How to Release Trauma from Body: Practical Healing Tips

The phrase "releasing trauma from the body" covers two separate tasks. One is settling a nervous system that stayed on alert. The other is working through the traumatic memory itself.

Trauma leaves real, physical traces. The body's stress response, meaning the automatic changes that prepare a person to face danger, can stay active long after the danger has passed.

Some practices genuinely settle that response. You can use them safely on your own, starting today.

Working through the traumatic memory itself is different. That work is safest with professional support, for reasons the sections below set out.

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What Is Trauma?

Trauma follows events of an extremely threatening or horrific nature.¹ Assault, accidents, disasters, war and abuse are common examples.

Clinicians distinguish between the event itself and the impact it has on a person.² The event cannot be undone. Its effects on daily life often can ease, and that is what treatment works on.

Around 70% of people will experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.² Most recover with time and support. Some carry lasting effects that deserve proper care.

Some trauma is prolonged or repeated, such as ongoing domestic violence or childhood abuse.¹ Clinicians call its lasting after-effects complex post-traumatic stress. The term marks the effects of repeated harm rather than of a single event.

Why Does Trauma Live On in the Body?

A popular idea holds that emotions get stored in specific muscles. The evidence does not support it.

Under threat, the body prepares to fight or flee: heart rate rises, pupils widen and breathing quickens.³ The response protects us in real danger.

After trauma, that response often fails to settle. Traumatic events appear to recondition the nervous system,⁴ and people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) startle easily, feel irritable and sleep poorly.⁴

These changes run deep. Trauma can lastingly alter stress hormones and the autonomic nervous system.⁵ That system runs automatic functions such as heart rate, breathing and digestion, which is why the effects of trauma are felt so physically.

Trauma does not correspond neatly to particular body parts. Tension is real, but it moves and varies from person to person.

None of this means something is wrong with you. The body is still responding to danger that has passed. The practices set out below are aimed at settling that response.

What "The Body Keeps the Score" Really Says

The Body Keeps the Score is Bessel van der Kolk's book about trauma and the body. Its argument is narrower than the muscle-storage idea.

Van der Kolk argues that trauma imprints on the body, not only on thought. Recovery, he holds, must restore balance between the rational brain and the emotional brain.⁶

Some 80 percent of the fibres of the vagus nerve run from body to brain.⁶ That nerve connects the brain with organs including the heart, lungs and gut. So breathing, chanting and movement can shift how a person feels.⁶

One study followed patients whom no medication or other treatment had helped. Ten weeks of yoga practice markedly reduced their PTSD symptoms.⁶

The book does not say emotions sit in specific muscles; it argues for body-aware treatment alongside talking therapy, not instead of it.

How Do I Know If Trauma Is Affecting My Body?

Unexplained physical symptoms after trauma are common and real. Some survivors first notice only physical symptoms, chronic insomnia or anxiety.⁷

Physical signs

• Startling easily and feeling constantly on guard, called hypervigilance.¹
• Taking longer to fall asleep and waking often during the night.⁴
• A racing heart or rising blood pressure when reminded of the event.⁴
• Ongoing tension and psychosomatic complaints, meaning stress felt in the body.⁴

Physical symptoms can signal medical illness as well as stress.⁸ Have persistent symptoms checked by a doctor, whatever their likely cause.

Emotional and behavioural signs

• Reliving the event through vivid intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares.¹
• Avoiding people, conversations, or places that recall the event.¹
• Strong reactions to minor stressors, outbursts, or emotional numbing.¹
• Feeling detached from your body or surroundings, which clinicians call dissociation.¹
• Increased use of alcohol and other substances.⁹

These reactions are understandable responses to what happened: they are not weakness, and they can improve with the right help.

What You Can Safely Do On Your Own

The practices below calm the nervous system and build steadiness, and they support recovery, but on their own they do not erase traumatic memory.

Evidence for practices like these in PTSD is promising but still preliminary.¹⁰ Treat them as helpful skills, not as a cure.

One safety point first. If any practice brings on overwhelming feelings, stop and reach out for support. For some people, focusing on the breath can bring up trauma memories and intense emotion.¹¹ That is a reason to work with a professional, not to push harder.

1. Slow, paced breathing

A few slow, deep breaths engage the calming side of the nervous system.⁶ Therapists who teach breathing retraining suggest a slow exhale followed by a brief pause,⁹ and they recommend practising for 10 minutes, twice a day.⁹

Use it when you feel tense, or to settle before sleep.⁹

2. Grounding in the present

Grounding means holding attention on what is happening right now. One structured version is the three-minute breathing space, which comes from mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

It has three steps. Notice what is here, gather attention on the breath, then widen to the whole body.¹²

Simple versions work too. Feel your feet on the floor and name what you can see and hear.

3. Movement, rhythm, and exercise

Cultures worldwide pair movement, rhythm and breath. Yoga in India, tai chi and qigong in China, and drumming across Africa are all examples.⁶

Purposeful movement helps people feel centred in the present.⁶ Dance, brisk walking, running, or martial arts can all serve.

Choose something you enjoy and can repeat. Consistency matters more than intensity.

4. Progressive muscle relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation means tensing, then releasing, one muscle group at a time, and techniques like it have a long history in treating anxiety.¹³

It has limits. In trials that compared them directly, trauma-focused therapies did better than relaxation alone.¹³

5. Mindfulness, with care

Mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment, on purpose and without judgement.¹⁴ Rumination means going over the same distressing thoughts again and again. There is evidence that mindfulness training decreases rumination, a driver of both PTSD and depression.¹⁵

Keep sessions short at first. If breath focus distresses you, focus on something else, or skip the practice.

Our guide to mindfulness techniques in therapy explains common practices.

6. Journaling, gently

Journal writing can allow a more controlled way to express overwhelming experiences.¹⁶ Write about today, your feelings, and small steps forward.

Detailed accounts of the trauma are a different matter. Working directly with the memory belongs in supported therapy, not in a private notebook.

7. Connection and support

Trauma tends to leave people isolated, and connection works against that. Social support and a sense of control help buffer the body against stress.¹⁷

Time with safe people is a body-based practice too. So is asking for help.

Why Releasing Trauma Is Not a Solo Task

Telling the story of the event does not guarantee that traumatic memories will settle.¹⁸ Nor do relaxation exercises on their own.

Processing traumatic memory means approaching the most overwhelming moments of a person's life. Without support, that can overload the nervous system rather than settle it. Pacing is the difference.

This is why trauma therapists build safety and skills first. In body-based therapies, people build internal resources before approaching the trauma itself.¹⁸ Therapists then pace the work so feelings stay within a window of tolerance, meaning the range a person can feel without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down.¹⁸

Psychiatrist Judith Herman describes recovery as having three stages.⁷ Safety comes first, then remembrance and mourning, then reconnection with ordinary life.⁷

Recovery rarely moves evenly forward. Issues that seemed settled often return and get reworked at a deeper level.⁷ That is normal, not failure.

Therapy Options for Working Through Trauma

Several structured therapies help people process trauma with support. Our guide to therapy for trauma covers recovery in more depth.

Availability, names, and regulation differ between countries. Check what is offered and recognised where you live.

Somatic therapies

Somatic means relating to the body. Somatic experiencing and sensorimotor psychotherapy focus on physical sensations rather than on the story,¹⁸ and clients move gently in and out of difficult sensations, a process called pendulation.¹⁸

The aim is to complete defensive responses the body once had to suppress,¹⁸ which can restore a sense of agency, meaning the feeling of being able to act.¹⁸

Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR)

In EMDR, the client holds the memory in mind while tracking the therapist's moving finger. In one trial, after eight sessions, one in four EMDR participants had negligible PTSD scores.¹⁹ One in ten of the medication group saw the same result.¹⁹

Read more in our EMDR overview.

Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT)

Cognitive approaches help people re-examine beliefs about the meaning of the trauma,¹⁰ and the therapist and client test whether those beliefs still hold.

See our introduction to TF-CBT.

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT)

CPT targets the rigid, stuck thoughts that trauma leaves behind,¹³ and clients learn to notice and revise distorted themes about themselves and the world.¹³

Prolonged exposure (PE) therapy

PE helps people gradually face safe situations and memories they have been avoiding. Avoidance eases anxiety briefly but keeps post-traumatic stress going.⁹

Research strongly supports prolonged exposure as a first-line treatment for PTSD,²⁰ meaning one of the first offered. A course usually runs 8 to 15 weekly sessions of about 90 minutes.⁹

Learn more in our guide to prolonged exposure therapy.

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) skills

DBT teaches practical skills for managing intense emotions and staying grounded, and its mindfulness training adapts for people who cannot tolerate breath focus.¹¹

Read about dialectical behaviour therapy on TherapyRoute.

Group therapy, medication, and combined care

A group can provide acceptance, communality, and mutual commitment.²¹ Sharing with others who understand can ease the isolation trauma creates.

Medication can also help; a doctor can advise on the options.

No single approach suits everyone. Clinicians note there is no single cure-all for traumatic syndromes,⁷ and different stages of recovery call for different kinds of help.⁷

When to Seek Professional Help

Most trauma reactions ease over the year after the event, especially the first three months.²⁰ Reactions in the first month are normal responses, not necessarily PTSD.²⁰

Consider professional help if:

• Symptoms persist for more than a month after the event.²⁰
• Symptoms are distressing or interfere with daily functioning.²⁰
• You rely on alcohol or other substances to cope.⁹
• You feel numb, detached, or increasingly cut off from people.
• Sleep, tension, or anxiety stay difficult despite your own efforts.

Reaching out early is practical, not an admission of failure. If you feel unsafe right now, use the crisis resources at the top of this page.

How TherapyRoute Helps

TherapyRoute lists mental health professionals across many countries. You can search for a therapist near you on TherapyRoute.

If you are unsure where to begin, read our guide on how to find the right therapist. It explains what to ask and what to expect.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some signs of trauma release?

Clinicians describe a gradual shift from danger towards safety and from isolation towards connection.⁷ Sleep often improves, the startle response settles, and reminders gradually cause less distress.

Herman names empowerment and reconnection as the core experiences of recovery.²² Expect gradual change rather than one dramatic release.

How long does it take to release trauma from the body?

There is no fixed timeline. Many people recover naturally in the months after a traumatic event.²⁰

For complex trauma, clinicians know of no quick fix.²³ Steady improvement remains possible with time, skills, and support.

Are self-help techniques enough, or is therapy necessary?

Self-help practices calm the body and build capacity, and that matters, but for processing traumatic memory trauma-focused therapies proved superior to relaxation in trials.¹³

Use both together. Practise skills at home while a professional supports the deeper work.

Is it normal to feel worse before feeling better?

Within supported therapy, yes, it can be. Early in exposure therapy, a temporary rise in symptoms can signal active processing.²⁰

Feeling steadily worse while working alone is different. Treat that as a signal to pause and seek support.

How does trauma affect the brain?

Trauma exposure can produce lasting changes in the endocrine, autonomic and central nervous systems.⁵ Those are the systems that handle hormones, automatic body functions, and the brain and spinal cord. Researchers report abnormalities in the amygdala and hippocampus, structures linking fear and memory.⁵

These changes help explain flashbacks and constant alertness. The arousal system can also be trained, through breathing and movement.⁶

This article offers general information, not medical or psychological advice. Therapies and their regulation differ between countries. Please consult a qualified professional about your situation.

References

1. [1] WHO - Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Requirements for ICD-11 (CDDR, 2024), 6B41 Complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
2. [2] Russell, W. P., Breunlin, D. C., & Sahebi, B. (2023). Integrative Systemic Therapy in Practice: A Clinician's Guide. Routledge., Trauma.
3. [3] Adriana Feder, M.D., Sara Costi, M.D., Brian M. Iacoviello, Ph.D., James W. Murrough, M.D., and Dennis S. Charney, M.D. Anxiety Disorders: Neurobiology and Neuroscience. In Kaplan & Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 10th ed (2017, vols 1+2).
4. [4] Herman - Trauma and Recovery (2015), Chapter 2: Terror (pt 1).
5. [5] Herman - Trauma and Recovery (2015), Afterword: The Dialectic of Trauma Continues (pt 1).
6. [6] van der Kolk - The Body Keeps the Score (2014), CHAPTER 13 (pt 1).
7. [7] Herman - Trauma and Recovery (2015), Chapter 8: Safety (pt 1).
8. [8] Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 11th ed (2014), PHYSICAL HEALTH MONITORING (pt 5).
9. [9] Foa et al - Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD (2nd ed, 2019), Appendix D: Prolonged Exposure Treatment Session Checklists (pt 1).
10. [10] Kaplan & Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 10th ed (2017, vols 1+2), 17. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (pt 4).
11. [11] Linehan - DBT Skills Training Manual (2nd ed), pages 191-200 (pt 2) (pp 199-200).
12. [12] Crane, R. (2009). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Distinctive Features. Routledge., 23 The Three Minute Breathing Space.
13. [13] Eisendrath, S. J. (Ed.). (2016). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Innovative Applications. Springer., Relaxation.
14. [14] Crane, R. (2009). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Distinctive Features. Routledge., 1 An integration of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
15. [15] Eisendrath, S. J. (Ed.). (2016). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Innovative Applications. Springer., Theoretical Rationale of MBCT for PTSD.
16. [16] Kaplan & Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 10th ed (2017, vols 1+2), 20. Dissociative Disorders (pt 19).
17. [17] Charles L. Raison, M.D., Rebecca G. Reed, Ph.D., Graham A.W. Rook, B.Chir., M.D., and Andrew H. Miller, M.D. Immune System and Central Nervous System Interactions. In Kaplan & Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 10th ed (2017, vols 1+2).
18. [18] van der Kolk - The Body Keeps the Score (2014), CHAPTER 13 (pt 2).
19. [19] van der Kolk - The Body Keeps the Score (2014), CHAPTER 15 (pt 1).
20. [20] Foa et al - Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD (2nd ed, 2019), 2 Assessing Trauma Survivors and Implementing PE in Practice (pt 1).
21. [21] Gabbard's Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders (2007), Print: Chapter 32. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder (pt 2).
22. [22] Herman - Trauma and Recovery (2015), Chapter 10: Reconnection (pt 1).
23. [23] Herman - Trauma and Recovery (2015), Epilogue to the 2015 Edition (pt 4).