Have you experienced the feeling of being on high alert, waiting for something terrible to happen? This could look like your whole body getting tense, your palms sweating, your heart racing, or feeling like you’re frozen and can’t move, even though you may not be in immediate danger or harm. If this is familiar to you, you are not alone in this experience. These can be common reactions that happen when your nervous system is stuck in its survival states of fight, flight, or freeze. This is how the body responds to danger but for many people, these reactions can sometimes get “stuck” due to past trauma. Somatic therapy offers a pathway through healing from this cycle and restoring balance to your nervous system.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through what happens when your nervous system is experiencing overwhelm, what fight, flight, and freeze responses look like, and how somatic therapy can help you process and heal these “stuck” responses and reclaim a sense of regulation, calm, and agency.
Nervous System Basics: What Happens When You Feel Threatened
In order to understand how somatic therapy works, it can be helpful to first understand how your nervous system responds to danger. The nervous system is made up of two main parts: the sympathetic nervous system (which prepares you to act when you feel in danger) and the parasympathetic nervous system (which can help you to relax and regain a sense of calm when the threat is over). These two systems together help you survive challenging situations by preparing you to fight, flight, or freeze.
Fight: When you feel threatened, your body may prepare to fight. This is the “fight” response. You may experience muscle tension, increased heart rate, and a burst of energy. Your body is getting ready to protect itself by physically confronting the danger or defending itself.
Flight: If you aren’t able to fight, then the next option is to escape. This is the “flight” response. Your body may prepare to run away by increasing your breathing rate, dilating your pupils, and releasing adrenaline to give you the energy you need to run away.
Freeze: If neither fight or flight feel available, your body may go into a “freeze” response. This may look like becoming numb, disconnected, or shutting down. This is your body’s way of conserving energy and making you appear less noticeable to the threat.
These are natural responses that are helpful when we are experiencing danger or a threat. However, what happens when there’s no immediate threat and your body is acting like there is? This is often where trauma can play a role.
How Trauma Can Keep Your Nervous System Stuck
Trauma happens when you experience an event or multiple events that overwhelm your ability to cope with what’s happening. It can be emotional, physical, or psychological. Trauma may cause your nervous system to stay in a state of hyper-alertness even after the threat has passed. This means your body may continue to act as if a threat is present when, in reality, there isn’t.
What is Somatic Therapy?
Somatic therapy is a form of therapy that helps you to build a bridge between your brain and body and to connect and deepen your relationship with your body. It’s a form of therapy that can help you to witness, understand, and be attuned to what is showing up in your body and meet your body’s needs- as well as help release tension, stress, and anxiety. By understanding more about sensations in your body and your relationship with your body, you can learn ways to attune to what is needed and build safety and trust in yourself. Somatic therapy can help you learn ways to notice sensations, release stuck energy, and restore balance and calm in your nervous system.
In somatic therapy, with the help of a skilled somatic therapist, the goal is not to just talk about your trauma but to physically process and release the stuck energy of trauma. This can be done through techniques that help you to reconnect your body in little doses at a time, increase your awareness of and attunement to physical sensations, and help you learn new ways of responding to stress and anxiety.
How Somatic Therapy Helps Combat Fight, Flight, and Freeze Responses
Somatic therapy can be very helpful for people who may feel stuck in their fight, flight, or freeze
responses. By using body-based techniques, somatic therapy can help you create a sense of calm,
and safety, and regain control of your nervous system. Below are a few ways that somatic therapy can help:
Increase Body Awareness
One of the important aspects of somatic therapy is to learn how to tap into your body’s sensations. When people experience trauma they often disconnect from their bodies to cope with the intense pain, feelings, and physical reactions that accompany traumatic experiences. This disconnection can often make it difficult to notice when your nervous system has become activated. Somatic therapy can help you to become more aware of your physical sensations.
When we are able to do this, you can start to notice when you enter into a fight, flight, or freeze state. For example, you may notice when your shoulders tighten or tense up when you feel stressed or that your breathing gets more shallow. As you become aware of these signs you can have more agency and choice to bring in grounding before your body goes into full survival mode.
Grounding Techniques
Grounding can be a very powerful technique used in somatic therapy to help you reconnect to the present moment and bring calm to your nervous system. When you move into a fight, flight, or freeze state you may also experience anxiety or fear about the past or future. Grounding exercises can help you to come back into the present moment and remind you that you are safe.
Some common grounding exercises are:
Breathing exercises: Slow, deep breathing can help to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and help you to experience calm and relaxation. You could try breathing in for four counts, holding for four counts, and then exhaling for four counts.
Feet on the ground: Sitting or standing with your feet on the floor, you can press your left foot into the floor and then press your right foot into the floor. Or press the balls of your feet into the floor and then press the heels of your feet into the floor. This can help you to feel more centered and grounded in your body
Body scan: This involves mentally scanning your body, starting at the top of your head and moving downward, noticing any tension or discomfort. As you notice tension you can invite those areas to soften or relax.
Releasing Trapped Energy: Trauma often can cause energy to become stuck or trapped in the body. This stuck energy can often show up as pain, tension, tightness, or a feeling of being stuck. Somatic therapy uses gentle movement, touch, and verbal invitations to help release this energy. By allowing your body to process and release energy tied to trauma, you can move out of fight, flight, or freeze responses.
Some somatic techniques for releasing trapped energy could include:
Movement or shaking: Movement can help release stuck energy in your body. You may be invited to shake your hands, arms, or even your whole body. It may feel strange at first but it’s a very natural way for your body to release tension.
Touch: Sometimes, gentle touch may be offered to help reconnect with your body and release tension. This could look like a self-hug, using tools like balancing balls or offering a touch to your back for additional support.
Breathing with sound: Sometimes deep breathing with a sound, such as the “voo” exercise, which is a form of humming can help release stuck energy. This is a way of physically expressing what has been held in the body.
Restoring a Sense of Safety: Trauma so often leaves people feeling fearful, hyper-vigilant, or anxious, even in safe situations. Somatic therapy can help you restore your felt sense of safety by helping your nervous system recognize that the danger is over. Over time, you can build resilience, and learn how to trust your body’s capacity to handle stress and feel safe again.
Techniques for Building Long-Term Resilience
Somatic therapy is not just about overcoming the past, it’s also about building resilience in your nervous system to skillfully manage what may arise in the future. As you learn how to regulate your nervous system and stay grounded you can better handle day-to-day stressors, big or small. Some techniques to help build long-term resilience could be:
Building and maintaining a regular self-care routine: Making time for activities that ground, center and feel purposeful and restorative for you. This could be engaging in a form of creativity, walking, or being in nature.
Mindfulness practices: Mindfulness and meditation can help you to build awareness and with that comes more agency and choice. Mindfulness can help you connect with the present moment and reduce anxiety. This could be mindfully noticing your thoughts or surroundings like going on a mindful walk, noticing the colors, sounds, and textures around you.
Building and maintaining supportive relationships: Connecting with others can be very helpful in your healing journey. This can help you to know you are not alone and have connection and support as you heal. Surrounding yourself with people who make you feel safe, supported, and like you can be your whole self can be very helpful as you heal.
Reclaiming Your Nervous System
If you feel like your body is often on hyper-alert or like you are stuck in a fight, flight, or freeze response, somatic therapy can be very helpful in restoring peace. By learning ways to tune into your body, release trapped energy, and practice grounding techniques, you can reclaim your nervous system and restore a sense of calm. Over time and with practice, you can heal from the effects of past trauma and move forward with resilience and balance. Reclaiming your nervous system isn’t just about surviving, it’s about having more space to live authentically and wholly. You deserve to feel safe, grounded, and at ease in your body. Somatic therapy at Compass Healing Project can help you heal and process trauma and restore safety, connection, and groundedness in your body.
Begin Reclaiming Your Nervous System With Somatic Therapy in San Diego, CA
Are you ready to reclaim a sense of calm and safety in your body? Somatic therapy offers a compassionate, body-centered approach to help you release the effects of past trauma, restore balance to your nervous system, and reconnect with yourself. Reach out to Compass Healing Project to take the first step toward healing and experiencing life with renewed ease and resilience. Follow these three simple steps to get started:
Reach Out and Fill out our New Client Inquiry Form to get started.
Schedule a discovery call with one of our skilled somatic therapists to discuss your needs and goals with Somatic Therapy.
Reclaim your nervous system!
Additional Counseling Services at Compass Healing Project
At Compass Healing Project, we take a holistic approach to therapy, using a range of modalities to support various mental health needs. In addition to helping reclaim your nervous system with somatic therapy, we offer EMDR, Clinical Sexology, hypnotherapy, ketamine-assisted therapy, and embodiment practices—each tailored to help with anxiety, depression, PTSD, grief, sexuality concerns, and relationship issues. To learn more about our services, visit our blog or connect with our compassionate therapists in Colorado and California, who specialize in trauma resolution, emotional healing, and integrative therapy to support your journey to well-being.
About The Author
Mallory Burggraaf is a Licensed Social Worker and Somatic Experiencing provider who specializes in attachment repair using Somatic techniques, Internal Family Systems, and Developmental trauma repair. Mallory works virtually in all of Colorado and has current openings for new adult individuals interested in working holistically. Book a discovery call today!
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