhelming feelings, that's information. That's where deeper therapeutic work is needed.
Your Body Wants to Heal
Here's what I want you to understand: your body has been trying to heal this whole time. Every time it shakes, every time it wants to move, every time it tenses up, it's trying to complete what got interrupted.
These movement practices aren't about adding one more thing to your to-do list. They're about finally giving your body permission to do what it's been trying to do all along.
Start with one practice. Maybe the shaking resonates with you. Maybe it's the push-back exercise. Do that one thing three times this week and notice what shifts.
Healing happens in your body at body speed, which is slower than your brain wants. But it's real, lasting change. The kind that doesn't just help you understand your trauma, but helps you finally release it.
Ready to explore body-based trauma therapy? We offer movement therapy, EMDR, and somatic approaches for survivors throughout Utah. Your body has been waiting to heal. Schedule a free consultation to learn about holistic trauma treatment that honors your body's wisdom.