How Trauma Affects the Nervous System—and How Somatic Therapy in Racine, WI Helps Reset It
When the Body Remembers What the Mind Can’t
You may “know” you’re safe but still feel anxious, tense, or disconnected.
This is one of the most confusing parts of trauma—the mind understands that danger has passed, but the body hasn’t received that message yet. Trauma isn’t only the event that happened; it’s what remains inside the nervous system afterward.
The human nervous system is designed to protect us. When something overwhelming occurs—an accident, chronic stress, abuse, or even emotional neglect—our body’s security system shifts into survival mode. Over time, it can get stuck there.
Understanding how trauma affects your nervous system is the first step toward healing it. Somatic therapy offers a way to gently reset the system, helping your body remember what calm and safety feel like again.
Your Nervous System: The Body’s Security System
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) runs quietly in the background, governing heartbeat, breathing, and digestion. It has two main branches:
Sympathetic system: activates energy for protection or action (“fight or flight”).
Parasympathetic system: supports rest, repair, and social connection (“rest and digest”).
When balanced, these two systems act like a pendulum—moving between alertness and calm as life requires.
Trauma interrupts this balance. The body’s built-in “danger detector,” a process called neuroception, begins to misread cues. Ordinary stressors—an argument, a tone of voice, a crowded store—can register as threats.
Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, helps explain this. It describes how the vagus nerve, our body’s main communication line between brain and organs, shifts between three primary states:
Ventral vagal (safety and connection): we feel grounded, open, and socially engaged.
Sympathetic (mobilization): we feel ready to act, fight, or run.
Dorsal vagal (shutdown): we feel collapsed, numb, or disconnected.
When trauma imprints the nervous system, these states can become rigid—leaving us stuck in defense rather than flexibility.
Trauma Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn, Collapse, and Attachment Cry
Our trauma responses are not weaknesses. They are adaptive survival strategies that once helped us endure unbearable situations. Understanding them brings compassion to our patterns and offers a map for healing.
Fight
The body prepares to confront threat—muscles tense, jaw clenches, anger rises. This can look like irritability, frustration, or the need to control. Beneath the anger is a nervous system trying to reclaim power.
Flight
Energy surges to escape danger. Restlessness, overworking, perfectionism, or anxiety may appear. Many who live in a constant state of “doing” are unknowingly stuck in flight.
Freeze
When neither fighting nor fleeing feels possible, the body immobilizes. Time may feel slow; the world distant. Numbness, brain fog, or dissociation can dominate. The freeze state protects by reducing overwhelm but can later feel like being trapped.
Fawn
This response emerges when safety depends on pleasing others. We may appease, over-accommodate, or lose our own needs to avoid conflict. The nervous system learns that connection equals survival—even at personal cost.
Collapse
A deeper form of shutdown where energy drains completely. Muscles lose tone, posture slumps, and emotions flatten. Collapse often appears as hopelessness, chronic fatigue, or a sense of giving up.
Attachment Cry
Unique to relational trauma, this response involves an intense yearning for closeness or reassurance. It can surface as panic when separated, clinging, or despair at perceived rejection. The body is crying out for the safety of connection.
Each of these states reflects a nervous system doing its best to survive. Healing invites these protective responses to stand down when safety has returned.
Reflection: Notice which response feels most familiar in your own life. How does your body signal that it’s entering that state? Awareness is the doorway to change.
When the System Stays Stuck: Understanding Dysregulation
After trauma, the nervous system may lose flexibility—it stays locked in “on” (hyperarousal) or “off” (hypoarousal).
Hyperarousal: The System Stuck On
When hyperaroused, the body remains flooded with adrenaline and cortisol. Sleep becomes difficult; concentration fades. You might feel edgy, irritable, or constantly braced for something bad to happen. This is the fight or flight state on repeat.
Hypoarousal: The System Stuck Off
Other times, the body shuts down entirely. Fatigue, numbness, disconnection, or “not caring” can dominate. This is the freeze or collapse state taking control, protecting you from feeling too much.
The Window of Tolerance
Psychiatrist Dr. Dan Siegel describes the window of tolerance as the optimal zone where we can feel our emotions and stay grounded. Trauma can shrink this window, leaving people bouncing between anxiety and shutdown.
The goal of somatic therapy isn’t to eliminate these states but to expand your window—helping your nervous system regain its natural rhythm between activation and rest.
How Somatic Therapy Helps Reset and Expand the Window
Somatic therapy works through the body to support nervous system healing. Instead of only talking about experiences, we notice what the body feels—tension, warmth, breath, or movement.
A. Working with Sensation, Not Against It
Trauma is stored in implicit memory—the kind held in muscles, posture, and breath rather than words. Somatic therapy helps surface these patterns safely. When a client notices, “My chest tightens as I talk about this,” that awareness becomes the entry point for healing.
B. Regulation and Safety
Through gentle tracking of sensations, grounding, and orienting to the present, the body begins to learn that it is safe now. Therapists may invite pauses, slower breathing, or awareness of support under the body. Over time, these micro-moments of safety teach the nervous system to relax its guard.
C. Co-Regulation in the Therapeutic Relationship
A key aspect of trauma-informed care is co-regulation—borrowing calm from another’s regulated nervous system. When a therapist maintains a grounded, attuned presence, a client’s body often mirrors that safety. This is why genuine connection and pacing matter more than technique alone.
D. Integration Over Time
As the body experiences safety repeatedly, it rewires. Emotions move through instead of getting stuck. Many clients describe feeling lighter, clearer, and more connected to themselves and others.
Some forms of somatic therapy, such as Brainspotting, further access the brain-body connection by locating eye positions linked to subcortical processing. This allows stored activation to resolve at the level where it first formed.
Somatic therapy doesn’t force release—it invites regulation. Healing happens not by pushing past the body’s defenses but by helping it feel safe enough to let go.
Simple Ways to Support Your Nervous System Between Sessions
While therapy provides structured support, everyday life offers countless moments to nurture nervous system healing.
Breathe slowly—especially the exhale. Long, gentle exhalations activate the vagus nerve and calm the body.
Orient to safety. Look around your environment and name what feels pleasant or neutral. This reminds the body that danger isn’t present.
Ground through the senses. Notice your feet on the floor, your back against the chair, the texture of an object in your hands.
Hum, sing, or use gentle movement. These stimulate the vagus nerve and restore flow after tension.
Connect with nature or supportive people. Safe connection—whether with a friend, pet, or the natural world—helps regulate the social engagement system.
Healing takes patience. Small, consistent practices signal to your body that it’s safe to come out of defense and rest again.
Healing Begins When the Body Feels Safe
Trauma recovery isn’t about willpower or simply “thinking positive.” It’s about helping your body rediscover safety, connection, and trust in its own rhythm.
When the nervous system begins to settle, thoughts become clearer, emotions more manageable, and relationships more fulfilling. You no longer need to convince yourself you’re safe—you feel it.
If you’re ready to explore how somatic therapy can support your nervous system healing, I would be honored to walk alongside you on that journey. Together, we can help your body remember what calm feels like again.