For many people, healing trauma is critical for reducing chronic psychological stress. People tend to think trauma only includes severe experiences, such as car accidents or assault. The reality is psychological trauma can happen from any event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to adequately respond to the event. Something as seemingly simple as a mean joke can powerfully affect a vulnerable person.

Often, trauma becomes an energetic pattern and story on repeat that changes the experience of life. Importantly, some people bury the trauma in the subconscious where, unknown to the conscious mind, the pattern created by trauma negatively affects many areas of everyday life.

Although some traumas are hidden, most people know their three most difficult life experiences. Some of these experiences can be psychologically traumatic. Because these experiences are overwhelming, the intense energy can get stuck in the nervous system. People often live for decades with the original trauma energy existing in the body.

One reason trauma can get stuck like this is the natural cycle of energy get disrupted. In Nature, many animals must activate maximum energies to survive dangerous situations. Animals have a few options when confronted with danger. They can either fight, run away, or freeze. Each option involves a massive activation of the nervous system. Once the danger has passed, animals shake out excess energy to relax their nervous systems and resume regular lives.

Because this level of nervous system energy is intense, the human mind often judges the body’s energy and gets scared of the experience. For this reason, the mind may suppress the normal way excess nervous system energy resolves. This causes the energy to get stuck inside the body. This can lead to many difficult health problems.

Therefore, the secret is to gradually let go at the level of energy stored in the body while using cues to let the body and mind know they are safe. Because traumatic energy is intense, creating safety and approaching with small steps is important.

The idea of stuck nervous system energy and how to resolve it is from the work of Peter Levine and his book Waking The Tiger: Healing Trauma. Read this book and others to get a better understanding of the steps involved in resolving trauma. Also, work with a therapist who is knowledgeable about the way the body stores trauma energetically.

Importantly, some therapies may be helpful for trauma. These therapies are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), which reframe past experiences when the body feels safe with a trusted therapist.

Also, a major part of healing trauma is replacing negative associations with positive associations. Simply removing the fear and difficult energetic is not enough. Reframing and finding meaning in past experiences are so important for creating long-term healing.

Before healing trauma, improve overall health. Having a good stable base of sleep, nutrition, and lifestyle patterns helps to create the feeling of safety and support necessary for effectively healing more intense emotional patterns.

Healing trauma is a large part of reducing psychological stress, which impacts inflammation and the risk of many different health conditions.

Some other excellent books about trauma and emotions in the body are:

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by David Hawkins

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk

When the Body Says No by Gabor Mate

In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness by Peter Levine