How is trauma held in the body?

From a Neuro-Somatic Intelligence perspective, trauma and body memory (somatic or implicit memory) is held in different parts of the body by neurotag association. A neurotag is a collection of neurons or pathways that have wired together so that when one is activated the whole group activates. Our brains naturally create neurotags, as a way of accessing information about the world quickly and more efficiently. When a traumatic event happens, or when we live in a state of chronic stress our brain can lump together seemingly unrelated information as part of a trauma neurotag.

This means that during a traumatic experience our body posture, eye position, breathing pattern and any number of functions and inputs like sight, smell and sound, can be included in the neurotag associated with that trauma. When the brain associates a certain part of the body with threat, it will compensate in order to avoid entering the threat. It may hold tension there, limit movement, create pain or other sensation in the same way that it might do so for a physical injury. The brain cannot tell the difference between physical, emotional and social threat so pushing past any limitation imposed by a trauma neurotag can trigger old emotions, thoughts and memories associated with the trauma whether on a conscious or unconscious level.

When we release trauma stored in the body we can do it in a number of ways; most commonly through movement and emotional release. However it’s not uncommon for a strong emotional or somatic release (such as shaking or crying) to offer temporary relief from the pent-up tension and repression without undoing the neurotag that continues to store tension or compensation in that part of the body. After the somatic release it is normal to feel like something was healed only to find out in a week or a month or a year that we have once again repressed the same emotion or built up pressure and tension the same way as before. This is where Neuro-Somatic Intelligence can come in: Just as the trauma patterns can be learned by the brain, they can also be unlearned by making a habit of performing regular neuro-somatic exercises to create new stimulus that restores safety to each element of the neurotag involved in keeping the trauma alive.