When the Body Holds Memory: Understanding Trauma in the Nervous System
Trigger Warning: This article discusses trauma, including sexual trauma.
We’re often taught that memories live solely in the mind. But experiences, especially overwhelming or painful ones, can be stored in the body itself, influencing how we move, breathe, and respond long after the event has passed.
Trauma isn’t only what you remember consciously. It’s also what your nervous system has learned to protect you from. When your body perceives danger, it prioritises survival. Over time, these protective reactions can become habitual, lingering even when the original threat is gone.
At MindfulWell, we are trauma-informed, trained professionals who provide supportive, evidence-based care for women’s mental and physical health. We understand how trauma shows up in the body and are here to guide you safely through regulation, healing, and empowerment.
How Trauma Shapes the Nervous System
Trauma activates the body’s fight, flight, or freeze responses, releasing stress chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline. These responses are essential in real danger, but chronic activation keeps the nervous system in high alert.
Persistent nervous system arousal can affect:
Muscle tension
Shallow or restricted breathing
Heightened sensitivity to sensations
Amplified pain perception
Slower digestion, hormonal function, and reproductive processes
This isn’t a lack of willpower. It’s an adaptive survival mechanism, designed to protect you.
Why the Body Holds Trauma
The body doesn’t choose to retain trauma, it learns protective patterns that once helped keep you safe. Examples include:
Tightening pelvic or core muscles during stress
Holding your breath unconsciously
Tension in the jaw, shoulders, or under the ribs
These patterns are encoded in the nervous system, not “irrational” reactions. That’s why advice like “just relax” often fails, your body can’t simply switch off safety responses on command. It needs time, consistency, and regulation.
Trauma Can Be Many Things
Trauma isn’t limited to extreme or life-threatening events. It can include:
Childhood neglect or emotional unavailability
Repeated stressful experiences
Medical procedures that felt unsafe
Sexual or physical violence
Chronic fear or hypervigilance without an obvious source
Even small or repeated experiences can leave a lasting imprint on the nervous system, meaning two people might respond very differently to similar events.
Supporting Your Nervous System
Recognising that your body holds trauma is empowering. Here are trauma-informed strategies to begin working with your body safely:
Seek Trauma-Informed Support
Therapists trained in somatic or nervous system-focused approaches can help you process emotional and physical responses safely mindfulness, somatic, IFS, CBT and psychodynamic therapies.Prioritise Regulation Before Change
Tools like grounding, mindful breathing, gentle movement, and somatic therapy aren’t optional, they are core nervous system care.Listen to Your Body
Tension, pain, or discomfort are signals, not failures. They indicate your body still senses potential threat.Work With Supportive Clinicians
Whether a physio, GP, or therapist, ask about trauma-informed care. Small changes in how clinicians interact can profoundly affect your body’s response.
At MindfulWell, all our services are delivered by trauma-informed professionals trained in nervous system regulation, so you can feel safe and supported while exploring your healing journey.
Feeling safe in your body again doesn’t mean forgetting trauma. It means learning how to regulate your nervous system, honour your body’s messages, and reclaim a sense of ease and safety.
You are not alone, and support is available.
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💛 Written by Amy reis williams
Trauma-informed, nervous system-aware support for women seeking understanding, regulation, and healing.
van der Kolk, B. (2015). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.
Hill-Fife, A. (2020). Why “Just Relax” Fails Women With Pelvic Pain. Pelvic Health PT. https://pelvichealthpt.com/why-just-relax-fails-women-with-pelvic-pain-and-what-their-bodies-are-really-saying/
Hill-Fife, A. (2020). The Hidden Trauma Connection in Pelvic Pain. Pelvic Health PT. https://pelvichealthpt.com/the-hidden-trauma-connection-thats-revolutionizing-pelvic-pain-treatment-for-85-of-undiagnosed-women/
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