How Trauma And Emotions Get Stored In The Body (And How To Release Them Safely)
Somatic Memory
Most people already sense this is true before they ever hear it explained.
You can feel stress in your shoulders.
Fear can tighten your stomach.
Grief can sit heavy in your chest.
Anxiety can live like buzzing electricity under the skin.
This isn’t imagination or metaphor. The body really does hold emotional experience, especially when those experiences were overwhelming, suppressed, or never fully processed.
Understanding how this happens is important. But even more important is understanding how to safely allow the body to release what it’s been holding.
Because healing is not about forcing emotions out.
It’s about creating conditions where the body naturally lets go.
Why The Body Stores Emotional Experience
When something stressful or overwhelming happens, the nervous system automatically shifts into survival mode.
This might look like:
• Fight(Heat, Tension, Frustration, Aggression)
• Flight(Jumpy Mind, Lack of Attention, Anxiety/Fear)
• Freeze(Whole-body Contraction, Immobility, Shaking, Confusion
• Shutdown or dissociation(Depression, Fatigue, Avoidance, Lethargy)
These responses are not problems. They are intelligent protection mechanisms.
The challenge is that sometimes the body doesn’t get the chance to complete those responses. The experience gets interrupted, suppressed, or pushed aside because life keeps moving and there isn’t enough safety or support to process it fully.
When that happens, the nervous system can stay partially locked in survival mode, even long after the original event is over.
Instead of emotions moving through the body like weather passing through the sky, they can become held as tension, numbness, or chronic activation.
How Stored Emotions Show Up In The Body
Stored emotional material does not always feel dramatic or obvious. Often it shows up in very normal ways that people don’t immediately connect to emotional holding.
Some common patterns include:
Physical Patterns
• Chronic muscle tightness
• Digestive tension or discomfort
• Jaw clenching
• Shallow breathing
• Unexplained fatigue
• Persistent aches or pain
Emotional Patterns
• Anxiety that seems to come out of nowhere
• Feeling emotionally stuck or numb
• Sudden waves of emotion without clear cause
• Overreacting to small stressors
• Difficulty relaxing or feeling safe
Nervous System Patterns
• Always feeling on edge
• Difficulty sleeping deeply
• Feeling overwhelmed by normal responsibilities
• Trouble feeling present or grounded
These patterns are not signs that something is wrong with you. They often show that your nervous system is trying to protect you using strategies that once helped you survive.
Why Talking About Trauma Sometimes Isn’t Enough
Talking and understanding experiences can be extremely valuable. Insight helps organize memory and meaning.
But stored trauma is often not just cognitive. It lives in the body as sensation, muscle memory, and nervous system activation.
That means healing often requires including body awareness and nervous system regulation, not just mental processing.
This is why body based healing approaches have become so important in recent years. They help the body complete experiences that were never fully resolved.
What Emotional Release Actually Looks Like
Emotional release is often misunderstood. Many people imagine it as intense or dramatic. Sometimes it can be, but more often it is subtle and gradual.
Release may look like:
• Spontaneous sighing or deeper breathing
• Muscles softening without effort
• Trembling or shaking
• Crying or waves of emotion
• Feeling warmth or movement in the body
• Sudden feelings of relief or spaciousness
• Feeling more grounded or calm
These are natural ways the nervous system discharges stored survival energy.
Release is not something you force. It happens when the body feels safe enough to let go.
Why Safety Is The Most Important Ingredient
One of the biggest misunderstandings in trauma healing is the idea that pushing into emotional intensity speeds up healing.
In reality, the nervous system releases most effectively when it feels supported, safe, and not overwhelmed.
Healing tends to happen through gentle, consistent contact with sensation rather than aggressive emotional excavation.
Going too fast can actually reinforce protective patterns instead of resolving them.
A Simple Practice To Begin Releasing Stored Emotional Tension
This is a foundational body awareness practice that many people find safe and effective.
You can try it sitting or lying down.
Step 1: Orient To Safety
Take a moment to look around your space slowly. Let your eyes land on objects, colors, or light. This helps signal safety to the nervous system.
Step 2: Notice Your Breathing
Do not change your breath. Just notice where breathing is already happening in your body.
Chest
Belly
Back
Throat
Allow it to be exactly as it is, or if it feels uncomfortable, try taking two soft inhales at once, followed by a long, sigh-like exhale.
You could add humming, and “Sssss” sound, or a repetative “Nnnngggg” sound to emphasize the exhale. This can help the breath and nerves settle.
Step 3: Scan For Sensation
Gently bring awareness through the body and notice areas of:
Tightness
Pressure
Warmth
Numbness
Movement
Buzzing
Just notice if you find even a little more softness where' you’re holding unnecessary tension, and if it feels even slightly better, recognize that. Give small releases the appreciation they deserve, and you will find your body becoming familiar with the process of letting go, and releasing what it doesn’t need to hold onto.
Step 4: Stay With One Area, or Allow it to Spread…
If you notice an area calling attention, and it feels good to allow it to continually soften, stay there gently.
Let yourself feel the sensation while continuing to breathe naturally. If emotion arises, allow it to be present without trying to increase or decrease it.
Step 5: Pause When Needed
If sensation or emotion becomes too intense, simply shift awareness back to something neutral like your hands, feet, or the feeling of the floor supporting you.
Healing happens through rhythm between contact and rest.
Even a few minutes of this practice can begin teaching the body that it is safe to soften and release.
How Long Emotional Release Healing Takes
There is no fixed timeline. The body releases in layers and at its own pace.
Many people notice:
• Small shifts early on
• Gradual improvement in resilience
• Increased emotional flexibility
• More comfort in their own body
• Reduced baseline anxiety or tension
Consistency and gentleness tend to create deeper and more stable results than intensity.
When Support Can Be Helpful
Self practice can be powerful, but there are times when guided support is valuable, especially if:
• Emotional release feels overwhelming
• You feel stuck in freeze or numbness
• Trauma history is complex
• You want structured guidance and safety
Working with someone trained in body based release can help regulate the nervous system while allowing deeper layers to safely unwind.
The Bigger Picture Of Healing
The body is not holding trauma to hurt you. It is holding experience because at one time it did not feel safe enough to release it.
Healing is not about fixing the body.
It is about rebuilding trust between awareness, sensation, and nervous system safety.
When that trust grows, release tends to happen naturally.
And many people discover something surprising on the other side of release — not just less pain, but a greater sense of presence, ease, and connection to life.
If You Want Guidance With This Work
If this way of understanding emotional healing resonates with you, there are a few ways you can explore deeper support:
• You can download my free ebook
FREE “Cultivating Release” Ebook CLICK HERE
• You can join my practice community where we train these skills together!
THE ART OF RELEASE (FOR FREE AND PAID TIER TRAINING AND LIVE/RECORDED CLASSES, CLICK HERE)
• You can work with me privately if you want personalized guidance
TO WORK WITH ME 1-1 CLICK HERE
Healing stored emotional tension is not about becoming someone new.
It is about allowing the system to return to its natural state of openness and balance.
And that process can begin very gently, right where you are.
